Everything Southwest Mothers' Milk Bank does starts with the amazing mothers who want to save the lives of premature and medically fragile infants by donating their excess breast milk to our milk bank
Potential donors reach out to Southwest Mothers' Milk Bank by phone or email to start their application process
Application Forms
All of our donors have completed an extensive application process that looks into their health, medication, and lifestyle history
Each donor has a provider release signed by their own medical provider who has comprehensive knowledge of their health, medication, and lifestyle history
Blood Draw
Southwest Mothers' Milk Bank requires that each donor have a blood draw and tests that are paid for by the milk bank
Each donor is tested for:
Hepatitis B
Hepatitis C
HIV I/II
HTLV I/II
Syphilis
Donations
Donations can be made by:
Drop off at one of our four donation stations
Pick up from your home by one of our staff members
Shipping a cooler with a prepaid FedEx shipping label--coolers can be dropped off at any FedEx location or picked up by FedEx
Pooling
A minimum of three donors' milk is mixed together before being bottled
By pooling the milk of three or more donors, the nutritional quality of milk is optimized to make our donor milk as close to mother's own milk as possible
Pasteurization
Bottles are pasteurized in batches to kill any potentially harmful pathogens
Bacteria Screening
A bottle from each batch is randomly selected to be tested at an independent third-party laboratory for bacteriological screening
Milk can only be dispensed if there is no harmful bacteria found in the randomized sample bottle
Dispensing
Milk is dispensed to:
Hospitals (NICUs, Postpartum Units, and Pediatric Units)
Providers (Pediatric Practices, Doulas, and Lactation Consultants)
Families in the community
Milk is available for pick up, delivery, and shipping
Recipient Infants
Donor milk has achieved its ultimate purpose when it finally reaches an infant in need of supplemental nutrition when mother's own milk is unavailable
