FirstSteps Donor Milk Program

FirstSteps Donor Milk Program provides nourishing human breast milk to premature babies in the newborn intensive care unit at Methodist Children's Hospital and NICUs around the country. Eligible mothers in the San Antonio area can now donate their excess breast milk to help premature babies who will greatly benefit from it.

Methodist Children's Hospital partnered with Prolacta Bioscience to provide standardized and pasteurized human milk-based formulations to help these tiny babies grow stronger. These human milk products produced from the FirstSteps Donor Milk Program are sold to hospitals to provide the benefits of a 100 percent human milk diet to premature babies.

Mothers of premature infants are sometimes unable to provide their own breast milk due to their baby's early arrival. Breast milk provides protection against many illnesses, and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends it for the first year of life. These human milk products produced from the FirstSteps Donor Milk Program will provide the benefits of a human milk diet to premature babies.

Nursing mothers who want to help can be prequalified to make sure they are healthy enough to donate. Review the frequently asked questions to learn more about the qualification, pumping, freezing and shipping processes. You may also be eligible to be reimbursed for your breast pump.