Donating milk to milk banks

Hello NeuroPsych,

Milk banks desperately want to take in as much milk as they can, they have a large demand and don't always have as much milk as they need.

To address your questions:

Are there foreseeable issues with the medications I’m taking that would actually prevent me from donating? It depends. You will have to coordinate with your local milk bank. As I mentioned, they want to take your milk, but also have to consider what could happen if the most vulnerable of infants was exposed to drug in milk. Their milk can go to infants born at a gestational age of 24 weeks! The neonatologists for these infants need to know that the milk is not a contributing factor to any issues that the baby may have. They are much more sensitive to drugs than a term infant.

Also, is there a laboratory that can assess the medication levels in order to appease milk banks? If only. Our lab studies drugs in milk. It takes us weeks to develop the methods to find one drug in milk at a time. It is expensive, and we have trouble finding funding for the research. Only about 10% of drugs have ever been studied in milk (at all).

Or do I need to start a nonprofit specifically for milk donations that match my regimen? You could...I am also aware of some other organizations that are exploring similar opportunities.

Dr. Krutsch

Hey all,

initially, I was helping a friend with milk production, by supplementing her production with mine.

Since this is no longer needed, I thought about reaching out to milk banks to make a donation. There seems to be several things going against me after speaking with them. Questions they ask: Am I pregnant or have a baby? No, not happening in my lifetime. Are you taking any medications? Yes(see list below). One milk bank even went as far as checking with their supervisor after I told him about the pregnancy issue and they came back and asked about the medication and continued the interview process.
I’ve induced milk production using Domperidone four times a day. In addition to that medication I’m also taking escitalopram and bupropion. Other medications include HRT medications; injection of estradiol and progesterone. As an added item, also taking nutritional yeast (which may or may not be the same as Brewers yeast).

Production ranges anywhere from 18mL to 54mL. I do realize that I need to drink a lot more water. Using Apple health, I creep track of my milk production daily using the calcium items since I’m currently not taking any calcium supplements. Of course it’s in milligrams and not the milliliters but that’s OK. I just know to convert it.

I’ve noticed the biggest production is when I wait a 12 hour period between expressing sessions, of course it is probably not conducive to increasing production.

Are there foreseeable issues with the medications I’m taking that would actually prevent me from donating? Also, is there a laboratory that can assess the medication levels in order to appease milk banks? Or do I need to start a nonprofit specifically for milk donations that match my regimen?

Apparently there’s a quasi governing body that lays out what is and is not acceptable for milk donations.

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