Breast Milk Foundation: Donating, Receiving, and Common Breast Milk Questions

Breast Milk Foundation (breastmilkfoundation.org) is a milk bank and donor milk resource that answers three practical questions: why donate human milk, how to donate, and how to receive it. Its site also covers breastfeeding benefits, colostrum, expressed milk storage, and premature milk needs. Use this guide if you are deciding whether to donate, looking for donor milk, or trying to store expressed milk correctly.

What Breast Milk Foundation Is

The site is organized around donor milk rather than general parenting content. Its main navigation covers:

• Why Donate Human Milk?
• How to Donate Human Milk?
• How to Receive Human Milk?
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Gallery (images and videos)

The homepage also links to articles on breastfeeding benefits, pollution's effects on children, colostrum, breastfeeding benefits for the mother, how long expressed breast milk can be kept, and premature milk. The site describes itself in relation to Delhi-NCR, so its donation and receipt pathways are most relevant if you are in or near that region. If you are elsewhere, treat the general milk-banking information as background and confirm local options separately.

Why Donate Human Milk

Donated human milk is used for babies who cannot get enough of their own mother's milk — most often premature infants. The site's article "Premature Milk – Need to Spread the Gift" frames donor milk as a gift that meets a specific medical need rather than a general baby-feeding alternative.

For the donor, the practical reasons are:

• It meets a real shortage. Premature babies have small stomachs and high nutritional needs, and a mother's own supply may not be established yet.
• It supports babies beyond your own family. Your surplus milk goes to infants whose mothers cannot produce enough.
• It is structured, not informal. Donation through a milk bank involves screening, so the milk is handled to a standard rather than passed person to person.

If your goal is simply to reduce your own freezer stash, donation is still possible, but the screening step means it is not an instant handover.

How to Donate Human Milk: Steps and Screening

The site presents donation as a process with a screening stage, not a drop-off. Based on the site's structure, the sequence is:

1. Read the donation overview. Start with "How to Donate Human Milk?" on the site to understand what is involved.
2. Check the FAQ. The Frequently Asked Questions section covers eligibility and practical details.
3. Contact the foundation. The site's contact and social channels (it references a Twitter feed, @amaarabmf) are the entry point for starting screening.
4. Complete screening. Milk banks screen donors before accepting milk. Expect questions about your health and lifestyle.
5. Arrange collection or drop-off. The site does not publish a specific pickup menu, so confirm the logistics directly when you make contact.

What to verify before you commit: whether you are in the served area (the site references Delhi-NCR), what screening involves, and how milk is transported. The site does not list these details in the material available, so ask rather than assume.

How to Receive Human Milk

The site has a dedicated "How to Receive Human Milk?" page, which means receipt is a defined pathway rather than a general inquiry. The steps follow the same pattern as donation:

1. Read the receiving overview on the site.
2. Check the FAQ for eligibility and process questions.
3. Contact the foundation to begin the request.

Because donor milk is a limited, screened resource, expect the process to prioritize medical need — particularly premature and vulnerable infants — over convenience. The site does not publish pricing or eligibility criteria in the available material, so confirm both when you make contact. Do not assume donor milk is free or that it is available on demand.

Common Breast Milk Questions the Site Answers

Breastfeeding benefits for the baby

The site states that breastfeeding reduces the risk of obesity in newborns and describes broader health benefits for the child. It also addresses how pollution affects children, framing breastfeeding as one protective factor in a polluted environment.

Breastfeeding benefits for the mother

A separate article covers benefits for the new mother, so the site treats breastfeeding as a two-sided outcome rather than only a infant-feeding choice.

Colostrum

The site notes that most new mothers wonder about the term "colostrum." Colostrum is the first milk produced after birth; the site's article explains its features and why it matters in the early days.

How long expressed breast milk can be kept

The site has a dedicated article for mothers returning to work who need to store expressed milk. Storage duration depends on where the milk is kept (room temperature, refrigerator, or freezer). The site does not reproduce specific hour or day limits in the material available here, so check the article itself or a current health-authority guideline before relying on a number.

Premature milk

The "Premature Milk" article connects the medical need of premature infants to the case for donation — it is the clearest link on the site between why donation matters and who receives it.

Quick Reference

What to Confirm Before Acting

The site gives you the framework — donate, receive, screen, store — but not every operational detail. Before you act, confirm directly with the foundation:

• Whether you are in the served area (the site references Delhi-NCR).
• What donor screening requires.
• Whether recipient families face any cost.
• How milk is collected, transported, and stored.

Treat the site as your starting point and the foundation's team as the source for anything time-sensitive or eligibility-related.