The only 20 calorie shelf-stable donor milk on the market
Ni-Q is the only company offering both term and pre-term donor milk solutions with the scale and reliability to meet all market requirements.
When Mother's Milk Isn't Available
The best nutrition for premature and at-risk infants is a mother's own breast milk. When that's not possible, HDM Plus™ provides the next best thing - pure human donor milk without compromise.
Triple-Tested for Your Peace of Mind
Every donor and donation undergoes rigorous testing before and after processing. Our commercially sterile process eliminates bacteria and viruses that other methods can't.
HDM Plus™ - Nothing Added, Nothing Compromised
NO Synthetic Fortifiers
NO Preservatives
NO Artificial Ingredients
It starts with the health benefits of human-donated milk.
Breast milk from a nursing mother is best. But when it's not available, this is the next best thing. Learn how HDM Plus™is helping at-risk infants get the nutrition they need to grow up strong.
Essential nutrition for at-risk infants
The nutrients found in breast milk are crucial to the growth and development of premature and low birth weight infants. No kind of formula can provide what nature intended.
Pure human donor milk, nothing more
Not all human donated milk is the same. Many companies add synthetic fortifiers or preservatives to make it last longer. But not HDM Plus™. Learn just how different - and how superior - we are.
A precious gift from nursing moms
The milk we use comes from generous and caring moms like you. If you're nursing and want to share the gift of nutrition with at-risk infants, click below to learn more about donating.
Nature-Intended. Science-Enabled.
Not all donated milk is created equal. See how HDM Plus™ takes steps to provide the healthiest milk to at-risk infants.
No Synthetic Additives
Unlike other offerings, including formula brands, HDM Plus™ uses NO synthetic additives, stabilizers or preservatives.
FDA-Approved Handling
All of our handling, sterilizing and storage processes have been approved by the FDA for the highest levels of safety and health.
Triple-Testing for Safety
Every donor and donation is tested for safety both before and after the milk is received. For more information on our screening, click here ›
Calorically Enhanced
Using a proprietary (patent pending) system, HDM Plus™ is calorically enhanced - providing the highest nutrient content per ounce.
Temperature Controlled
Our state-of-the-art receiving facility ensures consistent temperature and minimizes freezing to preserve the highest nutritional content.
Commercial Sterility
HDM Plus™achieves commercial sterility, eliminating all bacteria and viruses unlike traditional frozen donor milk.
The next best thing to a Mother's Own Milk
When a mother’s milk isn’t available, HDM Plus is the right solution.
The Ni-Q Difference
Enhanced nutritional viability of our HDM that is also safer than frozen.
Guaranteed actual nutritional level and standardized caloric levels… every time!
Ready-to-feed (non-frozen) so you can focus on your patients rather than freezing & thawing.
Improved fortifier efficiency helping you to effectively control costs.
Are you getting these things in your donor milk? If you’re not, you should be!
We make every calorie and every donation count, providing healthy, reliable nutrition you can trust – whether your infant is at the hospital or at home.
Advanced Safety Standards
3rd-Party Validation (and a lot more).
We are dedicated to providing nutrition to those who need it most, so our focus on safety is nothing new. With rigorous screening and testing protocols (backed by independent review of every batch), we protect you and your patients.
| Consideration | NI-Q | FCMB (HMBANA) |
Info |
|---|---|---|---|
| Commercially-Sterile |
Ni-Q: With our proprietary stringent safety protocols, Ni-Q eradicates all viruses while maintaining nutrient viability. HMBANA: HMBANA donor milk is not commercially sterile and does not eradicate all viruses and bacteria, such as Bacillus Cereus or Botulism. (Lima, et al Study, 2017) |
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| Advanced Initial Testing – Accepting Donors |
Ni-Q: Ni-Q offers comprehensive donor screening protocols. Ni-Q requires its donors to pass microbial, alcohol, and drug testing panels, in addition to protein analysis to ensure the safety and validity of the donor milk. HMBANA: HMBANA performs a limited, one-time pre-screening for donors, covering the industry standards of HIV, HTLV, and Syphilis. |
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| Donation Shipment Protection – Temperature Tracking |
Ni-Q: Ni-Q utilizes temperature trackers in donor shipments to reduce the opportunity for bioburden contamination of donor milk. This ensures that each donation's temperature never exceeds 40°F. HMBANA: HMBANA does not offer any shipment temperature protections. |
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| Advanced Forensic Level Testing – Approving Donations |
Ni-Q: Prior to pooling and processing, Ni-Q tests every individual shipment received to ensure it meets our strict safety and quality requirements. Testing includes microbial, drug and alcohol, and protein analysis. 15% of the donor milk received does not pass this forensic level testing. HMBANA: HMBANA does not perform similar pre-production quality safety testing on the donor milk they receive. |
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| Advanced Testing – Post-Processing |
Ni-Q: Once a batch has been processed, Ni-Q performs a full range of microbial testing and detailed nutritional analysis using a third-party laboratory that's a leader in nutritional analysis. HMBANA: HMBANA simply tests for limited microbial contamination prior to refreezing its milk and shipment. |
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| Removal of Bacillus Cereus Bacteria |
Ni-Q: Agitated Retort Processing (used by Ni-Q) eradicates all traces of this bacteria. HMBANA: Holder pasteurization (used by HMBANA) has been shown in studies to not always effectively destroy Bacillus Cereus bacteria, which are toxins that can cause intestinal illness. (Lima, et al Study, 2017) |
Guaranteed Nutrition
Quality & Growth When It Counts.
You should expect that your HDM provider has made every effort to deliver the best nutrition to you and your patients, especially with what's on the line. Unfortunately, that's not always the case.
Nutrition comes from calories, protein, and macro & micronutrients. Growth comes in the form of increased weight, improved skeletal maturity, bone density… and requires the proper nutrients. We understand this and use 3rd-party validation to ensure we always deliver quality nutrition. So every time you order or use Ni-Q products, you can be confident that we don't just say we deliver the proper nutrition; we guarantee it!
| Consideration | NI-Q | FCMB (HMBANA) |
Info |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shelf Stable – Ready to Feed |
Ni-Q: Ni-Q products are completely shelf stable for up to 1 year and require no additional processing to use. Not frozen, so no thawing. HMBANA: HMBANA HDM is frozen so it requires thawing processing time and efforts, as well as freezer acquisition and maintenance costs. |
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| Standardized Reliable Nutrition Every Time |
Ni-Q: Ni-Q products offer standardized nutrition levels every time and guarantee nutritional levels at high levels of either 20 or 24 cal/oz (HDM Plus and HDM Boost, respectively) because we know NICU teams need to know the nutrition start point of its donor milk… every time! HMBANA: Regional Milk Banks do not have the ability to standardize every ounce of every bottle at any caloric count. This is due in large part to the small volume of milk per batch and their production model. As a result, calories/oz can vary from 13.1-16.6 cal/oz. (Individualizing Fortification of Human Milk Using Real Time Human Milk Analysis, Radmacher et al, Journal of Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine, 2013) |
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| 3rd-Party Nutrition Validation and Nutrition Labels provided |
Ni-Q: To guarantee nutritional levels are achieved, Ni-Q employs a third-party nutrition validation company, Eurofins DQCI, to validate our nutritional content. This information is used to produce a detailed nutrition label so NICUs can have confidence in knowing their nutritional starting point. HMBANA: HMBANA does not obtain 3rd-party validation and does not always provide a detailed nutrition label for the content of its HDM. |
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| 5 days of usage after opening |
Ni-Q: After opening, Ni-Q HDM can be used for up to 5 days with refrigeration to allow for efficient use of our HDM and minimize waste and cost. HMBANA: HMBANA HDM guidelines state that its donor milk should be used within 24hrs after thawing. |
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| Homogenized |
Ni-Q: Ni-Q HDM is homogenized so it delivers nutritional consistency of feeds, reduces clogging of feeding lines, and improves nutrient absorption. HMBANA: HMBANA products are not homogenized. Studies have shown unhomogenized human milk to result in inconsistent nutrition absorption experiences and feeding line clogging. (Ultrasonic Homogenization of Expressed Human Milk to Prevent Fat Loss During Tube Feeding, Martinez, et al, Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition, 1987) |
Trusted by Healthcare Professionals
“By using Ni-Q milk, we have reduced the amount of fortifier we had been using.”
Snehal Doshi MD – NICU Medical Director
Trusted by Healthcare Professionals
“Ni-Q has been a great cost savings for our hospital...”
Snehal Doshi MD – NICU Medical Director
Trusted by Healthcare Professionals
“We can’t afford NOT to use guaranteed nutrition donor milk!”
Laura Serke RD, CSPCC, LD, IBCLC - Sodexo Clinical Dietitian
Trusted by Healthcare Professionals
“Ni-Q finally offers us a Hospital Grade donor milk for our NICU.”
Laura Serke RD, CSPCC, LD, IBCLC - Sodexo Clinical Dietitian
Trusted by Healthcare Professionals
“Ni-Q helps optimize nutrition and maximize efficiencies in our NICU...”
Laura Serke RD, CSPCC, LD, IBCLC - Sodexo Clinical Dietitian
Trusted by Healthcare Professionals
“…we continue to experience comparable growth rates to the growth we saw with formula…”
Snehal Doshi MD – NICU Medical Director
Nursing moms provide the best healthcare for at-risk infants
Join the growing community of caring donors.
Ni-Q proudly supports the work of the St. Jude Foundation
