Table 3.

Additional reasons for wanting to donate milk.

Category	Reason	Example
Health reasons	Infant allergies	‘Expressed milk stash for 4 months but found out baby had a dairy allergy and didn't want it to go to waste’
	Own allergies	‘I have many food allergies myself and wanted to donate to mothers who wanted to give their baby breastmilk but struggled to exclude from their diet foods I'm allergic to (and therefore do not consume)’
Mental health and wellbeing	Helping heal a difficult breastfeeding journey	‘After ending up mostly expressing due to my baby developing bottle preference when I returned to work, and having had a very difficult breastfeeding journey from the start, donating helps me to feel more of a sense of success ‐ a positive to come out of the fact that my breastfeeding journey doesn't look how I wanted or planned’.
	Own wellbeing	‘It meant I could eat more chocolate. It made me feel useful when suddenly I was on maternity leave and wasn't being useful at work’
	Difficult birth	‘I had a bad birth experience and it made me feel empowered’.
	Passion about breastmilk	‘I'm a breastfeeding peer supporter and feel so passionate about the power of breastmilk that I really wanted to help’.
	Normalizing milk donation	‘I think donating breast milk should be normalized’.
	Dislike of the formula industry	‘The idea of formula companies profiting from unwell and tiny babies makes me rage’.
Practical reasons	No room in the freezer	‘My husband wanted space for food in the freezer!’
Encouraged to by others	Health professional	‘As a health care worker I had seen mothers donate milk and seen donor milk used and I always knew if I had a good supply I would want to do this too’.
	Experience of friends or family	‘My husband was a premature baby and his mum always mentioned how hard it was trying to express milk for him and then not being able to breastfeed’.
	Influence of others	‘My mum is an obstetrician and told me I had to (I wanted to really!)’
Ethical reasons	Moral impediment	‘I felt really lucky to have an excess of milk when others might not. For me I felt like it was morally the right thing for me to do’.
	‘Paying back’ good care	Pay back for the generally good antenatal/post natal care I received for my babies and wonderful care received under Tommy's recurrent miscarriage clinic.
Wanting to help others more broadly	Helping society	During the pandemic I wanted to help and support society in any way I could
	Making the world a better place	‘I watched the news and felt terrible about all the bad in the world. I like the idea of helping and breastmilk feels like the most heart felt of gifts’.
	Unable to donate blood	‘I am unable to donate blood due to health conditions and wanted another way to help others’.