Recipients
"Was really good to have some real milk there when we couldn't supply." – Kirsty
"My partner and I believe we are very lucky that this service is offered. It releases a lot of pressure and stress for new mothers that have had a C Section or their milk hasn't come in. Thank you for offering this service." – Mother of a 34 week twins, Rachelle Meaclem
Latasha, Gareth and and Gabriel O'Connor
"There are no words that can describe how thankful my husband and I are for this service. It was so reassuring that our baby was able to have this breast milk while we waited for my body to recover and mu milk to come in." – Anon
"Awesome to have such a great service available. We are highly grateful to all those who donate to the human milk bank." – Rachel Steele
"We were not told when the donor milk had finished, this would have been helpful to know as my milk supply at this time was due to being sick/ having an infection in my breast."
Donors
"With having a 31 week baby I had a huge amount of milk which was more than my baby required. I was more than happy to donate back to the unit. Especially being in the unit and seeing some mothers struggle with milk supply, I just wanted to help out." – Kylie Crabbe
Rachael Kavermann
"Drop off is challenging – but you know that."
Reply – We offer donor home pick ups now since May 2018
"I decided to become a donor because when my baby was born, I had trouble feeding her due to her being jaundiced and too sleepy to latch. I almost had to use donor milk myself until my supply kicked in. Once it did I had a lot and wanted to do something with it so becoming a donor made sense. The process is great, easy to follow and clear instructions, no pressure at all on how much or how often to donate." – Rebecca Waugh
Kew and Lachlan Taggart
"Bottles take up a lot of room in freezer, is there another option?"
Reply – Unfortunately in our experience the milk bags tend to leak. The bottles are robust and are more forgiving with transportation.
Leah and Mellisa Rickard
"I'm glad a service like the Milk Bank exists. I was lucky to give birth to a healthy baby without issues, and had no problems breastfeeding, so I thought it was amazing that I was able to help those who weren't as lucky. Its an important and necessary service that the Milk Bank provides, and was an amazing experience for me. Parking for drop offs discourages some women who think about donating. Maybe a pickup service once a month would be available.. Some charities have volunteers picking up food etc". – Anja Kosir
Reply – Thank you Anja, you have been amazing as a donor. We have started donor community pick ups from home in May 2018
"What a rewarding 10 minutes of my time! I had always considered donating milk to the Human Milk Bank so when my baby number 2 arrived and her and I had enough milk to give, it was an easy well-worth decision. I (and her) had such a pleasure to be part of the Human Milk Bank, thank you to the team." – Jaclyn Chisholm
"Anthea was great, kind and enthusiastic. Not everyone is lucky enough to have plentiful milk. This is a fantastic way of helping mums who may be in a challenging position and who need any support they can get." – Tamara Brodie
Valentyna Sylevych