Two parents cup their newborn's tiny feet in their hands

For Parents

YOUR milk
as the fortifier

If your baby needs extra calories, you may not need cow milk or donor milk to get there. We turn your own breast milk into a powder your care team can use to fortify your baby's feedings.

Designed for infants >1800g, under provider supervision.

100% your milk

Nothing is added. No cow milk, no donor milk, no preservatives. The powder is made only from the milk you pumped.

Tailored for your baby

We analyze your milk and your powder for calories, fat, protein, and carbs, then build a mixing recipe just for your baby.

Guided by your care team

Your baby's provider sets the calorie goal. We share every result and recipe with them and with you.

Support when you need it most

Have questions about feeding your baby? Our medical team is here to help.

Connect with Our Team
Colette, a NICU baby with a nasal cannula, rests beside a bag of Milkify Medical MOM freeze-dried human milk powder

Baby Colette

MOM Fortification Graduate 2026

Understanding fortification

Why some babies need more than breast milk alone

Some babies need more calories to grow. This can include babies born early, babies with medical needs, and babies who are not gaining weight as expected. To help, care teams add a fortifier to breast milk.

Many fortifiers are made from cow milk or donor milk. With Milkify Medical, the fortifier is your own milk, freeze-dried into a powder. Your baby gets more calories while staying on an all-breast-milk diet, when that is right for them.

Your care team decides if fortification is right for your baby and sets the calorie goal. We work with them every step of the way.

Join the conversation

You are not the first family to walk this road

Our community forum is a place to ask questions, share what has worked for your baby, and hear from other parents who have used their own milk as the fortifier. Our medical team reads along and answers too.

Coming Soon

Opens in a new tab. Free to read, free to join.

Family stories. Parents in their own words on the NICU, pumping, and bringing their baby home.

How it works

From your freezer to your baby

01

Talk with us

Our medical team learns about your baby and gets your provider's information.

02

Send your milk

You ship your frozen milk to us. It stays frozen until we freeze-dry it.

03

We test and freeze-dry

We analyze your milk, freeze-dry it with our contact-free SafeDry™ process, then test the powder.

04

Get your personalized recipe

You and your care team receive the powder and a mixing recipe built for your baby, so each feeding reaches the calorie goal your provider set.

Using your powder

How feeds are prepared depends on where your baby is

Your powder is mixed into your expressed milk using your custom recipe. Who mixes it, and where, can look different for each family.

If you prepare the feeds

Milkify sends you a measurement kit with your order. Use it with your recipe to measure the right amount of powder for each feed.

  • Measurement kit included
  • Mixing instructions made for your milk
  • The same recipe is shared with your care team

If your baby is in the hospital

A growing number of hospitals support in-patient use. When they do, your feeds may be mixed by the hospital milk lab or by nurses at your baby's bedside.

  • Mixed by the milk lab, or
  • Mixed by nurses at the bedside
  • Follows your hospital's own policies

Every hospital is different. Rules for using your powder vary by institution. Talk to your care team about what is permitted where your baby receives care.

The science

What your freeze-dried milk adds, and how we protect it

What your freeze-dried milk adds

  • Nutrients. Mixing a measured amount of powder into your milk raises the calories in each feed. Research shows fat, protein, and human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) remain intact after freeze-drying.
  • Bioactives. Feeds fortified to +6 kcal/oz using freeze-dried milk had about 21% more immune and bioactive proteins than unfortified milk. See the data

Safely made with care

  • FDA-registered food facility with SGS cGMP certification.
  • Our SafeDry™ freeze-drying process is contact-free, meaning that your milk never touches our equipment and each bag is tracked individually throughout the process. Milk is never thawed, and never mixed with other clients' milk.
  • Powder is packed in ISO 5 cleanroom workstations.
  • Every order gets a water activity test to confirm it is dry enough to store safely.

Matched to your milk

  • Every mother's milk is different, and it changes over time.
  • We test your milk and your freeze-dried milk with the Miris Human Milk Analyzer.
  • Your recipe tells you how much powder to add to each feed to reach the goal your provider sets.

Your voice matters

Talk with your care team about your preference

You can tell your baby's provider that you would like to use your own milk as the fortifier. Ask if MOM fortification could be right for your baby.

We can send your provider our clinical information and work directly with them on your baby's plan.

Want to read the research? A 2025 study in Nutrients by Rochow and colleagues looked at freeze-dried human milk as a fortifier for preterm babies and discusses the added minerals very low birth weight babies may need. Read the study and share it with your care team.

MOM fortification may be considered for:

  • Medically complex infants
  • Late preterm infants
  • Select surgical infants
  • Babies who need extra calories after going home
  • Feeding intolerance
  • Cow milk protein allergy
  • Faltering weight
  • Families who prefer an all-breast-milk diet

Candidacy is determined by the care team.

Paying for care

What's included, and your options for payment

One price covers the whole service. There are no add-on fees for shipping, rush processing, analysis, or the recipe. And you have several ways to pay.

Every fortification service includes

  • Overnight shipping on every shipment

    The kit to you, your frozen milk to us, and your finished order back home. All overnight, all included.

  • Expedited processing

    Your order is prioritized so your baby's fortification is not waiting on us.

  • Nutritional analysis at no added cost

    Both your baseline milk and your freeze-dried powder are analyzed for calories, fat, protein, and carbohydrates.

  • Recipe creation by a licensed dietitian

    A registered dietitian builds your custom fortification recipe to the calorie goal your baby's provider sets.

0% interest payment plans

Split the cost into interest-free installments at checkout.

See pricing

FSA / HSA

Pay directly with your FSA or HSA card at checkout, or submit for reimbursement.

How to pay with FSA/HSA

Insurance coverage*

In select cases insurance may cover the service. Contact us for help assessing your coverage.

Ask about coverage

*Insurance coverage varies by plan and individual circumstances and is not guaranteed. Contact us and we will help you assess your coverage and prepare the documentation.

Financial assistance

MilkHaven Family Scholarship by Milk Drunk Club

The scholarship helps eligible families facing financial barriers access MOM Fortification. Three percent of every MilkHaven collection sale funds it. If cost is the thing standing between your family and a conversation with us, this is what it is here for.

Hear from parents

Select feedback from families who have used Milkify's fortification service.

Blair kissing her daughter Colette in the hospital
As a mom of a medically complex baby, being able to fortify Colette’s feeds using my own breast milk has meant everything to us. Milkify has allowed us to give her the extra nutrition she needs while preserving the benefits of my breast milk. It’s been a game changer in her feeding journey, and I’m so grateful this option exists for families like ours.

Blair A.

Via email

I am so happy to have found Milkify. I have a tube fed baby that needed extra calories through fortification, which was with formula in the beginning. She did not tolerate it well and I researched and came across Milkify — they have been a life saver! Our baby is calmer and happier in just the one week we’ve been away from formula. The team there has been wonderful helping come up with a formula to use to fortify with the freeze dried milk and the entire experience has been great!

Brittany Knight

Via Google review
Our daughter needs to gain weight for her second heart surgery in November. After refusing three different formulas being added to my breast milk, we found Milkify. Using my own powdered breast milk as a fortifier has been perfect for her weight gain! Milkify made the process really fast and easy and even provided the recipe we would need to specifically add an additional 2 calories per bottle. Very thankful this company exists.

Chelsea Peterson

Via Google review
Milkify gave my baby, my family, and me the breathing room we so desperately needed. Weight gain had been a constant struggle, and fortifying with formula only made things worse — my baby couldn’t tolerate it, cried endlessly, and we never reached the calories our doctor recommended. Everything changed when we began fortifying with my own breast milk. The fussiness disappeared, and his weight gain took off without any adjustment period. After four months in the NICU, two surgeries, and countless tears, Milkify helped give our boy back, and that is something I will carry with me forever.

Annie A.

Via email

I have a baby who has significant reflux and feeding issues. At 3 months old he developed a feeding aversion and dropped to the 1st percentile. Because of his reflux our Dr did not want to fortify with formula. I found Milkify and we are currently using it to fortify his bottles to try to get some extra calories. He’s had no problems with the powder and it hasn’t caused any reactions with his reflux. This company has been a godsend for our son and my mental health.

Lauren Williams

Via Google review
My daughter has a cleft palate and needs super high calories to meet her needs. I began searching if mother milk fortifying was a thing and found Milkify. It has been such a blessing because while I do make plenty of milk she can’t take in the volume she needs to gain weight, so enter Milkify. Since using this as a fortifier for her bottles she’s been gaining weight. Before this we were literally trying everything and nothing worked until now. Yes it’s an investment but if you’re doing the hard work of pumping your liquid gold give yourself this gift. It’s SO worth it!

Nicole Mesita

Via Google review
I’m in absolute shock — 48 hours of fortifying with Milkify instead of formula and her GI issues have completely turned around! Before she was projectile vomiting 3–4 times per day (losing so much of her feeds) and could only poop 1–2 times per week. In the past 48 hours she hasn’t thrown up once and she’s had 3 poops. We’re so hopeful that she’ll start gaining some good weight now!

Caroline Bauer

Boston Children’s parent, via email

Liberty is tolerating the fortified EBM quite well and is putting on weight steadily now. Her bottle feeds are going much faster than they had been, too, so she really seems to like it. I feel so much better about fortifying with actual breast milk than with formula or HMF. I’m so grateful I found Milkify!

Brandon Church

Via email

Big fan of Milkify! We needed to fortify my son’s bottles so we used Milkify. It added extra calories to every feed which was crucial for his growth. I loved being able to fortify my breast milk with my own freeze dried breast milk.
Milkify has allowed us the freedom to fortify with our own breast milk and not have to worry about finding a formula that may or may not work. They were quick and easy to work with and have made all the difference on my pumping journey… no ounce wasted!

Elizabeth Ashwill

Via Google review
I ordered from Milkify to avoid formula use for fortification & it’s working great! My baby has a medical need in which she has trouble gaining weight & so we have been recommended to fortify my baby’s bottles. I wanted to avoid heavy formula use & so opted to freeze-dry my own milk for the fortification. Turnaround time was fast & it’s working beautifully to help my baby gain an ounce a day. So thankful for this service. Will be ordering again.

Gerilyn Burnett

Via Google review
I am so excited to have found this service. We have been fortifying my son’s milk since birth due to a rare genetic disorder. When I found out about Milkify, I knew we needed to try it! My son accepted the freeze dried milk immediately (had previously rejected frozen breastmilk) and it has helped calm some of his reflux already from the formula fortification. Truly an investment worth making for us!

Kelly Plemons

Via Google review
Milkify has surpassed my expectations. When looking for a way to naturally fortify my daughter’s bottles I found Milkify and couldn’t be happier with my experience. The entire Milkify staff has made the process easy and enjoyable. Whether that be answering my questions about recipe changes or making sure my next order was processed quickly the Milkify team has been accommodating. I love knowing she’s getting all the calories she needs without the added ingredients in formula. She is growing and thriving thanks to Milkify!

Kathryn Cooke

Via email

Our daughter was born with Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia. During our NICU stay, she wasn’t really gaining weight. It was recommended to fortify my breastmilk to give her extra calories, and I did not want to have to give her formula. I reached out to some medical moms on social media and one shared about Milkify! It’s truly been the biggest blessing for our daughter to add calories to fresh breastmilk with my freeze dried breastmilk. Milkify’s team has been amazing to work with and even expedites my orders if I’m running low on powder. They’re also willing to communicate with my daughter’s medical team. Our daughter has gained 6 pounds in 5 months and I know it’s because of the extra calories from her fortified milk! She also had some episodes of vomiting and after about 6 weeks of being on fortified breastmilk, they completely stopped.

Tiffany Sneider

Via email

Questions parents ask

What is a fortifier?

A fortifier adds calories and nutrients to breast milk. It can help babies who need to grow faster than breast milk alone allows. With Milkify Medical, the fortifier is a powder made from your own milk. Many other fortifiers also add extra protein, vitamins, and minerals. Your freeze-dried milk adds calories and more of your own bioactives, but it does not raise protein, vitamins, or minerals to the same levels that some other fortifiers do. This is why it is important to talk with your care team about whether this option is right for your baby.

Do you add anything to my milk?

No. We do not add any ingredients, preservatives, or additives. The powder is 100% your own milk.

Can I do this without my baby's provider?

No. This service is designed for use under medical supervision. Your provider sets the calorie goal, and we share all data and instructions with your care team.

Is my baby a candidate?

MOM fortification may be considered for medically complex infants, late preterm infants, select surgical infants, babies who need nutrition support after discharge, feeding intolerance, cow milk protein allergy, faltering weight, and families who prefer an all-breast-milk diet. Your care team decides if it is right for your baby. It is designed for infants over 1800g.

Is freeze-dried breast milk safe?

We operate an FDA-registered food facility with SGS cGMP certification, and our SafeDry™ process keeps milk from touching equipment at every stage. Freeze-drying does not sterilize milk, so safe handling at home and keeping milk frozen until it ships also matter.

Does my milk get thawed?

No. Your milk stays frozen at our facility until it is freeze-dried. This avoids the damage that thawing and refreezing can cause.

How long does the powder last?

Sealed in our high-barrier mylar bags, the powder is shelf-stable for up to 3 years without refrigeration. After you open a pouch, follow the instructions that come with your order.

Does the powder have all the vitamins and minerals my baby needs?

Not always. The powder matches your own milk, so it is not standardized for vitamins and minerals. Your care team will check if your baby needs extra supplements.

Questions about cost? See pricing or coverage resources for insurance, HSA/FSA, and documentation support.

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