Milk

I have an oversupply issue. My oversupply is not to the point I leak all of the time nor is it to where Braylon chokes on it when he eats. However, I do produce more than Braylon currently eats. I started pumping when Braylon was two weeks old, so that he could have breast milk when I had class. At first it took me four to five days to pump the six to eight ounces he would need for the two days of class I had. Well, when he was around five or six weeks old I started producing a lot more milk. I began pumping only once a day in the morning after his feeding. I would end up with anywhere from five to seven ounces. This amount would be frozen for use at a later date. It was also around this time that Braylon decided that he would NOT take a bottle from me. If I was around and he could hear me or see me he would not take the bottle. However, luckily he would happily take it if he knew that he could not have the boob. It was also around this time that I got a nursing cover. Before this I was very self-conscious to nurse in public. I have always been pro-breastfeeding and have never had any issue with women doing this in public with a cover or not. However, when it came time for me to nurse I would get nervous. I was nervous of offending someone by feeding my child. My cover gave me more confidence to nurse in public and not care what other people thought of it. (I have currently nursed while walking in the zoo, at the mall, in restaurants, airports, airplanes, the laundry mat and many more!) Prior to the nursing cover and new self-confidence I would pump and bring the milk in a bottle, or use the milk I had already pumped. Now no longer needed that pumped milk. Over the past 10 weeks milk has been building up in my fridge. I barely have any room in there for frozen food. At last count I have over 300 ounces of milk frozen in the fridge with more being added every day. Additionally, with school over I do not see the supply diminishing anytime soon. So I have decided to donate my milk to a milk bank. I think I will be donating to a hospital in Denver (it is the closest hospital that has a program) and to an international program. The milk it screened and fortifiers are added and then hospitals or individuals can purchase it in order to help sick and premature babies. Also, the international facility donates 25 percent of the milk to children in Africa. I do not like the idea that both of the places charge mothers for the milk (3.50 an OUNCE! that is outrageous to me), however, all places do. There are costs on the facilities end of making sure the milk is safe and that the mother donating does not have any illnesses.  I have done the online applications and now am just waiting to get the blood tests done and then to be cleared. The process takes around six weeks to complete. I know this might sound lame but I am looking forward to give the best nutrients that a baby can get to other babies in need. It is something small that I can do.

Related, Braylon is growing so big. I weighed him today with me and he is around 15 pounds. I cannot believe that my baby that was a little over 5 pounds when I brought him home from the hospital is now 15 pounds at almost four months old! He is still exclusively breastfeed and I do not see it stopping anytime soon. We both love it!