Te Tai Tokerau’s first human milk bank, He Piripono Waiū, has opened at Whangārei Hospital to provide safe, pasteurised donor breastmilk to the region’s most vulnerable pēpi.
The free service prioritises premature and unwell babies in neonatal care and provides breastmilk donated by screened māmā with waiū to share.
“We have just recently opened our first milk bank in Te Tai Tokerau, which is based out of Whangārei Hospital,” says infant nutritionist Natalie Allen.
“We are quite rural up here and we don’t have a lot of services. Our closest milk bank is in Auckland, so we wanted to support our whānau in need.”
“Instead of only having the option of formula, we now are able to give them the option of breastmilk as well.”
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He whakapūmau i ngā tikanga o uki
Allen says breastmilk sharing is not new and remains a traditional practice.
“It’s been a traditional thing, not just in Aotearoa but globally as well, to awhi others in breastfeeding for whatever reason - illness, injury.”
“It was normal because they didn’t have access to anyone else. There was no discrimination or weird feelings about sharing responsibility with things like that - feeding pēpi. The main goal was just to awhi people however you could.”
“[It’s] not just the feeding part - the whole whānau dynamic that supports that. And also the future that breastfeeding can help set you up for.”
Allen says over 90 percent of māmā in Te Tai Tokerau exclusively breastfeed their pēpi upon discharge from hospital.
“Our research is looking at why that is and how we can use that mātauranga to translate throughout the country to support whānau in general - but specifically Māori - to continue breastfeeding.”
Mātāmua ko te waiū
Director of Midwifery for Te Tai Tokerau Sue Bree says the milk bank has been more than two years in the making.
“We will need to prioritise premature very vulnerable babies as our first priority because we know that they will benefit enormously.”
She says while generations have grown up drinking cows milk, ultimately, breast is best.
“Breast milk is human milk, made for humans. It’s unique - a unique form of food.”
“The composition of breast milk is different to the composition of cows milk, of course - and it’s been shown to have many long term health benefits - prevention, diabetes, obesity, allergies, so many things.”

He puna waiū, he puna aroha
One of the first donors, Ashlee Robinson, was inspired to give milk after her time in the neonatal unit.“I spent a month in the SCBU unit upstairs and I just could see the need,” Robinson says.
“Here I was, producing more than enough for my baby, and most of the other babies in the ward at the time were on the formula - it could just be easily distributed into all these babies that would benefit from it.”
Donors complete a health and lifestyle questionnaire and a blood test before donating. Milk is pasteurised, tested, and stored frozen for use.
“There’s quite a rigid rule after each bottle of milk that is pasteurised,” says lactation consultant Janine Parsons.
“A sample does get sent to the laboratory here at the hospital to ensure that everything is straightforward, and then it is frozen down and it’s available for access.”
Each batch of milk is tracked but donors remain anonymous. The team currently has five donors and hopes to grow to 30 annually, based on a similar programme in Palmerston North.

He paihere i te whānau katoa
Allen says it’s about more than milk.
“To me, breastfeeding is important because one, it’s connecting us to our traditions and our whānau and maintaining our connections.”
“I look at it as a way of making sure the hauora of the whole whānau is kind of one thing - like, when you are breastfeeding pēpi, whānau are encouraged to support mama and pēpi. So whānau need to be involved and there’s that little trickle-on effect.”
“It’s something that is natural - yes, that’s correct - but that doesn’t mean that it’s easy.”
“I would say to reach out and ask for help. There’s no shame in asking for support. And you wanting to breastfeed your child is to provide them with that support and aroha that they need to grow and flourish.”
For māmā wishing to donate waiū, please see Te Whatu Ora’s website.