Wirral Milk Bank Donor Information

Mothers are not eligible to donate milk if:

They smoke or use nicotine replacement therapy
They regularly exceed recommended alcohol levels for breast feeding mothers (see www.dh.gov.uk)
Using, or has recently used , recreational drugs.
They have received a blood transfusion or any blood based products or is at increased risk of Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease (CJD) (see www.hpa.org.uk)

* Medications and fertility treatment need to be discussed with milk bank staff and may exclude you from donating

Wirral Mothers Milk Bank

Screening milk donors for infectious diseases

You will probably know that there is a risk of transmitting infections such as AIDS or hepatitis by donating blood and organs. This risk also applies to breast milk. This milk bank is therefore complying with the guidelines issued by the Department of Health (27 April 1988). Mothers who fall into any of the categories listed below should not give their breast milk to the bank.

We also ask mothers who donate their breast milk to have their blood tested for antibodies to the AIDS virus (HIV) and other diseases which are very rarely transmitted through breast milk (hepatitis, HTLV and syphilis).

HIV is the virus responsible for the development of AIDS.

Hepatitis B and C are the viruses which infect liver cells and can cause inflammation of the liver. They are carried by blood and can only be acquired by blood to blood contact.

HTLV1 and HTLV-2 are leukaemia viruses and are very rare in UK. They are most common in Japan, the Caribbean, parts of Africa, South America and South Eastern USA. They are also acquired by blood to blood contact and through breast milk.

Syphilis is a sexually transmitted disease.

If you agree to the test, it can be arranged at your convenience. The Milk Bank Co-ordinator will be happy to discuss any questions you may have about the blood test and its implications. Results of the blood tests will normally be given to you by letter. In the unlikely event of a test being positive, we will arrange to talk things over with you. A mother’s record is always kept in the strictest confidence.

Mothers who should not donate their breast milk to the milk bank

Sexual partners of men known to be infected with HIV or HCV
Drug users or sexual partners of drug users
Sexual partners who have had sexual intercourse with other men
Sexual partners who have received clotting factor concentrate for a blood clotting deficiency
Sexual partners who have had sex within the last 12 months with anyone of any race, who have been sexually active in parts of the world where the transmission of HIV is via heterosexual sex eg Africa or South East Asia
Commercial sex workers (prostitute)
Mothers who have received human pituitary growth hormone before 1985

Wirral Mothers’ Milk Bank can only enrol mothers whose babies are less than 6 months of age.

Once enrolled, mothers can donate milk until their babies are 12 months of age.

NICE clinical guideline 93. www.nice.org.uk Revised December 2011.

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