I'm not sure if this is the right place to do this but I figure but I think this is alternative shall we say. So yeah Femme, I think you mentioned you do this and I have the nurse coming out this week to take my blood to test etc but I was just wondering, how much do you express for them a day? and how often do they collect from you? Thanks xx

Hey hun, I'm not FE (obv ) but I did donate EBM til I got preggy and my supply went a bit downhill and now theres only just enough for Liv!

I used to just express from one side before Liv woke up and I would get anything from 2-8oz, depending how much she had fed in the night. Every single drop counts, and even 20ml can feed a very premature little one for a whole day!!

Anything else you would like to know, please ask away! xxx

I expressed for donation last time. Was five years ago so dont know if its changed much but they would take whatever you could get to them. At first I was getting about 4oz a day but got going til I was getting 10-15oz day from three/four sessions (this was when my son started dropping milk feeds in favour of solids so I picked up his milk feeds with expressing) When I lost a baby but produced milk I was getting about 3oz a day, this was somewhat more difficult but kept it up for a few months.
Some milkbanks collect but others dont, you would need to find out about your local one. They do provide all the containers and labels which is useful. Most of them will collect every few weeks so if you manage a fair bit you need to clear an entire drawer for storage...I made the mistake once of not having enough freezer space and had to store milk in my mothers freezer, she wasnt that impressed!! My milk bank didnt collect from me, I took the milk to them as it was quite a distance, a lot of people find distance from a milkbank to be the restraining factor on whether they can actually donate or not.

I noted that your LO is over 4 months, they do need to be under 6 months when you start to donate but you can donate for as long as you are producing milk if you start by this point.

They do collect in my area and the nurse is bringing out bottles etc tomorrow and is gonna do my blood tests, I just wan't sure if you had to express 'X' amount each day as I know I will be doing it daily. I wish I'd looked in to it sooner but as with most things life gets in the way. Thanks for the info girls. Another Q, how long did you do it for? x

you dont have to do any set amount but small consistent amounts are best so just do what you can manage, if you can only fit in one extra pump session then just do that one
First time I did 4 months second time I did a full year but my son self weaned early and milk went byebye pretty quickly after the 11 month mark!

Sorry, I missed the bit about collections! She came to me every month, but sooner if I had a freezer full! They wont usually collect any less than 10 bottles at a time. I started when Liv was about 3 months, and carried on until 2 weeks ago At my peak I was expressing 3-4 times a day after and getting loads, but then it dropped to just the morning session when I got pregnant (before I knew!) then I just got less and less to the point where I was worried about Liv getting enough for herself!

I will definitely be doing it again with the next baby, hopefully for a little longer this time! xx

Oh, also squish I just read in your BFing thread what a wonderful thing you are doing for that other ladies LO. Donating to a milk bank is one thing, but to do that is truly amazing. You deserve a big gold star xxxx

^^agreed x

Ooh, my name in a thread title... I feel famous

I'm doing an AAM thread about this next week, btw. But, I express at the same time every day as Molly tends to feed very well from both sides so I'd have to pump after every single feed to get tiny amounts. Anyway, at first hat's what I did... pumped and pumped and pumped to get my supply up and at about midnight (Molly almost always feeds at 9ish and then goes until 3ish) I'm quite engorged and can pump off around 8oz in 20 mins. I pop it in two separate bottles and freeze straight away.

They collect every 2 weeks, unless like the past week or so I haven't had much for them so I tell them not to bother as there's only me now who donates in my local area.

HTH

x

Why is that Squish??

Bit to all you ladies that have donated your milk - what a great thing you are doing!