"Donating milk wasn’t something I had always planned on doing... About two months postpartum I began to stock pile milk in the freezer in hopes of being able to sneak away for a few hours of me time. I had decided to nurse on demand and was really anxious about stepping away even for a few minutes, in case our little one needed to nurse. We had done some test rounds of bottle feeding and it had gone well, so eventually I felt confident to leave the house. Sure enough when I had returned home Finn had refused to take the bottle.
After more struggles and refusals we realized that he was a bit of a diva and wouldn’t drink milk that had been previously frozen! I felt so defeated, like all those hours of pumping had gone to waste. Then I decided to look into donating and came across NorthernStar Mother's Milk Bank. I inquired, went through the enrollment process, and shortly after found out I was eligible to donate! It felt so good to know that the milk would not go to waste and instead would be helping other babies thrive! It also gave me purpose and made pumping feel like less of a hassle.
Finn is now 18 months old and we have concluded our donation journey. If you are looking into donating and are unsure if it’s right for you I would definitely recommend reaching out to NorthernStar - the whole team is very knowledgeable and so lovely to connect with."