Turning a curse into a blessing
The other day I sent in my first batch of donor breastmilk to the breastmilk bank in Bristol. I had an enormous sense of achievement finally doing this. I've wanted to do it since Merida was born and she's now eight!
I've always produced an excess of milk when my babies are small. People have told me I'm lucky and I can understand their point of view when a lot of women don't produce enough milk. However, it's more of a curse than it seems, but I am nothing if not determined. I've leaked, squirted and expressed my way to success.
When Merida was born I had naively thought breastfeeding would be easy. It was not. Poor Merida couldn't latch due to my engorged breasts and as a result I was constantly full and so I leaked. I've used nipple shields, nipple shells and nipple cream. I've expressed and bottle fed when latching didn't work and my babies needed milk. My two daughters lost a lot of weight and Rose was even admitted to hospital as she lost too much. However I was always determined to breastfeed as I had so much milk. even if that meant expressing form me and giving via a bottle.
When Rose was admitted the midwife said I needed to express enough to feed her within 20 minutes or they would have to give formula. She was badly dehydrated and I felt awful. I knew there was milk in there and I could get it out. She was my third baby and I'd gone through this before. I rose to the challenge and within those twenty minutes I'd expressed 120mls. For those who don't know that's a lot as newborns normally take little and often, 30-50mls. I soon became the talk of the ward at how much I produce and was soon praised highly by all the midwives, especially as Rose put on weight really quickly after having my milk direct from the source and the bottle.
I decided then to donate my excess milk to the fairly new milkbank. For both Merida and Finn I had thought of donating but there didn't seem a local milkbank to donate to. This time it worked out well and my first donation (roughly 1 litre) was sent in by the milk bike. See their great work here.
I feel so good and proud. I am helping those tiny premature or poorly babies who have trouble processing formula so it's not an option for them. And hopefully I relieve the stress of their parents.my milk goes across the southwest and all by doing what I would normally.
Putting it bluntly hooray for my boobs!! I've fought their excess for years and now I embrace it. But don't worry about Rose. She still has enough. Just look at the picture below! And that's only one freezer drawer!!!
I've always produced an excess of milk when my babies are small. People have told me I'm lucky and I can understand their point of view when a lot of women don't produce enough milk. However, it's more of a curse than it seems, but I am nothing if not determined. I've leaked, squirted and expressed my way to success.
When Merida was born I had naively thought breastfeeding would be easy. It was not. Poor Merida couldn't latch due to my engorged breasts and as a result I was constantly full and so I leaked. I've used nipple shields, nipple shells and nipple cream. I've expressed and bottle fed when latching didn't work and my babies needed milk. My two daughters lost a lot of weight and Rose was even admitted to hospital as she lost too much. However I was always determined to breastfeed as I had so much milk. even if that meant expressing form me and giving via a bottle.
When Rose was admitted the midwife said I needed to express enough to feed her within 20 minutes or they would have to give formula. She was badly dehydrated and I felt awful. I knew there was milk in there and I could get it out. She was my third baby and I'd gone through this before. I rose to the challenge and within those twenty minutes I'd expressed 120mls. For those who don't know that's a lot as newborns normally take little and often, 30-50mls. I soon became the talk of the ward at how much I produce and was soon praised highly by all the midwives, especially as Rose put on weight really quickly after having my milk direct from the source and the bottle.
I decided then to donate my excess milk to the fairly new milkbank. For both Merida and Finn I had thought of donating but there didn't seem a local milkbank to donate to. This time it worked out well and my first donation (roughly 1 litre) was sent in by the milk bike. See their great work here.
I feel so good and proud. I am helping those tiny premature or poorly babies who have trouble processing formula so it's not an option for them. And hopefully I relieve the stress of their parents.my milk goes across the southwest and all by doing what I would normally.
Putting it bluntly hooray for my boobs!! I've fought their excess for years and now I embrace it. But don't worry about Rose. She still has enough. Just look at the picture below! And that's only one freezer drawer!!!
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