For National Breastfeeding Month, which takes place in August, the California Breastfeeding Coalition is leaning into the theme Together We Do Great Things by partnering with both nonprofit human milk banks in the state on an educational campaign focused on donor human milk awareness.
A toolkit with campaign resources will be released in late July.
At last week’s Quarterly Coalitions Meeting, Dr. Lisa Stellwagen of the UC Health Milk Bank and Jonathan Bautista of Mothers’ Milk Bank San Jose shared the current state of milk banking in California and provided an overview of the donation process.
Barriers for donations were discussed. According to Dr. Stellwagen, the greatest challenge is not in the blood work required of donors but in getting healthcare providers to return necessary documents verifying that donating milk wouldn’t pose a health risk to the donor or their child(ren). Attendees learned that the milk banks cover all costs associated with donation, including costs for lab work and shipping frozen milk.
If you or your organization is hosting events for National Breastfeeding Month or any of its associated observances, you can submit them to our calendar listing here.
Other observances during National Breastfeeding Month:
- Aug. 1-7: World Breastfeeding Week — Step Up for Breastfeeding: Educate and Support
- Aug. 8-14: Indigenous Milk Medicine Week — Theme TBA
- Aug. 15-21: Asian American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Breastfeeding Week — Telling Our Own Stories. Elevating Our Voices.
- Aug. 25-31: Black Breastfeeding Week — Theme TBA