The Untold

Original version

BBC Radio 4 FM

BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

BBC Radio 4

Radio 4

Radio 4 (FM)

BBC Radio 4 LW

The Untold: The Milk Bank

The Milk Bank

BBC Radio 4 - The Untold, The Milk Bank

In a Hertfordshire lab, a technician carefully pours human milk into tiny containers.

In a Hertfordshire lab, a technician carefully pours hundreds of tiny containers of human milk and labels them ready for dispatch to babies in need around the country.

In a lab in Hertfordshire, a technician whisks a large jug of milk in a biosafety cabinet. He passes it through a sieve and pours it out into tiny containers, which are sealed and carefully labelled. The milk goes through a pasteurisation process and then it's packed into batches and frozen, ready for dispatch across the country by a network of volunteer bikers. This is the Hearts Milk Bank, a not-for-profit providing human milk to babies in need.

People approach the Milk Bank for all sorts of reasons. A baby may have come very early and the mother's own milk hasn't come in yet. A baby might be very ill in NICU and need the benefits of breastmilk. The mother may have had a mastectomy or be undergoing cancer treatment. Or she might be struggling to breastfeed and feel her mental health is suffering as a consequence.

And people donate for all sorts of reasons too. They may simply have an excess of breastmilk and want it to go to a good home. They may have lost a baby and find great meaning in donating their breastmilk to another family. They may have been the recipient of donor milk and now want to pay it forward.

In this week's Untold we follow the story of one family who approached the milk bank to request support. A couple with a unique situation... they are soon to have two newborn babies, but two newborn babies who aren't twins...

Produced and presented by Mair Bosworth for BBC Audio

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Factual: Life Stories

A series documenting the untold dramas of 21st-century Britain.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

The Untold

The Milk Bank

Genres

Series

BBC Radio 4 FM

About BBC Radio 4