Shipping Breast Milk - Breastfeeding Matters

Shipping Breast Milk
Vancouver Victoria A Guide for Victoria Donors
1 A Guide for Packing and Shipping Your
Breast Milk
Once you have collected 3 liters (100 oz) or more of milk, it’s time to ship it! This can be a worrisome task. The following slides will explain and illustrate some packing and shipping information that will ensure that your milk will arrive -­‐ still frozen -­‐ to the Milk Bank at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Vancouver. Before you start packing your milk… Please read through all of these slides. There are certain things that you should do or have before you start packing. 2 24 Hours Before You Start Packing
1.  Email or call the Milk Bank to ensure that someone will be there to receive your milk. You must only ship your milk between Monday and Thursday. There will be no one available to receive the milk over the weekend. Because delivery is overnight, any milk shipped from Victoria on a Friday would not be received until Monday morning. 2.  Put 6 – 10 ice packs (see Ruth McAllister) in your freezer at least 24 hours before you intend to ship your milk. 3. If you’re going to have your milk picked up, call DanFoss Couriers the day before to arrange the pick-­‐up time and place. See slides 17 and 18 on pick-­‐up vs. delivery of the milk to the courier. 3 Things You Will Need:
ü  Proper shipping container (contact Ruth McAllister) ü  6 to 10 frozen ice packs (contact Ruth McAllister) ü  Newspaper ü  2 to 4 large freezer bags ü  Packing tape ü  Felt marker ü  Shipping label © 2009 Al van Akker 4 Tips for Packing Materials
Shipping containers -­‐ Contact Ruth McAllister at [email protected] (she has access to free containers) Ice packs -­‐ It’s important to use ice packs… DO NOT USE ACTUAL ICE. Ice is warmer than frozen breast milk. If you pack your milk with ice, it will thaw quicker. You can now get free ice packs from Ruth McAllister (the same woman who provides the coolers). So don’t worry about having go out and buy any. Freezer bags – These keep the milk tightly bundled together so that it stays frozen longer. If you don’t have re-­‐sealable freezer bags on hand, use any available plastic bag and tightly pack as much milk into each bag as possible. Shipping address and information for the label -­‐ will be emailed to you by the Milk Bank. It comes ready to print. 5 When to Start Packing
Start packing within 1 hour of driving to the depot or having the milk picked up. If you pack earlier, ensure there’s enough room in your freezer to put the whole box in so that the milk it can stay frozen until pickup/delivery. TIP – Every bit of extra freezer time helps. When you start the packing process, leave your milk in the freezer while you gather the other things you need. 6 Preparing the Extra Insulation
The Newspaper is for extra insulation. To keep the contents as cool as possible, loosely crumple numerous sheets of newspaper to `ill in any extra space around the milk. This should be done before you take the milk out of the freezer. © 2009 Al van Akker 7 Now It’s Time To Go Get The Milk
Once everything is ready to go it’s time to go get the milk! This is a 5 liter shipment about to be packed up. © 2009 Al van Akker 8 Bundling the Milk
Tightly bundle the milk into the bags so that it’s as closely packed and air tight as possible. This will: •  Keep the milk colder for longer •  Protect the milk should damage to the box occur •  Catch any drips of condensation or milk leaks © 2009 Al van Akker 9 Start at the Bottom
Start with 1 or 2 ice packs at the bottom Add a bit of the crumpled newspaper at the bottom too. © 2009 Al van Akker 10 Add the Milk and More Ice Packs
Now you can add the bundled milk. Place 4 – 6 of the ice packs around the milk. © 2009 Al van Akker 11 Add Insulation
Add more crumpled newspaper to further insulate your milk. Avoid packing the newspaper in too tightly as that will reduce the effectiveness of this extra insulation. Add the last of the ice packs to the top of the milk © 2009 Al van Akker 12 Before You Seal the Box…
Check to make sure you didn’t miss any milk. Verify that your scissors, pen and/or cat did not get in the box by mistake. Add the Styrofoam lid. © 2009 Al van Akker 13 What if Your Cooler Didn’t Come With
its Own Box? If you’re lucky, you will be supplied with a cooler box like this one: However, you may receive a cooler that looks like this: © 2009 Al van Akker If you are given a cooler that doesn’t come with its own cardboard box, then once the milk is packed, tape the cooler closed. Ship the cooler in a cardboard box like one in which diapers are sold. Place additional crumpled newspaper between the cooler and the shipping box. I like using a diaper box because I often have one available, it’s the right size, easily identi`iable and it communicates “baby” which means that it’s not likely to be delivered anywhere else but the Children’s Hospital. 14 Seal the Box
Tape the box shut. To keep the precious contents as cool as possible, tape over all seams or cracks of the box where warm air could get in. If you’re re-­‐using a cooler box like the one pictured here, be sure to black out any of the previous shipping or contents information. © 2009 Al van Akker 15 Label and Mark the Box
Mark the sides of the box with something like: “Keep Cool, Contents Frozen” to remind any package handlers of the time sensitivity. Tape the shipping information sheet to the top of the box. I recommend that you tape over the entire sheet (with clear tape) so that there is no chance that any of the label will be removed or destroyed. Deliver between 9 am and 1 pm BC Women's Milk Bank Room D106 4500 Oak Street Vancouver, BC V6H 3N1 Contact: 604-­‐875-­‐2424 Extension 7634 © 2009 Al van Akker 16 Get the Milk to the Courier
Option A
Pick-­‐up: DanFoss will come to your house to pick up the milk if you call ahead. This is a great option for people who don’t have the time or the means to drive to the depot. Keep in mind: •  The further away you are from the depot, the earlier the pick-­‐up time will be •  On a hot summer day, you may not want your milk sitting in a hot truck while it conducts its tour of the town. •  People who live on the peninsula (Central/ North Saanich and Sidney) will have later pick-­‐ups because the depot is in Central Saanich. 17 Get the Milk to the Courier
Option B Delivery: If you can, you may prefer to deliver your milk to the DanFoss depot just in time to get loaded on the truck. This way it can spend a few extra hours in the freezer. DanFoss Depot: #10 -­‐6776 Old`ield Rd. 250-­‐382-­‐3278 Drop-­‐off time: Make sure the milk gets there by 4pm! 18 Shipping Costs (There are no costs to you) You don’t have to pay anything to ship your milk! Contact Breastfeeding Matters -­‐ South Vancouver Island to receive the shipping code. We pay for the milk to be shipped through membership fees, donations and fundraising. www.breastfeedingmatters.ca All shipping is done by DanFoss Couriers as that is where Breastfeeding Matters holds their account. 19 You Did It! Now that your milk has been shipped you can relax, knowing that you took every reasonable measure to make sure that your milk will arrive in good order. To put your mind at ease, someone from the milk bank will call or email you within a week to let you know that your milk was received and processed. If you want to know sooner, you can call or email to ask. They’ll be happy to answer any of your questions. © 2009 Al van Akker 20 THANK YOU! Thank you so much for your donation! This milk will be of great help and signi`icance to sick children. Your milk, time and effort will help to give premature and ill babies the best nutrition they can get to grow and recover quickly. If you’d like to know more about milk banking see the Info Sheets available here at www.breastfeedingmatters.ca or visit these useful websites: Photo © iStockphoto.com/realPHOTO www.bcwomens.ca BC Women’s and Children’s Hospital Milk Bank www.hmbana.org Human Milk Banking AssociaUon of North America www.milkbank.org Mother’s Milk Bank of AusUn, TX. Although this does not have informaUon specific to milk banks in Canada, there is a lot of great informaUon available about milk banks in general. 21 Acknowledgements
Breastfeeding Matters: South Vancouver Island BC Woman’s Hospital and Health Center Information for Breast Milk Donors handout Created by Women’s Hospital Lactation Services. Updated 2 October, 2008. Shipping suggestions and personal experiences from Kay van Akker, milk donor and Chair of Breastfeeding Matters, SVI. © 2009 Al van Akker Photographs of packing process by Al van Akker © 2009 Kay van Akker 22