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. 2025 Sep;61(9):1415-1422.
doi: 10.1111/jpc.70117. Epub 2025 Jun 26.

Demographics of Mothers Donating to a Nonprofit Human Milk Bank in Australia

Laura D Klein  1 , Tong Wu  1 , Laura Thomas  1   2 , Richard Brown  1 , Christine Sulfaro  1 , Vanessa Clifford  1   2   3   4
Affiliations

Demographics of Mothers Donating to a Nonprofit Human Milk Bank in Australia

Laura D Klein et al. J Paediatr Child Health. 2025 Sep.

Abstract

Background: Donated human milk is the preferred alternative source of nutrition when infants born preterm do not have access to enough maternal breast milk. Around the world, human milk banks have been established to ensure that vulnerable infants can access safe supplies of donor human milk. Milk donors are the foundation of milk banking, and understanding who donates milk in different settings is important for creating sustainable donor milk services. This study aimed to describe milk donors and donation characteristics to a nonprofit donor human milk service operated by Australia's national blood service (Lifeblood).

Materials and methods: This retrospective cohort study used routinely collected data from Lifeblood's donor milk service over its first 6 years of operations, from 1 July 2018 to 30 June 2024. Records from all milk donors registered as of 30 June 2024 were included.

Results: During the study period, 1794 women donated 23 714 L of human milk to Lifeblood. This includes 45 bereaved donors. The mean age for a milk donor was 32.4 ± 4.6 years (range 18.4-51.6 years). Donors with preterm births were over-represented compared to the general Australian population (29.4% vs. 8.6%). Among 1501 nonbereaved, completed donors, mean total donation volume was 13.4 L [range 0.5-229.1 L]. Donors provided the majority of their donations when their own infant was aged 1-3 months.

Conclusions: This study provides the first description of characteristics of milk donors and their donations in Australia. These data will help inform donor recruitment strategies, particularly if need for pasteurised donor human milk increases in the future.

Keywords: donor demographics; donor human milk; human milk bank; milk donor.

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References

    1. WHO, “Donor Human Milk for Low‐Birth‐Weight Infants,” 2019, https://www.who.int/elena/titles/donormilk_infants/en/.
    1. M. Quigley, N. D. Embleton, and W. McGuire, “Formula Versus Donor Breast Milk for Feeding Preterm or Low Birth Weight Infants,” Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 7, no. 7 (2019): Cd002971.
    1. S. Nangia, V. V. Ramaswamy, and M. Bhasin, “The Profile of Donors to a Human Milk Bank in a Developing Nation,” Breastfeeding Medicine 15, no. 3 (2020): 135–139.
    1. W. D. Miranda, M. C. Passos, M. I. F. Freitas, and P. F. Bonolo, “Representations of Women Milk Donors on Donations for the Human Milk Bank,” Cadernos Saúde Coletiva 24 (2016): 139–144.
    1. B. Gutierrez Dos Santos and M. T. Perrin, “What is Known About Human Milk Bank Donors Around the World: A Systematic Scoping Review,” Public Health Nutrition 25, no. 2 (2022): 312–322.

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