It's time to change the recommendations on COVID-19 and human milk donations.

The COVID-19 pandemic has raised important questions about breast milk donors and the treatment of donor milk from human milk banks. Human milk has a very specific composition that is essential for premature infants, as it significantly reduces the risk of serious complications related to prematurity and improves long-term neurocognitive development. That is why donor human milk from certified milk banks is the preferred alternative for providing preterm infants with nutrition if their mother's own milk is insufficient or not available. It is often difficult for mothers who have delivered very prematurely to breastfeed their high-risk infant during hospitalisation and donor human milk is essential for their infant's optimal nutrition. However, donor milk may be unavailable, or only available in limited amounts, because there is a lack of donors or because the donor milk has been discarded due to bacteriological contamination.