Mother’s Milk Donation to a Human Milk Bank During Bereavement: Circumstances Associated with Completing the Donation Process

Abstract

Background:

Bereaved mothers describe positive experiences donating breast milk and negative experiences when not informed of opportunities to donate. Predictors of whether mothers donate milk are unknown, impairing efforts to optimize support in completing donation.

Objective:

To define circumstances associated with completing mother’s milk (MM) donation during bereavement.

Methods:

A retrospective cohort study included dyads of bereaved mothers and their deceased children if a child’s death occurred on-site at a quaternary care children’s hospital during 2016–2020, the child had documentation of MM availability, and age at death <24 months. The primary outcome was the completion of MM donation to the milk bank. Multivariate logistic regression measured associations between clinical variables and odds of completion.

Results:

Of 124 deceased children with documented MM exposure, 34 mothers (28%) of 35 of those children completed MM donation, donating a mean of 13.7 liters (SD 16.8). The child’s race/ethnicity documented in the medical record was White for 25 (71%), Black/African American (AA) for 1 (3%), Asian for 1 (3%), and Hispanic/Latino for 8 (23%). Referenced to mothers of White children, being a mother of an AA [OR 0.05 (95% CI: 0.01–0.43)] or Asian [0.08 (0.01–0.75)] child was associated with lower odds of donation. Referenced to mothers delivering full term (≥37 weeks’), mothers delivering <34 weeks showed higher odds [5.0 (1.5–17.5)] of donation.

Conclusion:

Relatively few bereaved mothers of children with indicators of MM exposure completed donation. The results suggest an opportunity to ensure bereaved mothers are uniformly informed and supported in donating.