Just in case other people might know since I didnt till recently, the stashed away and sharing part is normal. I have a one month old and my wife pumps so I can feed the baby breast milk when my wife is unable to breastfeed since it can be better for the baby than formula. We freeze portions of it so that when she returns to work or travels, I’ll have a stash to defrost and feed our baby. It’s kinda normal for people who overproduce to share that milk with others who want their babies to drink breast milk but are unable to for a multitude of reasons (medicines, chemo, unable to produce, etc). We may look into donation options since the milk is only good for 4 months in the freezer and it would be great to be able to help a family in need (like a mom undergoing cancer treatments) and it looks like we’re trending towards overproduction. There are services that can help with verified matching.
I mean, there are people on this planet who haven’t gotten vaccinated, and there’s nothing I can think of that would make them any more or less likely to freeze extra breastmilk
At my height of producing I had a chest freezer full. I was collecting 2-3 times what we needed for her bottles each day, while also still breastfeeding several times a day. My goal was to donate. But when I went back to work I gradually lost my supply. I was still producing but each week was a little less and a little less. We ended up going through almost every bag in the freezer by the time she was a year old.
Also, be aware that some donation places require blood tests to be done before they’ll accept donations and they’ll only accept milk pumped after the results. If you donate to an individual they likely won’t care.
Isn’t breast milk customised to the specific baby based on the input the mouth provides the nipple? So if someone else were to use it, especially for just 4 days, they might as well use formula also?
Yes! And beyond being customized for what the baby needs at that given time, also includes immune stuff to help the baby fight whatever sickness the mom might be fighting at the time. So even for us, there’s a downside to not using fresh breastmilk. However, the understanding that is even with those differences, all the extra stuff breast milk is packed with make it better for babies even if not tailored for what that specific baby needs at that time.
The other important call out - formula is fine. Many moms feel pressured on breastfeeding because of the benefits, but there are tons of reasons outside moms control that breastfeeding might not work. Or even just so much challenge with doing it (like having to wake up in the middle of the night every night to pump). It’s perfectly okay to not breastfeed and use formula, and lots of moms feel undue pressure and stigma which is unfair if the don’t/can’t.
I also worry about people who have “unvaxxed donor milk” “stashed away.”
Just in case other people might know since I didnt till recently, the stashed away and sharing part is normal. I have a one month old and my wife pumps so I can feed the baby breast milk when my wife is unable to breastfeed since it can be better for the baby than formula. We freeze portions of it so that when she returns to work or travels, I’ll have a stash to defrost and feed our baby. It’s kinda normal for people who overproduce to share that milk with others who want their babies to drink breast milk but are unable to for a multitude of reasons (medicines, chemo, unable to produce, etc). We may look into donation options since the milk is only good for 4 months in the freezer and it would be great to be able to help a family in need (like a mom undergoing cancer treatments) and it looks like we’re trending towards overproduction. There are services that can help with verified matching.
The unvaxxed part is unhinged as fuck though.
That’s perfectly common. But I’m sure you’ll donate it properly with appropriate screening, and aren’t hoarding it because of antivaxxer nonsense.
It was the unvaxxed donor milk part.
Just stashing it away makes sense.
I mean, there are people on this planet who haven’t gotten vaccinated, and there’s nothing I can think of that would make them any more or less likely to freeze extra breastmilk
At my height of producing I had a chest freezer full. I was collecting 2-3 times what we needed for her bottles each day, while also still breastfeeding several times a day. My goal was to donate. But when I went back to work I gradually lost my supply. I was still producing but each week was a little less and a little less. We ended up going through almost every bag in the freezer by the time she was a year old.
Also, be aware that some donation places require blood tests to be done before they’ll accept donations and they’ll only accept milk pumped after the results. If you donate to an individual they likely won’t care.
Everything about pregnancy is somehow really fucking weird, but also perfectly reasonable at the same time.
Isn’t breast milk customised to the specific baby based on the input the mouth provides the nipple? So if someone else were to use it, especially for just 4 days, they might as well use formula also?
Yes! And beyond being customized for what the baby needs at that given time, also includes immune stuff to help the baby fight whatever sickness the mom might be fighting at the time. So even for us, there’s a downside to not using fresh breastmilk. However, the understanding that is even with those differences, all the extra stuff breast milk is packed with make it better for babies even if not tailored for what that specific baby needs at that time.
The other important call out - formula is fine. Many moms feel pressured on breastfeeding because of the benefits, but there are tons of reasons outside moms control that breastfeeding might not work. Or even just so much challenge with doing it (like having to wake up in the middle of the night every night to pump). It’s perfectly okay to not breastfeed and use formula, and lots of moms feel undue pressure and stigma which is unfair if the don’t/can’t.
You can get STDs from breast milk. But we wouldn’t want life saving antibodies, oh no.
https://imgur.com/gallery/nW6zlH5