Donor milk volume and characteristics of donors and their children

Little is known regarding the effect of the characteristics of donors and their children on the volume of donor milk delivered to a human milk bank (HMB).

Our study aimed to determine the relationship between different social and demographic variables of donors and their infants with the volume of human milk delivered.

We included donors accepted at the Hospital Doce de Octubre HMB from January 1st, 2009 until April 31st, 2013, and who had finished their donation. Data of social and demographic characteristics of the donors and their children, and the total volume of DHM given were obtained from our HMB database. Included variables were previous donors, donor age, number of children, place of residence, gestational age of the infant at birth, child's age at the start of the donation, hospital admission, and death of the infant. A linear regression model was used to study the relationship between independent variables that were significant in bivariate analysis and the volume of donated milk.

A total of 415 donations from 391 women were included. The median volume of milk delivered was 3.1l (IQR-interquartile range-1.3-8.3l). In the linear regression model, previous donors, smaller gestational age of children, and the start of donation at earlier stages of lactation were associated with a larger quantity of HMB donated (p≤0.001).

Previous donors, smaller gestational age of children, and the start of donation at earlier stages of lactation are associated with a larger quantity of milk donated to the HMB.