I have an almost 10 month old son that is a very good eater. I am EBF him since birth and have over produced a deep freezer full of frozen breastmilk. I have heard that you can donate it or even possibly sell it. Not sure if you can donate the frozen milk or not since they have to do tests on it. Anyone ever donated or even sold their milk. Don't mean to start a big debate but just not sure what to do with the milk....Don't want to trow it out after I wean my DS.
I know someone who donated her milk to the local zoo for the baby animals.
You may want to look into that if it appeals to you.
Hi! I thought about doing this as well... The Indiana Mother's Milk Bank has a really informative site-
http://www.clarian.org/portal/IMMilkBank
I believe they come do a blood test and then send you freezer crates to ship the milk to them (they pay the shipping, dry ice, etc.) I think they pasturize it, or something so that it can last longer. Good luck with this! There are tons of people who can use it.
E.
If you go to www.breastfeeding.com you can learn about how to donate your breat milk to babies who desperately need it! - They actually have you freeze it as well as - depending on your location- may have an agent pick it up- or you can also ship it to them. It is all covered on their website!!
Congrats on being able to do this!! I had 2 babies and just never got the 'flow' going!! - wish I knew about this then!
Good Luck!
Well, you can save it for your son and just use it as you would cow's milk- drinking in a cup, etc. The health benefits of Breastmilk will then stay with him.
I think MilkShare is one of the donation programs, but I wonder if they accept frozen breastmilk. It's really nice of you to want to help someone out like this.
You can also check with your neonatal ICU. I know when my children were preemies I had overheard about them accepting donations for the mothers that just couldn't get the milk going.
Contact an Hiv and Aids group. Some individuals can only tolorate breast milk. I do not know which website in this area to send you to.
Other ill people buy the milk as well.
Just a quick note to say cobgrats and I'm jealous! I've never quite had enough milk. I pump and pump and nurse and nurse but my son still wants more. Apparently my mom had the same problem. Count your blessings I guess.
I have a friend in CA who donated a freezer full as well. You just have to be screened for health purposes. I would save some of it for your children though. Your son does not have to be weaned at 12 months. If you want to stop nursing, you could continue to give him the milk in a bottle or cup etc.
I left a message for my friend. If you want to PM me your email and I can send you any info she passes on.
You have basically 2 options - use it yourself or find someone who needs it. I had a similar situation as you - my son started refusing bottles at 7 months (though I still breastfeed him now, at 16 months) and I had about 3 gallons of frozen EBM.
I looked on Milkshare, a group that hooks mamas with milk to donate with mamas who need milk. My experience was that the only people who wanted my milk wanted it for stupid reasons. (I was really hoping to find someone who actually NEEDED it - like for preemie babies or soemthing - but that's not what I got).
So we just ended up using it as much as we could. You can thaw the milk and use it to mix with oatmeal etc for your son. Also he can drink it from a cup or sippy cup. Even when you're done nursing him, there's no reason he can't continue to drink the good breastmilk that you pumped. He will still benefit from it. This is what I suggest you do.
I looked, and there are NO milk banks in the area - nearest one is in Iowa. So that's out, unfortunately.
Hi K.,
Thanks so much for your posting! I just logged onto the board tonight to post exactly this same question!! I also have a nearly 10-month old son, and he is hardly having any EBM at daycare as he is waiting for me and then he makes up for lost time (and milk) and gets it directly from "the source". I have a freezer (and fridge) that is full of EBM, and wasn't sure what to do with it. I have decided to hold on to it for right now, and buy a small freezer to store it all in, as a while back my DS went through a HUGE growth spurt and I couldn't keep up with him. I ended up using almost all my frozen stash - well we got down to the last 3 bags...
A.
I was in the same boat. My advice is to hang onto it for a month or two longer than you think you need it...because my son switched to formula and then got the rotavirus and was sick for 10 days. My frozen breastmilk was ALL he would eat or drink for 2 weeks, I was so glad I had all of it stored up. I am convinced that he would have been in the hospital if it wasn't for the freezer full of breastmilk.
I had same thing, i actually waened off eralier and covered it by the milke in the freezer.
I pumped with my little guy since he was in the NICU for 3 weeks because he was premature. We had to buy a freezer to store the load of breastmilk we had. You can not donate it because it is frozen and because you did not go through the checks they would have needed to do for sanitary and health reasons. I stopped pumping way before he stopped getting breastmilk because we had so much frozen. So he just had breastmilk in his cereal, sippy cups or whatever until we ran out. We even started to mix it with whole milk while we were starting the transition. With cold and flu season coming on, it is not bad for your little one to keep on the frozen milk for a while anyway. I think my frozen milk lasted us a good 3 months after I stopped pumping. It was kind of nice he was still getting it while I didn't have to pump anymore.
You can use it with him for as long as you want. He can drink it out of a big boy cup, use it in oatmeal, with cereal, etc. You could also combine it with the cows milk when he turns 1.
You have some great suggestions it sounds like! My friend had a surplus as well and she froze it. Some was even kept in family members' freezers as well. Eventually, her son used it all.
There are lots of mamas out there looking for breastmilk- often they have adopted and can't exclusively lactate for the child and would rather buy/have donated breastmilk than use formula.
The board is down at the moment, but a good place to look/ask is mothering.com
Here is the link to their discussion boards, which should be up by Monday. They are undergoing an upgrade:
http://www.mothering.com/discussions/index.php
I also read recently about something going on with MilkShare that wasn't on the up and up, but I can't remember what. If you look/ask in the "lactivism" section of the boards, I'm sure you can find it!
Feel free to contact me if you'd rather I research the boards for you. I'll be happy to do so.
Amanda R.
aspiring IBCLC
PS- I agree with the poster who said you can still use it in a cup. It is still full of great antibodies and would give you extra "insurance" that your children don't get sick during flu and cold season. I would not only use it for your 10 month old, but for the 3 yr old as well!
