https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Tue, 28 Apr 2026 21:53:42 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/donating-breast-milk-am-i-being-swindled#post-720208 Tue, 16 Apr 2013 13:56:44 +0000 SugarplumsMom 720208@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I'm honestly a little impressed that they responded here. I read the article and it takes money to run that kind of operation at a large scale. If in the end babies are saved, I think that's what's important.</p> <p>I now live in a small scale economy and anyone that can offer a $300 compensation to anything means they are making enough to do it. If they had something like that here, you'd get a sticker and maybe a $30 certificate, IF that. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/donating-breast-milk-am-i-being-swindled#post-720107 Tue, 16 Apr 2013 13:24:30 +0000 oahujeni 720107@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Slightly creeped out that they posted here, but I did more research and decided to continue with the process in donating to them. @mrs green grass &amp; @msmini: I'm glad to hear from someone who is familiar with HMF first hand! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/donating-breast-milk-am-i-being-swindled#post-719857 Tue, 16 Apr 2013 12:10:35 +0000 MsMini 719857@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I don't think anyone should discount the importance of HMF for premature babies. I have been an NICU nurse for 6 (almost 7) years, and I honestly don't know what we would do without it. Direct hospital donation does not achieve the same goal as HMF. HMF is a concentrated (powder) form of human milk, that is mixed with breastmilk to increase the calories and nutrition of the milk which those teeny tiny babies so badly need to help them grow and develop. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/donating-breast-milk-am-i-being-swindled#post-719838 Tue, 16 Apr 2013 12:06:01 +0000 Maysprout 719838@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs Green Grass: Hospitals can do the testing themselves. Not all hospitals will accept donations but some will. I think a lot go through HMBANA. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/donating-breast-milk-am-i-being-swindled#post-719834 Tue, 16 Apr 2013 12:04:57 +0000 Mrs Green Grass 719834@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Maysprout: no hospital will take direct bm donations because it has to be strictly tested first. Some hospitals won't even use donated breast milk at all. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/donating-breast-milk-am-i-being-swindled#post-719832 Tue, 16 Apr 2013 12:04:53 +0000 HabesBabe 719832@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Wow... </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/donating-breast-milk-am-i-being-swindled#post-719828 Tue, 16 Apr 2013 12:02:51 +0000 immabeetoo 719828@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Maysprout: they probably just have a google alert set up for their company name... I just appreciate that they were at least direct &amp; transparent and didn't register and pose as a random person who wasn't affiliated with the company! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/donating-breast-milk-am-i-being-swindled#post-719823 Tue, 16 Apr 2013 12:01:08 +0000 Maysprout 719823@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I'm a bit creeped out that Prolacta seems to have cyber stalked you. I think it's odd for companies to turn a profit on donations so I'd probably prefer donating directly to the hospital. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/donating-breast-milk-am-i-being-swindled#post-719785 Tue, 16 Apr 2013 11:51:25 +0000 Mrs Green Grass 719785@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I didn't read the article, BUT human milk fortifier is critical for premature babies. It may be a racket which a lot of medicine is...but that doesn't mean your milk isn't going to the neediest babies. Thanks for your donation!</p> <p>(My son got HMF added to my breastmilk for the first 2 or 3 months of his life. He was born at 25 weeks and in the NICU for nearly 5 months.) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/donating-breast-milk-am-i-being-swindled#post-719617 Tue, 16 Apr 2013 11:00:12 +0000 SusanfromProlacta 719617@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>OAHUJENI, I’m glad you are researching your options to donate breast milk but sorry to hear about your concerns of donating through a milk bank affiliated with Prolacta. We appreciate you donating your excess milk to help those in need and want you to be comfortable knowing when you donate your milk to a Prolacta milk bank, it’s going to help save many fragile lives. Our vision is to help save premature babies and with your help we can do that. If you have other questions, I’d be happy to answer them. Don’t hesitate to contact me at <a href="mailto:sneumann@prolacta.com">sneumann@prolacta.com</a>. Sincerely, Susan Neumann </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/donating-breast-milk-am-i-being-swindled#post-707929 Thu, 11 Apr 2013 12:40:17 +0000 purrpletulips 707929@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I donated some of mine to my neighbor, her LO was reacting badly to every formula they tried and she just wasn't producing enough. I found out she was looking for donations from a post she made to Human Milk for Human Babies on Facebook. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/donating-breast-milk-am-i-being-swindled#post-707924 Thu, 11 Apr 2013 12:38:00 +0000 anbanan15 707924@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I donated mine directly to an adopted baby through a mom I found on our local Facebook chapters of Human Milk for Human Babies and Eats on Feets (she was on both). I had looked into a milk bank, but I was donating a freezer stash of milk that DS could not have (expressed while eating foods he was allergic to) and wasn't sure if a milk bank would take it. I liked that I was able to give it directly to someone and not have it profited out. I did do a sort of "screening" of my own in which I asked potential recipients some questions to find someone that I was most comfortable with donating since in essence I was giving them apart of myself. The mother was really thrilled by this and asked her own questions back. We have actually become friends through the process and I cannot look at that baby without thinking how I fed her for the first 6 months of her life :). </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/donating-breast-milk-am-i-being-swindled#post-707907 Thu, 11 Apr 2013 12:33:17 +0000 mamimami 707907@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I would not want to donate to any case that ultimately has a business motive, so I don't think I'd be comfortable with this. Especially with what seem to be deceptive marketing tactics. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/donating-breast-milk-am-i-being-swindled#post-707904 Thu, 11 Apr 2013 12:32:53 +0000 immabeetoo 707904@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Fascinating. I personally would explore other options. I'm donating my small amount that I can't use through human milk for human babies. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/donating-breast-milk-am-i-being-swindled#post-707871 Thu, 11 Apr 2013 12:20:46 +0000 oahujeni 707871@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Has anyone here donated breast milk? I have almost completed the process of getting approved to donate to a milk bank that is sponsored by Prolacta, a bioscience company that turns it into human milk fortifier which is given to babies in the NICU.</p> <p>I was feeling really good about my decision to do so, but I just found this article online and wish I had researched it further before deciding on the first milk bank that was recommended to me.</p> <p><a href="http://www.justwestofcrunchy.com/2011/06/23/swindled-the-ugly-side-of-milk-donation/" rel="nofollow">http://www.justwestofcrunchy.com/2011/06/23/swindled-the-ugly-side-of-milk-donation/</a></p> <p>I'm Ok with them making a profit and I realize it has cost them quite a bit of $$ for me to go through the approval process (which has been easy for me and I haven't had to pay a dime.) They will even give me $300 towards a breast pump and provide me with as many freezer bags as I need. I am just now questioning my decision to go through them or should I have gone straight to a milk bank that gives the milk directly to hospitals instead of one that sells it? Something about knowing my milk is being sold for a profit (a profit I won't ever see) makes me truly feel like a milk machine.... But in the end they are doing something good and creating something for sick babies so all is good right?? </p>