Mothers’ Milk Bank Northeast follows strict screening, processing, and dispensing guidelines established by the Human Milk Banking Association of North America (HMBANA) in consultation with the Centers for Disease Control, Food and Drug Administration, New York State Department of Health, and the blood and tissue banking industries.
Milk Donors
Milk donors are healthy, lactating women with surplus milk, and babies of any age. Bereaved and surrogate mothers may also donate. Donors are not paid; they give their milk for altruistic reasons only, which eliminates incentives to tamper with milk or provide inaccurate health information.
Donor screening
- Detailed oral and written medical and lifestyle histories, based on blood donation screening
- Physician letters confirming health of donor mother and her child
- Blood tests to detect HIV 0, 1 & 2, HTLV 1 & 2, hepatitis B & C, and syphilis
- Many medications (prescription, over-the-counter, herbal, mega-dose vitamins) are cause for deferral
- We are in ongoing communication with donors about medications, illnesses, and other questions
Ineligibility
Some conditions that disqualify women from milk donation:
- Positive blood test result for HIV, HTLV, hepatitis B or C, or syphilis
- She or her sexual partner is at risk for HIV
- Tobacco products, illegal drugs, daily use of more than 1 alcohol serving (waiting period required for alcohol)
- She or her sexual partner has received a blood transfusion or blood products in the 6 months prior to milk collection
- She or her sexual partner has received an organ or tissue transplant in the last 12 months
- Potential exposure to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
Acceptable medications
Many medications are acceptable, and others require a deferral period (a specific interval between ingestion of the medication and an acceptable time to pump for donation). Medication standards are updated regularly according to new guidelines. Please contact a Donor Intake Coordinator with specific questions. Among the medications generally acceptable:
- Prenatal vitamins, select supplements (fish oil, omega-3s, lecithin, probiotics)
- Most topical medications (applied to skin or eye drops)
- Oral medications not absorbed (antacids, stool softeners, fiber)
- Inhaled drugs for asthma, colds, allergies
- Birth control: spermicides, copper IUDs, progestin-only or low-estrogen pills
- Hormonal replacement drugs such as thyroid and insulin
- Killed vaccines, flu mist, toxoids, allergy shots
- Select human immunoglobulin products (Rhogam, tetanus, rabies)
- Non-sedating antihistamines
- Select antidepressants
- Select analgesics (acetaminophen, ibuprofen)
- Anticoagulants (heparin, Lovenox, warfarin)
- Select acid reducers (famotidine, omeprazole)
Laboratory Processing
Donor milk arrives frozen and is carefully logged and stored. Milk from 2-4 donors is thawed overnight in a refrigerator, pooled, carefully mixed to ensure an even distribution of milk components, and poured into bottles by trained technicians in our FDA-regulated laboratory.
Pasteurization
Trays of milk bottles are heated in a shaking water bath using the Holder Method of pasteurization (62.5◦C for 30 minutes). Pasteurization eliminates bacteria while retaining the majority of the milk’s beneficial components. Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is among the pathogens destroyed during pasteurization. Pasteurized milk is quick-cooled, then frozen at -20◦C.
Testing
Pre-pasteurization: Every new donor’s milk undergoes a pre-pasteurization culture to screen for heat-resistant pathogens. Testing is repeated every 3 months.
Post-pasteurization: One bottle from each pasteurized tray is sent to an independent laboratory for microbiological cultures to verify zero growth of bacteria after the heating process. Any milk with a positive culture is discarded and not dispensed.
Storage and Shipping
Each bottle is labeled with an expiration date 1 year after the earliest pump date in the batch. Milk is shipped overnight in coolers with dry ice to arrive frozen by 10:30 am the following day.
These multiple overlapping screening and safety steps ensure that pasteurized donor human milk is safe for the most vulnerable infants. In over 40 years of modern milk banking there has never been a documented case of an infant being harmed by donor milk.
Mothers’ Milk Bank Northeast: Safe. Trusted. Lifesaving.
