We are not able to process applications for donation until after the birth of your child. There are so many things that can happen between now and then that the information supplied on the medical survey may change. We suggest that you wait approximately 2-4 weeks following delivery before completing the application process. This will allow breastfeeding to be established. If you are interested in donating at that time (and we hope you are!), please visit www.breastmilkproject.org, click on "donate milk" and choose the International BMP (Monrovia, CA) Donor Center following the information pages. The qualification process takes about 6 weeks.
When the time comes, we will be able to accept an application from you if you are a resident in the United States or Puerto Rico. It will not necessary to have a milk bank near by in order to make this precious donation. We are a virtual milk bank and work through the internet and FedEx shipping. Once you become an eligible candidate for donation, IBMP will supply pre-screening testing consisting of a blood test to screen for various viruses and a modified DNA profile to match incoming milk, donation supplies and shipping at no charge to you.
Yes. We are able to accept PCM (previously collected milk) up to 10 months from date of expression, as long as it was pumped under the same conditions with which you qualify. Please make sure each bag is clearly dated with the month, day and year. Any milk that is not dated will be dated using the child’s date of birth.
We come to you! Unlike most banks in the US, you do not need to live near our facility in order to donate to International Breast Milk Project. We ship coolers directly to your doorstep - on our dime! We accept donors from all over the US, including Alaska and Hawaii. We will also send a lab technician to your home to do the blood draw. We know how hard it is to do anything with a new baby, so we want to make the process as easy as possible for you.
1. A candidate donor applies online and fills out a medical questionnaire. Once the questionnaire goes through medical review, the candidate is asked to get medical clearance for herself and for her child.
After medical clearance is received, IBMP bank arranges a blood test at the donor’s home which is paid for by Prolacta Bioscience. The blood test is performed by a national laboratory. At the same time, the potential donor provides a cheek swab to create a DNA match for the milk. This ensures that only milk from tested donors enters the system. The DNA test was developed and is paid for by Prolacta.
Once the blood test comes back clean, the donor is qualified. Prolacta sends a specially designed container and cooling bricks to the donor’s house using FedEx. The donor places the cooling bricks in her freezer for 48 hours in preparation for shipping. When ready, the donor mom places the milk and the cooling bricks into the box and puts the prepaid priority FedEx label on the box. One call to FedEx, and the milk is on its way. Prolacta pays for all of the shipping.
Once the milk reaches Prolacta, it is tested for the five most common drugs of abuse, for excessive levels of bacterial contamination, and matched using Prolacta’s proprietary DNA matching technology.
Prolacta is the first and only company to provide human milk fortifier made from 100% human milk for critically ill babies in the Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICU). We have partnered with Prolacta Bioscience to help us collect and process our milk. Fortification is important for premature infants because they miss out on significant in-utero growth. Human milk does not have enough calories and protein to sustain the growth rates required for these babies to catch up with their full-term peers. Feeding these babies more volume does not work since their stomachs are too small. The solution to this problem is to concentrate their food.
Prolacta’s human milk fortifier, H2MF, is concentrated up to 10 times. In other words, 10 ounces of milk produces one ounce of fortifier. The current standard of care is fortification using bovine (cow) milk products. Prolacta Bioscience is offering an alternative by making a concentrated fortifier from 100% human milk. Using state of the art formulation, pasteurization and filling processes Prolacta ensures the highest possible level of product safety and quality.
International Breast Milk Project bank arranges a blood test at the donor’s home, which is paid for by Prolacta Bioscience. A national laboratory performs the blood test. Note: Other Prolacta milk banks may perform blood testing differently than International Breast Milk Project.
The DNA test was developed and is paid for by Prolacta.
We send a specially designed container and cooling bricks to the donor’s house using FedEx. The donor places the cool bricks in her freezer for 48 hours in preparation for shipping. When ready, the donor mom places the milk and the cooling bricks into the box and puts the prepaid priority FedEx label on the box. One call to FedEx, and the milk is on its way. Prolacta pays for all of the shipping.
Once the milk reaches Prolacta, it is tested for the five most common drugs of abuse, for excessive levels of bacterial contamination, and matched using Prolacta’s proprietary DNA matching technology. Prolacta pays for this extensive testing. Prolacta provides and pays for nutritional testing and labeling in addition to PCR testing to ensure the highest level of safety and quality for the final product.
We currently do not have a required number of ounces that a donor must donate but we recommend that a donor ship a minimum 100 ounces if that is feasible. This is due to the fact that the cooler boxes that each donor receive have to be filled as much as possible to allow for the milk to stay frozen during shipping. We have found that if the boxes contain less than 100 ounces there is a greater risk of potential thawing occurring during transit. That being said we understand that each donor has her individual donating capacity and we will work with her to organize a shipping schedule that would maximize the amount of milk in one shipment.
Each candidate is assigned a donor number. This donor number is the only identifying information provided to the national lab. The lab uploads the results into the donor tracking management system so that only the International Breast Milk Project staff knows donor names and results. International Breast Milk Project bank is HIPAA compliant. Your privacy is always protected.
If you have read through the FAQs and still have questions about donating milk you can email robin@breastmilkproject.org. You can also send us a question through our Contact Us page.
