Before going back to work, I entertained the notion of stockpiling future dinners in our freezer for ease and simplicity after long hard days rushing to and from office and daycare. However, it quickly became apparent that this was not an option - our freezer is stuffed to the gills with frozen breastmilk, leaving no room whatsoever for superfluous items such as - oh, I don't know - food.
I have been blessed with plentiful milk. This is wonderful, but also frustrating - wonderful because I don't need to worry about supply issues or supplementing with formula like so many of my mommy friends, and frustrating because my massive milk supply is accompanied by an overactive letdown. Carter will latch on, suck for a few seconds, and then let go, at which point several streams of milk will spray him in the face, up the nose, across the room...it would really be quite entertaining if he were capable of eating it all. However, half the time our nursing sessions end with Carter choking, gagging and pulling off, leaving me engorged and having to pump to get it all out. This in turn leads to bottle after bottle of expressed milk in the fridge, more than he can ever eat over the course of his usual day. Pumping at the office also leaves me with excess, as each pumping session equals at least five or six ounces - sometimes eight - more than the measly four ounces in each of his four daily bottles. Thus, more freezing and stockpiling.
Last week I thought of a brilliant idea - I would become a milk donor for the National Milk Bank! Brilliant! I applied online and eagerly awaited my opportunity to mail it all off to benefit needy preemies and be able to once again buy my beloved frozen soy nuggets from Trader Joe's.
Yesterday I received a reply - DENIED! Thankyouverymuch, they said, but since you were taking fenugreek (an herbal supplement meant to increase milk production) we can't take it. Evidently critically ill babies might not be able to tolerate it, so they can't take chances. I responded, clarifying that, as noted on my application, I stopped taking fenugreek back in December so perhaps they can take the past month's worth of milk off my hands. We shall see.
Thus, I am once again left with a couple hundred bags of frozen milk in our freezer. I am halfway tempted to post an ad on Craig's List - Excess Breastmilk Up For Grabs! No Diseases, I Swear! - but seriously doubt I would have any takers.
What to do with my liquid gold?
Hrmph.
2 comments:
You are more than welcome to store as much as you want in our big separate freezer. I bought it just for breast milk and I'm no longer adding to it. There is a bunch of room in there. You could put yours in a bag or a box and then you can keep it in there for a long time until you're ready to use it. My plan is to keep mine in there until I stop pumping and to give her all the frozen milk then. After that I'm selling the thing on Craigslist. But really, if you want to bring it over please do! It would also be nice to see you!
As sad as it was, I dumped SO many bags of frozen milk. Supposedly they only last three months or so and by the time Noah switched to whole milk I still had bags and bags left over. Seems wasteful now that I think about it.
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