How to become a mother's milk donor?
Below is what you need to know about the registration process for the Public Mothers’ Milk Bank, the donor selection process and the instructions for donating mother’s milk. Give hope, one bottle at a time.
Registration process
The decision is made! You want to donate your surplus milk to help premature babies. Before registering to donate milk, check that you meet the qualification criteria.
Then, to become a mother's milk donor, simply consult the following resources and register:
Consent to human milk donation
Guide for Donating Mother's Milk
Registration form
Selection process
Note that following up on new registrations to the Public Mothers’ Milk Bank can take up to two weeks.
If you qualify based on the health questionnaire, we will ask you to provide a blood sample for testing. Sample collection is done by appointment at one of our Héma-Québec Donation Centres. During this appointment, you will be given bottles in which to collect your breast milk.
On your mark, get set, give!
Once you are registered and qualified, you can start collecting your surplus milk for the Public Mothers’ Milk Bank, in compliance with hygiene measures. To become familiar with these measures, consult the Information Guide for Donating Mother's Milk.
The Guide also contains all the instructions for storing your milk and sending it to Héma-Québec.
Plan to have your bottles picked up by Héma-Québec when:
- You have at least 20 bottles; or
- Depending/based on the storage space in your freezer; or
- At least one bottle has been stored for three months.
Keep the bottles of milk frozen until they are collected. Milk must not be thawed.
You must take your milk to the designated drop-off point. To do this, you must follow certain transport instructions:
- Milk must be kept frozen during transport.
- Place the frozen milk in a cooler or isothermal bag with ice packs to keep the milk frozen during transport.
- Transport time between your home and the drop-off point must not exceed one hour.
- Direct transport to the drop-off point is important to preserve the quality of the milk.
Contribute to research
On rare occasions, your donated milk may be used for teaching or quality control purposes. If your donation (or a portion of it) cannot be used by the Public Mothers’ Milk Bank, it may be used for research, with your consent.
