Paying it Forward

I love nursing.  I enjoy knowing that I am giving my baby the best I can and I enjoy the bonding time it gives me with my baby.  I nursed both Ethne and Mr. E (yes, even after the accident) for just over a year each.  Mr. E was more of a challenge to get to that year, but after the accident I pumped until I was cleared to nurse him again, and it was totally worth it to me.

While Baby J was in the NICU I pumped breast milk for him.  I spent about 20 minutes of every 3-ish hours with a pump trying to get as much milk as I could for the day they would allow my sweet boy to eat.  Primary's has a special pumping room and freezer just for this purpose.  I quickly discovered that I had a more than ample supply and was pumping more than many of the other moms, I kind of became famous.  When Baby J was finally allowed to eat I would freeze half the milk from a pumping session and give the nurse the rest for him.  He had to start off slowly so he wasn't using very much milk.  Then, a few days before discharge they asked me to stay with him so they could observe him nursing for 36 hours.  So when Baby J was discharged they sent me home with all my pumped milk, to add to the freezer-full I had at home from night pumpings.  I had all this milk and couldn't foresee myself using it before it would "expire" (frozen breast milk is good for 1 year).


I asked about donating milk to Primary's, but you have to do blood tests before the milk is pumped, so that wasn't going to work.  Then I thought about selling it (apparently there is a market for that on Craiglist).  But that didn't seem a right fit either, after all, the milk was free for me and the hospital provided the bottles I used to store it.  Then I found a Facebook page called Human Milk 4 Human Babies- Utah.  It is an exchange where women who pump more than they need offer their milk to other women who, for whatever reason, can't provide breast milk for their babies.  Many of the moms looking for milk have adopted, had mastectomies, lost their supply, or have gland disorders, but they still want to provide breast milk for their babies instead of formula.  This seemed right to me.  We have been so blessed through everything, why not help bless someone else?  So I posted that I had a bunch of milk and waited to hear from someone that needed it.

That mom just came and picked up most of my pumped milk.  She has a sweet baby girl that will benefit from that milk that otherwise would probably have gone to waste.  Now I have room in my freezer again and she has milk for her baby.  It felt really good to help someone else and pay it forward at least in a small way.