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During this difficult time, we must continue providing safe milk to babies with medical needs. Our strict standards for facility sanitization and donor milk screening remain in effect. We closely follow CDC, HMBANA, city, and hospital updates so we can continue to operate and maintain a safe environment for our staff, recipients, donors and milk supply.
We’ve modified a few policies and procedures to further protect our operations, donors, and recipients:
Our need for milk is increasing: we encourage all healthy women in their first year postpartum to consider donating at this time. Our 4 step screening process can be started today. Please call us at 877-813-6455 between 9-5 central Monday – Friday or fill out our online form!
We are excited about the possibility afforded by a vaccine protecting against COVID-19, but dismayed that breastfeeding women were not present in the studies of efficacy or safety. The Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine summarizes well the concerns and opportunities afforded by the vaccines. Read the ABM statement for more information.
Lactating women who wish to be considered for milk donations can receive the vaccine without deferral. As described by the ABM and others, this vaccine is unlikely to enter the mother’s bloodstream and less likely to enter breast milk.
The Standards Committee has reviewed available information regarding the newly released Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for COVID-19 and its implications for milk donation. At this time, little is known about its implications for pregnant and lactating women, however the vaccine is a messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine, it is not considered a live vaccine and therefore should not be a problem for milk donors. According to the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine (ABM), it is unlikely that the intact nanoparticle or mRNA would transfer into human milk; and “in the unlikely event that mRNA is present in milk, it would be expected to be digested by the child and would be unlikely to have any biological effects.” We will continue to investigate the data and update this information as it becomes available.
For now, lactating women are asked to assess their own risks for the virus versus the benefits of vaccination. We know that milk cannot transmit the virus, therefore donors who receive the vaccine will be permitted to continue donating milk without deferral. Read the ABM statement for more information.
Please keep safe, wash your hands, and stay smart and calm!
Procedures for Verifying the Condition of Donor Human Milk Upon Delivery
