Home > Baby > Feeding & Weaning > You Can Now Have Breast Milk Delivered To Your Door.

Yep, you read that correctly. Breast milk is now available on tap.

Ok, maybe it’s not that readily available.

But a new delivery service means there’s another option (other than formula) for parents who are unable to breastfeed.

Now, we completely understand how the concept might throw you off a little.

Tbh we had a lot of questions too.

So that’s why we caught up with Best Milk’s founder Dr Julia Sarno to find out what it’s all about, if it’s safe and why you might want to use it.

Why did you create Best Milk?

“I created the company because I experienced issues with breastfeeding, and I wasn’t able to access the NHS supply because my baby wasn’t sick or premature. After searching for a service like this, I realised there was nothing out there for me. By creating Best Milk, I hoped to provide a solution for other parents that experienced the same issue as me”.

Who would use it?

“A lot of parents can’t breastfeed, but they want to offer their children the benefits of natural milk. This might be because they have used a surrogate or they’ve adopted. There can be many reasons why someone might want to use the service. It could be that a mother needs to go in for an operation and wants their baby to have breastmilk while they can’t provide it”.

Where does the milk come from?

“We are a milk bank that collects and screens excess breast milk, which comes from wet nurses and we conduct direct screening of all the women that donate”.

How do I know it’s safe?

The screening process of our sharing mothers is rigorous, and every donation is thoroughly checked. We work with two top UK accredited (UKAS) laboratories, and we follow and support both our sharing mothers and the recipient families. We don’t accept donations from mums on antibiotics, antidepressants, painkillers, have mastitis or are Covid-positive. Every donating mother has successfully passed a serological screening, which tests for HIV-I & II, Hepatitis B (HBV), Hepatitis C (HBC), Syphilis and HTLV (human T-lymphotropic virus).

What happens to the milk after it’s donated?

“We test every donation, and if it passes the screening process, then it is professionally pasteurised to ensure any traces of bacteria or viruses are destroyed. All of its vital nutritional and immunological properties are maintained during the practice. The milk is then stored at the correct temperature, ready to be sent out for delivery”.

How much does it cost?

“Each case is individual. Some mothers can breastfeed, but aren’t providing enough milk for their babies, so they just need a top-up. It completely depends on the individual, and that’s a conversation that we will have with each parent. Our most popular 5000ml package consists of 25 bottles of pure breast milk and costs £500. This will feed a newborn for up to a month”.

How is it delivered?

“It’s sent out via a courier in a chilled container to make sure it stays fresh and at the correct temperature. Then dependant on the milk you’ve purchased you store it either in the freezer or fridge until you need to warm it up ready for your baby to drink”.

Is it available nationwide?

“Yes, we now use a very specialised courier that can deliver anywhere in the UK”.

Is this the only service in the UK?

“Currently, yes. It’s available in other countries, but other than the NHS, we are currently the only independent milk bank in the UK”.

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