What we do.
We are a community with a mobile app to bring you accessible and easy breast milk exchanging.
The MilkXchange Platform
We’re building the world’s first trusted and secure breast milk exchange platform, by parents and for parents.
We know first hand how hectic parenthood is, especially when it comes to babies. Our vision is to eliminate as much friction from the exchange process as possible. By making the match between milk providers (donors, sellers) and recipients nearly effortless, we’ll help you secure breast milk safely.
This means no more scrolling through an endless number of posts and comments, hoping that you’re the first to get there.
This also means that you can get to know your milk provider far better than you can imagine— knowing that they can be trusted, and what’s in your baby’s milk is safe.
Health Screening Services
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, very few diseases can be transmitted through breast milk. Despite this, we know just how important it is for parents to be sure that the milk from generous providers can be safe for their babies to consume.
MilkXchange provides at-home health screenings that include testing for the following diseases which can be transmitted via breast milk: Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Hepatitis B.
For a full list of contraindications to breastfeeding or feeding expressed breast milk, please refer to the CDC’s website.
Please also check out our Conversation Guide, which we encourage all providers and recipients on the MilkXchange platform to utilize when getting to know one another and prior to exchange.
Background Check on Milk Providers
The fundamental (and unspoken) rule in exchanging milk is the trust that’s foundational between the milk provider and the recipient. We know how important this trust can be in facilitating the initial conversations and all subsequent interactions.
MilkXchange requires a proper background check on all sellers on the platform, and gives recipients the option to request a background check on all milk donors.
What’s included in the background check:
Social Security Number Trace
Sex Offender Registry
Global Watchlist
National Criminal Database
County Criminal Database
Accessibility is a founding principle for MilkXchange and we recognize that the application of criminality is not linear. We welcome continued dialogue regarding the content above. Please engage with us here. All perspectives are appreciated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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We define a milk seller as someone who is providing breast milk at a cost, selling it to the recipient through our platform. A milk donor, on the other hand, is someone who is providing breast milk at no cost to the recipient.
In addition to the background checks we require, a seller is required to perform breast milk verification and a health screening in order to sell their breast milk. Donors are not required to undergo these services, but you may request a background check and/or health screening on the donor you’re connected to, for the peace of mind.
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We define donee as the person receiving breast milk without exchanging money with the milk donor. A buyer is the term we use for someone who is paying for the milk they receive from a milk seller. The term recipient is used to describe any individual who receives milk, whether via donation or purchase.
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If one of our milk sellers (or donors in certain cases) do not pass the milk verification and health screening you will be notified that they are no longer available to provide milk via the MilkXchange community.
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Pasteurization is the process of heating the milk mildly in order to kill off pathogens before packaging for storage and later use. There are a number of publications regarding the pros and cons of pasteurization of breast milk and the most common method, Holder pasteurization, all of which is summarized in this article. The Holder pasteurization method involves exposing the breast milk to a water bath which is heated to 63.5 - 64° C (146.3 - 147.2° F) for thirty minutes. Milk banks do this to the breast milk they receive as their primary “customer” are hospital NICUs and they are well equipped to perform this level of temperature precision. At MilkXchange, we support all individuals to make the choice they believe is best for their baby given their resources and capabilities. Regardless of your personal decision to pasteurize or not, please leverage our Conversation Guide before providing or receiving breast milk to further aid in your decision-making.
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Generally speaking, milk banks are not available for public access. The breast milk provided by milk banks are utilized by babies in the hospital– when they are first born and need supplementation or in the NICU. Milk banks pasteurize the milk and conduct thorough donor screenings. At MilkXchange, we have replicated as much of the screening process milk banks conduct and encourage our community to leverage our Conversation Guide to address additional screening topics not directly managed by the MilkXchange platform.
The MilkXchange App is Live!
