Donating Breast Milk

As I mentioned in my last post Pumping...A Love ~ Hate Relationship. I was able to store up about 5000+ ounces and we bought a deep freezer to store it all. When my son turned nine months old I realized there was no way we would use all of of this milk... Yes, I could give it to him in a bottle or a cup, use it for cereal, but our BFing relationship was going strong and I saw no immediate future need for all of it. I tried to make Breast Milk Butter out of it (I wasn't successful), even looked into Breast Milk Recipes. I didn't see a need for that.

What I really wanted was the milk to be used for babies who need it. I looked into donating it to a Milk Bank, but everywhere I looked someone was profiting from my free breast milk. That just didn't sit well with me. I wanted it to go to babies in need at no expense to the parents. I could not find a place like that. After countless hours scouring the Internet I started reading more and more about mom to mom milk sharing. Really this idea isn't new. Women have used wet nurses and crossed nursed since the dawn of time. How else did babies survive before formula when a mom was unable to nurse?



I decided that was what I would do. I found a few resources Milk Share and Human Milk 4 Human Babies. I posted on the sites that I had breast milk available to donate. I was surprised at the many responses. I was able to donate to a few different women. I didn't want to give it all away at once in case something happened and I did end up needing it. I donated frozen breast milk on four different occasions twice to the same baby. These moms were so grateful! They truly believed in the importance of breast milk and really went out of there way to provide it to their babies. I even had the privilege of acting as a wet nurse on one occasion.

I know that this subject makes a lot of people uncomfortable or grossed out. I had friends tell me that it was gross and they couldn't believe I did that. To me it was just what seemed right. Breast milk is made for babies, cow's milk is made for cows. Who else would I give this milk to. There was no way I was dumping it. It was hard work! This was the perfect solution! I donated the last of my frozen stash when my son was about 14 months old.

Maybe this is why I was so open to sharing breast milk. My mom went back to work when I was a few months old and her sister nursed me while she worked (my cousin and I are a month apart). I am so grateful that my aunt did this. I was able to receive breast milk longer then I would have and I am sure it took some stress off my mom. As far as bonding went, my mom is my mom and we are so close! She means the world to me, I know I can count on her for anything. We have a great relationship. She has all ways done what she thought was best for her children. And you know what, my aunt is pretty damn special to me too. We are very close, but it never interfered with my relationship with my mom.

My goal is to help normalize breast feeding and this was just another way to help a fellow mom. Nursing is hard, pumping is hard, but you know whats harder??? Wanting to be able to give your child breast milk and being unable to do so. If you were blessed with a surplus of breast milk consider donating it. Did you know that World Health Organization order of recommendation for women who are unable to provide their infant with there own breast milk is breast milk from a healthy wet-nurse or a human-milk bank then formula?