The fastest way to find a breast milk donation site near you is through the Human Milk Banking Association of North America (HMBANA), which maintains an interactive map of accredited nonprofit milk banks across the United States and Canada. Most of these banks also operate satellite collection sites, called “depots,” in cities far from the main facility, so you may have a drop-off point closer than you think.
How to Find Your Nearest Milk Bank
HMBANA’s online directory at hmbana.org/find-a-milk-bank lets you browse an interactive map or scroll a list of every accredited bank. Each listing includes a phone number, email, and physical address. Milk banks exist in more than 20 states, with major locations in California, Colorado, Florida, Texas, Indiana, Ohio, and several others. Canada has accredited banks in Alberta, British Columbia, and Ontario.
If no milk bank appears near your city, call the closest one anyway. Many banks arrange home pickup through shipping kits. They send you insulated containers and prepaid labels so you can freeze your milk at home and ship it directly. Others partner with local hospitals or lactation centers that serve as collection depots. The bank’s intake coordinator can tell you which option works for your zip code.
Here are some of the larger U.S. milk banks that accept donors from wide geographic areas:
- Mothers’ Milk Bank (San Jose, CA) — 408-998-4550
- UC Health Milk Bank (San Diego, CA) — 858-249-6455
- Mothers’ Milk Bank (Arvada, CO) — 303-869-1888
- Mothers’ Milk Bank of Florida (Orlando) — 407-248-5050
- The Milk Bank (Indianapolis, IN) — 317-536-1670
- Mothers’ Milk Bank of Alabama (Birmingham) — 205-942-8911
- Mothers’ Milk Bank of the Western Great Lakes (Elk Grove Village, IL) — 847-262-5134
A quick phone call or email is the best first step. Staff at these banks walk new donors through the entire process and can connect you with your closest drop-off point.
Who Can Donate
Most healthy, breastfeeding people qualify. The screening process has three parts: a verbal phone interview, a written health questionnaire (which includes a section your healthcare provider fills out), and a blood test. The blood draw screens for HIV, hepatitis B and C, HTLV, and syphilis. The milk bank sends you a kit so you can have your blood drawn at a local lab, and results go directly back to the bank.
Plenty of common medications will not disqualify you. Multivitamins, iron supplements, thyroid replacement hormones, ibuprofen, acetaminophen, birth control, nasal sprays, asthma inhalers, and many antidepressants (including sertraline) are all generally accepted. If you start a new prescription, even something you take occasionally, you need to let the milk bank know. Because donated milk goes to premature and medically fragile babies, banks follow stricter medication guidelines than what would apply to nursing your own full-term infant.
Certain herbal supplements can disqualify you, since herbal products are not regulated for safety and their effects on infant health are not well studied. Alcohol doesn’t permanently disqualify you either, but you’ll need to wait at least 12 hours after drinking before pumping milk you plan to donate.
What the Donation Process Looks Like
Once you’re approved, you pump and freeze your milk at home following the bank’s storage instructions. Milk intended for donation is typically stored in your home freezer at around -20°C (about -4°F) and should be donated within a few months of expression. Banks prefer standard BPA-free collection containers and will often supply bags or bottles that meet their specifications.
When you have enough stored, you either drop it off at a depot, arrange a pickup, or ship it in the insulated kit the bank provides. At the bank, your milk is pooled with donations from several other screened donors and pasteurized using a method called Holder pasteurization, which heats the milk to at least 62.5°C (about 145°F) for 30 minutes. This kills bacteria and viruses while preserving most of the milk’s nutritional and immune properties. After pasteurization, the milk is tested again for bacterial contamination before being dispensed to hospitals.
The entire approval process, from your first phone call to your first donation, usually takes a few weeks. The blood test results are the main variable. There is no cost to you at any point.
Where Your Milk Goes
The vast majority of donated milk goes to neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) for premature and critically ill newborns. In 2024, HMBANA milk banks dispensed more than 11.6 million ounces of donor milk, a 9% increase over the previous year, and demand continues to outpace supply.
About 87% of U.S. hospitals with advanced neonatal care units now make donor milk available for their smallest patients, according to CDC survey data. More than half of these hospitals report that 80% or more of their very low birth weight infants receive donor milk. The clinical reason is significant: human milk reduces the risk of necrotizing enterocolitis, a dangerous intestinal condition in premature babies, by roughly 38% compared to formula in clinical trials. Observational studies suggest the reduction could be even greater.
Some milk banks also dispense to outpatient families with a prescription when supply allows, but hospitalized preterm infants are always the priority.
Why Milk Banks Matter More Than Informal Sharing
Online communities and social media groups where parents share breast milk directly have grown in recent years, but health authorities including the FDA and Health Canada have issued warnings about unscreened milk. Without donor screening and pasteurization, shared milk can carry HIV, hepatitis B and C, HTLV, and bacteria like salmonella and listeria. Poor hygiene during pumping or improper storage temperatures compound the risk.
Accredited milk banks eliminate these risks through the donor blood screening, health questionnaire, pasteurization, and post-pasteurization bacterial testing described above. If you have excess milk and want it to reach babies safely, donating through a bank is the most reliable path. And if you know someone looking for donor milk for their own baby, pointing them toward an HMBANA bank ensures the milk has been thoroughly screened and processed.