In some cases, surrogacy journey for gestational carriers is not over when they give a birth to a baby. Sometimes, surrogate mothers are willing to pump and ship breast milk for a newborn. It is important to keep in mind that breast milk shipment is not mandatory! The decision is usually made based on the agreement between intended parents and surrogate mothers.

On a side note, many surrogates do want to pump, as it gives health benefits not only to a baby but also a surrogate mother as well.

If you are willing to pump/ship your breast milk, you might have a number of questions regarding the process and necessary supplies. Medvisit Global® is happy to provide a brief guide that will answer all your possible questions.

What items are needed to ship breast milk?

• Pump
• A cardboard box (preferably large enough to fit all your breast milk)
• Tape to seal off a package;
• Bags where you can store your milk
• Newspaper for packing purposes
• Styrofoam cooler
• Dry ice/blue ice

Process

Once your milk is pumped and stored into breastmilk storage bags, place them in a freezer for at least 24 hours so that the milk will remain frozen while shipping. Please consider to leave extra room for the milk to expand as it freezes.

You can bundle the bags of frozen milk into so called “Ziplock bags.” In case one of the bags of breastmilk leaks, the zipped bags will ensure the safety of the whole shipment.

Step #1

Get a cardboard box ready to pack

Step #2

Place dry/blue ice on the bottom of Styrofoam cooler

Step #3

Cover the ice with newspaper (breastmilk bags are not supposed to touch ice)

Step #4

Place the bags of breastmilk on top of the newspapers

Step #5

Add another layer of newspapers

Step #6

Add another layer of dry/blue ice

Step #7

Put the lid on the cooler and tape around all of the seams with the packing tape

Step #8

Place the cooler into the cardboard box and fill the gaps with additional newspaper so that the cooler stays stable in the box

Your breastmilk is now ready to be shipped!