A 21st Century Wet Nurse

I am a milk donor.

My little prince has decided that the breast is a much better source to eat from than the bottle (smart kiddo!). This means that he has decided to reverse cycle (very common with infants in daycare). So while he is at daycare he only takes enough milk to keep himself from getting hungry. In fact, he usually doesn’t even take his first bottle until about noon, and he generally nurses around 6am or sometimes 7:15am. However, I’m pumping twice a day at work. I end up pumping more than he drinks. For example, today he took about 7.5 oz at daycare and I pumped about 12 at work (12 is a low day for me). This means I have a nice little surplus built up. Hurray. Unfortunately I have a small freezer and no room or money for a deep freezer. Boo. So I decided to give some of my milk away to others in need. Hurray!!!!

At first I started by contacting the Mother’s Milk Bank. However they took a while to respond and then they wanted me to take a blood test and donate 100 oz at one time. I’m not sure my freezer could store 100 oz. Then I found Eats On Feets. Through my local Eats on Feets Facebook Chapter (gods, I LOVE social networking!) I met a mom in my area with a little girl just slightly older than my little prince who can’t produce enough milk for her baby. So at the end of September I gave her over half of my “stash.”

 

A few days ago I noticed my freezer was once again filling up with frozen milk. A few Facebook messages later and she came by this afternoon to pick up more for her daughter. I actually got to meet the little girl this time and she is even smaller than my LP! It already felt good to know that I was helping a little girl in need, but to see her and her how she’s finally gaining weight made me feel even more awesome.

It some sense, I am a 21st Century wet nurse, at it feels amazingly good.

Originally published at my baby blog. Please leave any comments there.