Because of its many benefits, breast milk is the best food for a newborn baby. Therefore, when the mother, for whatever reason, cannot feed the baby with her own milk, turning to breast milk banks is the best option.
Currently in Spain there are 15 breast milk banks where donor mothers can bring their milk. There they will collect it, process it, store it and offer it with all the sanitary guarantees to babies who need it, mainly premature babies, who are the greatest beneficiaries of this immense gift.
The WHO (World Health Organization) is clear about the importance of donating milk for many babies:
“When the mother’s own milk is not available, pasteurized milk from selected donor mothers is the best option for feeding children , especially in the case of sick or high-risk children” (Infant and Child Nutrition Small. Global Strategy for Infant and Young Child Feeding. Report of the Secretariat. 55th World Health Assembly. 16 April 2002. A55 / 15. Geneva)
Breast milk banks in Spain
The Spanish Association of Human Milk Banks includes the 15 active centers . The first was created in 2001 in Palma de Mallorca, in 2007 the second in the Hospital 12 de Octubre in Madrid, and in the following years the rest have been opened:
Andalusia
- Milk bank of the Virgen de las Nieves University Hospital (Granada)
- Breast milk bank of the Virgen del Rocío Hospital (Seville)
- Breast milk bank of the Reina Sofía Hospital (Córdoba)
Aragon
- Aragón breast milk bank (Zaragoza)
Asturias
- Milk Bank of the Central University Hospital of Asturias (Oviedo)
Cantabria
- Cantabria Breast Milk Bank- Neonatology Unit of the Marqués de Valdecilla University Hospital (Santander)
Castile and Leon
- Breast milk bank of Castilla y León – Neonatology Unit, Río Hortega University Hospital (Valladolid)
Catalonia
- MAMA, Bank of breast milk of Catalonia (Barcelona)
Valencian Community
- Banco de leche de la Comunidad Valenciana – Hospital Universitari i Politècnic. La Fe (Valencia)
Estremadura
- Extremadura milk bank (Badajoz)
Galicia
- Breast Milk Bank – Santiago de Compostela University Hospital Complex
- Vigo Milk Bank – Alvaro Cunqueiro Hospital (Vigo)
Balearic Islands
- Blood and Tissue Bank Foundation of the Balearic Islands (Palma de Mallorca)
Madrid
- Regional Bank of Breast Milk Aladina MGU – Neonatology Service of the Hospital 12 de Octubre (Madrid)
Basque Country
- Euskadi breast milk bank- Basque Center for Transfusions and Human Tissues (Vizcaya)
All the information can be found in the links corresponding to each bank above, and here you will find the necessary requirements to be breast milk donors . Each center has a protocol for collecting breast milk, it is best to contact the closest one to be a donor.
How to donate breast milk
If you want to be a donor, you will have to contact your nearest bank. You will have to answer a short medical questionnaire about health, lifestyle, diseases, etc., and you will have a blood test to rule out infections.
You can donate as long as your baby’s breastfeeding is well established , at least 3 or 4 weeks after birth, you can start donating.
You will have to express your milk and keep it to send it or take it to the nearest milk bank.
In Babies and more | This is how a breast milk bank works: A mother donates more than 52 liters of breast milk to babies in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
