You can donate to a non-profit donor human milk bank. This means that your milk will be tested, pasteurized and sent predominantly to neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) around the US, including right back here to Hawaii. Some of your milk will also go to infants at home who have a prescription for breast milk due to medical needs.

a) If you’re interested in donating your breast milk to medically fragile infants, please call Mothers' Milk Bank of San Jose at (877) 375-6645 for a brief 5-minute phone screening.

b) If you’re eligible to donate you'll be sent a packet of forms to complete, and Mothers' Milk Bank of San Jose will provide a pre-paid lab slip you can take to a Diagnostic Laboratory Services near you for blood work.

c) Once you've been given a donor ID number you can either:

i) Have the Mothers' Milk Bank of San Jose ship a cooler to your home for you to send in your donor milk; or

ii) Get a cooler from one of the local shipping supply sites in Hawaii to send in your donor milk. You can get a cooler by contacting one of the following businesses:

(1)  Kauai: Hua Moon Women’s Health in Kapaa, HI

(2)  Hawaii Island: Mother's Milk, LLC in Kamuela, HI

(3)  Oahu: Waimanalo Health Center in Waimanalo (call and ask for the WIC office) or Breastfeeding Hawaii (email to meet island wide including on military bases)

 

You can donate through mom-to-mom milk sharing sites such as Human Milk 4 Human Babies Hawaii and Eats on Feets Hawaii. If you donate through these sites, please state which island and area you are located.

a) We recognize that mom-to-mom milk sharing is cultural and common in Hawaii. We are sharing that this is fresh, refrigerated or frozen breast milk. It is not tested or pasteurized and has the possibility of transmitting viruses and bacteria. We recommend that you follow informed milk sharing guidelines to reduce risk to your baby, and we do not recommend mom-to-mom milk sharing for premature or medically fragile infants.

b) Mom-to-mom milk sharing is different from purchasing human milk on the internet. In general with milk sharing, the most a mom donating her milk will ask for is replacement milk bags. There is not an incentive for a mom donating her milk to create more product vs when someone is selling human milk. We do not recommend purchasing human milk from the internet; if you desire to purchase human milk for your baby, we recommend getting a prescription from your pediatrician and purchasing it from a non-profit milk bank, such as Mothers' Milk Bank of San Jose.

i) There was a study of purchased human milk from the internet rather than a milk bank demonstrating 74% of samples having harmful bacteria and 21% of purchased milk having cytomegalovirus.

ii) There was a study demonstrating that 10% of purchased human milk from the internet rather than a milk bank had bovine DNA demonstrating that the samples had been topped off with either cow’s milk or infant formula.

 

You can donate your milk to research. There are a few centers in the USA that conduct research on human milk to find out how safe medications prescribed to nursing mothers are for their infants, and to learn more about the benefits of human milk and its influence on child development. The amount to donate is often small amounts, such as 2 oz (60 mL). If you are interested you can contact one or more of the organizations below. 

a) Infant Risk: They study medications in mothers' milk and have a list of medications they are specifically researching. They are also open to you informing them what medications you are taking and why you feel they should study it.

b) Mommy’s Milk: Human Milk Research Biorepository: They collect milk samples and utilize them in research. You can look at all of the current research studies they have going on through their Research tab.