Donor Stories

5th July 2022

We had a slightly rough ride following birth of my first baby which resulted in my being very anemic. We therefore had a slightly bumpy introduction to breast feeding – but the breast feeding support staff of the NHS are... read more.

8th June 2022

I found out how important breastmilk is while doing a 12 week placement on NICU and have wanted to donate since but after my 1st baby,  Breastfeeding was a battle in its self so was determined to donate next time.... read more.

26th May 2022

I first heard of the milk bank through working as an intensive care nurse in neonates but when I had my first baby I never really thought about it until I went to a support group and one of the... read more.

14th December 2018

Today marks the end of one of my proudest most rewarding achievements as Isaac is 9 months old today is my last donation to the Northwest Human Milk Bank. 6 months and just over 17L of donations to help sick... read more.

16th November 2018

George was born 8 weeks early at 4lb 10 and was whisked of to the neonatal unit where he stayed for 3 weeks. I was introduced to the lovely yellow breast pump which quickly became my friend and luckily I... read more.

15th October 2018

I started donating milk after struggling to breastfeed when my little girl was born. I had a large oversupply of milk and every time she tried to feed it was just becoming stressful for us both. I started expressing for... read more.

8th October 2018

“After having my second child, my little boy, he took to breast feeding amazing and put on weight right from the start. I have a big supply of milk and after starting to fill my freezer with bags of expressed... read more.

18th September 2018

“Proud to have been accepted as an official milk donor for the Northwest Human Milk Bank! Being blessed with 3 healthy children and after having donated breast milk with my first daughter, I was keen to give something back again... read more.

10th August 2018

I went for a routine 30 week scan and they discovered Baby was measuring small – probably due to the fact they couldn’t find any flow from the placenta to the baby. 3 hours later, I was in theatre having... read more.

22nd June 2018

I know how vital breast milk is for premature and poorly babies in the neonatal unit to prevent serious gut problems. Ideally this is their mother’s milk but this isn’t always possible. That’s one of the times donor milk is needed.... read more.

5th June 2018

Thank you to Swyn and Alys-Myfanwy who recently made their final donation to the milk bank. Also pictured is Swyn’s mum Mair (bottom left) who has been amazing throughout Swyn’s baby journey and fantastic milk bank volunteer Karen (bottom right)... read more.

4th December 2017

At the start of my breastfeeding journey 4 years ago my newborn had difficulties staying latched on with his tongue tie, I also had a slight oversupply and my baby suffered from colic. I was at a breastfeeding group when a... read more.

1st December 2017

My little boy was born prematurely and unable to feed for many weeks. With the help and support from wonderful staff at SCBU I’d got to grips with expressing and building up a huge supply and a wonderful stock pile of... read more.

23rd November 2017

I wanted to donate with my first daughter and looked into it but due to needing physio, visiting family across the country and issues with breastfeeding initially (thrush, mastitis, latch problems) it took a long time to get into a... read more.

17th November 2017

I first heard of milk donation when I was pregnant with my second child. A friend of a friend had become a donor and written about it on a social media site. I thought it was a lovely idea and... read more.

15th November 2017

I gave birth to Esta via C Section at 37.5 weeks. I had planned to breastfeed beforehand but this being my first child had no solid expectations of how things would run. Luckily for us we were able to and... read more.

15th November 2017

At the end of 2014 I fell pregnant with my second child. It was a completely textbook pregnancy at first, until we found out that our daughter had several life threatening disabilities including spina bifida, hydronephrosis and an omphalocele. I... read more.

15th November 2017

As a midwife I know the huge benefit to donor breastmilk. When my second son was born at 29 weeks (18th July 2016) I initially thought it would be us using donor milk as I wasn’t able to express a... read more.

13th May 2016

My daughter Eleanor was born in April 2015. She was born with a heart condition which meant we had to restrict her fluid intake so for me this meant expressing breastmilk 8x per day. I knew about milk donation from... read more.

6th May 2016

When William was born almost seven years ago I’d not heard of the Milk Bank but I knew more about it when I found out I was pregnant again a year later and decided to see if I could donate... read more.

4th March 2016

My two sons were both prem babies my eldest was in NICU for two weeks and I witnessed first hand these special tiny babies that were poorly. One mum stuck in my mind as she was travelling from Manchester to... read more.

4th March 2015

I knew that I wanted to breastfed before I had Harry and was so determined to make it work we have fought with tongue tie and we are still battling with a lip tie which is due to be cut... read more.

10th December 2014

I found out about donating breast milk through a charity myself and my husband set up in memory of our first daughter. She was born with a serious heart defect and was also very small. Whilst she fought bravely for... read more.

9th October 2014

I am a neonatal nurse and so have seen first hand the massive health benefits of breastmilk for sick and premature infants. Knowing about donor breastmilk from work made me determined to donate my excess breastmilk after the birth of... read more.

10th April 2014

“I had decided from the day I found out I was pregnant that I wanted to breast feed, I had very bad morning sickness from about 7 weeks and  then at 13 weeks on my dating scan it became apparent... read more.

8th October 2013

If you need donated breast milk you most certainly can get it- after being told by midwives and a paediatrician that we could not have any donated breast milk for our daughter we got it (despite not being on the... read more.

1st October 2013

I really struggled to express milk for my first baby and came to think of the breast pump as kind of a torture instrument. I had previously worked on a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit for a short while and had... read more.

22nd August 2013

After giving birth to my daughter at 27 weeks, I was encouraged to start expressing my milk for her, at first I was worried that I wasn’t going to get any for her, but I was very wrong. I was... read more.

25th August 2010

This is my story of how I managed to successfully breastfeed my two children and become a milk bank donor against the odds and completely surprising hospital staff. I am 37 years old and have been married for 14 years... read more.

6th August 2010

I first heard about milk donation from the lady who fitted my nursing bra. I didn’t even know about milk donation and was amazed when she explained that even the smallest amount of milk was helpful to poorly premature babies.... read more.

9th June 2010

My name is Liz and I give breast milk to other people’s babies. I shouldn’t joke, really, but in my opinion Kate Garraway’s recent Channel 4 programme “Other People’s Breast Milk” misrepresented the practice of milk banking so badly that... read more.