How to Donate Human Milk to the Rogers Hixon Ontario Human Milk Bank

Updated

You can donate human milk to the Rogers Hixon Ontario Human Milk Bank if you are a lactating parent with more milk than your own baby needs, and you are willing to complete a health screening before donating. The bank supplies pasteurized donor human milk to hospitalized infants across Ontario and the Atlantic provinces, so every donation goes to a clinical setting rather than to individual families at home. Start by choosing "Learn how to donate" on milkbankontario.ca, then work through screening, approval, and collection.

Who can donate

The bank's own framing is that donation begins with an oversupply — milk you have expressed beyond what your baby needs. Its donor stories describe parents who moved to exclusive pumping after breastfeeding challenges, parents whose babies were hospitalized, and parents who donated in memory of a child or in gratitude for donor milk their own baby received.

Because eligibility depends on health history and screening results rather than a simple checklist, treat the following as the practical starting conditions:

  • You are currently lactating and producing more milk than your baby consumes.
  • You are willing to be screened, which the bank reports has been done for more than 8,500 prospective donors since 2013.
  • You can commit to the collection and drop-off or shipping arrangements the bank sets up with you.

If you have a medical condition, take medication, or have had certain infections, that does not automatically rule you out — it is exactly what the screening step exists to assess. Ask the bank directly rather than self-rejecting.

The screening process

The bank states that over 8,500 prospective donors have been screened since 2013, which tells you screening is a standard, expected step and not an exception. Expect it to cover your health history and lifestyle, and expect it to take some time before you are approved to donate.

Practical way to move through it:

  1. Go to milkbankontario.ca and select "Learn how to donate."
  2. Submit the initial interest or application form on that page.
  3. Complete the health questionnaire and any follow-up questions the screening team sends you.
  4. Wait for approval before collecting milk intended for donation. Milk collected before approval may not be usable.

If you are already pumping and want to avoid waste, ask the bank during screening whether milk you are currently storing can be considered once you are approved.

How milk is collected and pasteurized

Donor milk is pooled and pasteurized before it reaches hospitals. The bank reports that its team can pasteurize 300 litres of donor human milk in a single week, and that it has published more than 50 research papers — its stated aim is making donor milk safer through research and care.

That means your donation is not passed along as-is. It is processed to reduce the risk of transmission, which is why the screening step matters and why the bank, not the donor, controls the final handling. Follow whatever storage and transport instructions the bank gives you; those instructions exist because the milk enters a pasteurization and distribution chain.

Where your milk goes

The bank reports that 52 hospitals across Ontario and the Atlantic provinces currently receive its donor milk, and that more than 1,500 low-birth-weight infants in Ontario could benefit from donor human milk each year. Recipients are hospitalized infants, with preterm and low-birth-weight babies the clearest group described.

One donor quoted on the site, Tracy, describes the motivation plainly: knowing her oversupply "could possibly help other moms, babies and families across Canada."

Common sticking points

  • Donating before approval. Screening comes first; confirm with the bank when your milk can start counting toward donation.
  • Assuming you are ineligible. Conditions and medications are assessed case by case during screening, so ask before deciding you cannot donate.
  • Expecting to direct your milk to a specific baby. The bank supplies hospitals, and milk is pooled and pasteurized, so individual matching is not how the process works.
  • Letting stored milk sit. If you have a freezer supply and are unsure whether it qualifies, raise it during screening rather than discarding it.

Start here

Go to milkbankontario.ca and select "Learn how to donate" to begin. That page is the entry point for the donation process; the site also links to information on using donor human milk and on the bank's research if you want background before applying.