frequently asked questions

Any mother can apply to be a donor. Our donors are mothers with excess breast milk and bereaved mothers who choose to donate breast milk in honor of the infant that they have lost. All Southwest Mothers' Milk Bank donors have gone through a comprehensive application process that includes health, medication, and lifestyle screenings, a signed provider release, and blood tests.

Some medications may not be suitable for the premature and medically fragile recipients of human donor milk, but medications and supplements do not always disqualify you as a donor. Even if we cannot accept your milk based on the medication(s) and/or supplement(s) you are taking, it does not necessarily mean that they are unsafe to take while breastfeeding your own baby. Please contact your healthcare provider with a list of any medications you are taking to ask if they are safe for breastfeeding your specific infant.

If you want to know if the medication(s) and/or supplement(s) you are taking are okay for donating to Southwest Mothers' Milk Bank, please contact us so that we can perform a quick medication review with you and let you know if we can accept your milk.

We ask that our donors commit to a minimum donation of 100 ounces over time. This minimum does not need to be met all at once or at each donation, but is the minimum amount we request during the entire time that each donor is active. There is no maximum amount that can be donated--every drop helps save lives.

Bereaved mothers have no minimum donation commitment that needs to be met. It is our privilege to help bereaved mothers honor the infant they have lost through milk donation.

As a non-profit milk bank, we do not monetarily compensate our donor--they freely donate their milk to infants in need. We do, however, provide our donors with disposable milk storage bags upon request to help alleviate the cost associated with purchasing them for storing milk that will be donated to our milk bank. 

Most donors can be approved in less than a week, depending on how quickly they complete their application and blood draw. Donors can be approved in as little as 3 business days.

Once you have been notified by a Southwest Mothers' Milk Bank staff member that you are an APPROVED done, you can drop milk off at any donation station that is convenient to you. You may also schedule a pick up from your home or receive a cooler with a prepaid return label to ship your donation directly to our milk bank.

We do not require a prescription to dispense milk to families within our community.

Donor milk is available for pick up, shipping, and delivery (depending on staff availability). Please contact us so that we can work with you to decide what works best for your family.

While we do not charge for the donor milk itself, we do charge a milk processing fee of $4.50 an ounce to cover the cost of approving donors, supplies, and processing.

Some or all of the costs associated with supplementing your baby's diet with donor milk may be covered by your health insurance plan. We highly recommend reaching out to your insurance provider to ask about your coverage. 

Southwest Mothers' Milk Bank is accredited by HMBANA. In addition to screening our donors for health, medication, and lifestyle risk factors and requiring that every donor receive blood tests for Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, HIV I/II, HTLV I/II, and syphilis, we also closely monitor for quality at every step to ensure top quality milk every time.

Our rigorous standards are set by HMBANA, the FDA, and advised by the CDC.

Please contact us to inquire about volunteering if you have a specialized skill, license, or certification such as:

• Social Media Marketing
• Graphic Design
• Videography
• IBCLC
• RN

You can also donate to our Milk Money Fund to help support our milk bank and the communities we serve.