Breast Feeding & Sore Nipples- Advice?

Pink.

I know it's a bit off topic, but for those who have unwanted / excess milk, it is worthwhile contacting your local special care baby unit, to find out how to donate milk.

Most areas have a milk bank who collect milk for use in scbu, and this really does make a difference to the babies in these units.

Pink

jo_b_2

Pinkwinged - this is a brilliant idea for those with very young babies. Hospitals won't take milk from mothers whose babies are over a certain age (can't remember the figure, possibly 4 or 6 months) because the composition of the milk changes as the baby gets older and it would no longer be suitable for newborns.

Also if you express milk to give to these services, it will encourage your supply to increase/continue.

Jay-Jay_4

Hospitals won't take milk from mothers whose babies are over a certain age (can't remember the figure, possibly 4 or 6 months)

It's 6 months jo_b.

I donated mine until 4 mths ago.

If you have more milk than you want then expressing to donate will only increase your milk supply but if you have more milk than you need anyway and you don't mind, then donating is great.

You can have a look on the UKAMB website (United Kingdom Association for Milk Banking) or ring them and they will give you details of your nearest milk bank.

I lived too far away to have the milk collected so we drove about 40 miles to drop it off. Must say that walking through a special care baby unit, seeing those tiny babies, and knowing that the bag full of your own milk may help them, feels wonderful.

For some babies, a few mls of breastmilk per day can have dramatic effects on their health. It can mean the difference between life and death.

Sorry to harp on but donating milk is brill  :)

Edited to add:  Before you can donate milk you need to have a blood test for Hepatitis, HIV etc and all milk is pasteurised before it reaches any babies  ;)

jo_b_2

You can have a look on the UKAMB website (United Kingdom Association for Milk Banking) or ring them and they will give you details of your nearest milk bank.

For some babies, half a ml of breastmilk per day can have dramatic effects on their health. It can mean the difference between life and death.

Thanks for the link. It makes fascinating reading. The site says that your baby must be under 6 months old when you start donating milk, but that you can continue donating past this age, which I didn't realise.

Jay-Jay_4

The site says that your baby must be under 6 months old when you start donating milk, but that you can continue donating past this age.

I didn't realise that either :-/ maybe it was just my particular hospital that didn't accept after 6 months :-/

I had a litre of milk in my freezer at one point, then my freezer defrosted I had to chuck it all away and start again so they didn't get as much as I'd have liked.