Its called Liquid Gold for a reason

Hi yall Im back!!
I figured it was update time, seeing as its been quite a while since I blogged anything. I felt like it was a great time to put pen to paper so to speak, and just talk.

So....Ive been nursing Avery for 5 months. When she was about 2 months old I stopped being able to keep up with her demand....this is called Low Milk Supply. I had similar problems with Eva so now it is called Chronic Low Milk Supply. Ive tried EVERYTHING! I take supplements, drink teas, pump extra, tons of water.....I even took reglan for a few months. But sadly nothing helped. The wonderful Lactation Consultants at For Babies' Sake recommended I see my doctor to have some blood work checked and perhaps find a medical reason why I cant fully meet my baby's food needs. I go in tomorrow for that appointment. But in the meantime, Avery still needs to be fed. And I am anti formula. It has its place. Avery has had it in the past but still.....I am uncomfortable with it, especially given the recent Similac recall.

And with that, I have a confession to make. I have been supplementing Avery with donor mother's milk. Honestly, the difference between when she received formula supplement vs breastmilk supplements is huge! She smells waaay better for one! Secondly, she looks better...its hard to describe but her skin and hair just seem more beautiful and shiny looking. She seems happier. Her digestive system (AKA poop) is waaay better. She has been on donor milk since Thanksgiving and I am SO proud to have a baby who is 5 months old and is 100% breastfed.
But it certainly is not easy. The government is so quick to tell you Breast is Best....but then you are left to your own devices to figure out the rest. At first I considered contacting the milk bank but the demand here is very high. Since Avery is a) not a preemie, and b) not very sick, we would certainly be last in line. Then I would have to get a prescription from the pediatrician, and then it would cost 3-4$ PER OUNCE...if she even got any at all!!! I quickly calculated that Avery ate up to 8 oz extra per day. At 3$ an oz that is 24$ per bottle, 168$ a week, 672$ a month (pssht! thats more than my house payment!!) and a grand total of 8064$ A YEAR! And thats IF her demand didnt go up. You can see why plenty of families turn to formula. But this is important to me so I dug in and started researching. I discussed this with Kyle and right away he wanted to know how safe it was using donor milk. I researched it some more. I saw a video discussing a study done in Africa where HIV+ mommies were taught to express breast milk and then use a home pastuerization technique called flash heating. Most of the antibodies and such were retained, and this killed any bacteria, and the HIV virus!! Countless young lives will be saved by this method (often, mother to child transmission of HIV occurs through breastfeeding). Flash heating is really simple to do, no extra equipment needed. Also, virtually every mom in the US has blood testing done when they are pregnant. Part of the deal with being a donor is that you agree to provide your blood results at the recipients request, or they can also pay for a donor to undergo testing. Another thought to consider is that a donor mom is also feeding her baby the exact same milk you are receiving. And anyone going though the time consuming trouble of pumping extra milk is not likely to be getting high and trashed out every chance they get. I got Kyle on board, though I am sure he was a little weirded out but I felt so relieved to have his support.

Then I made contact with the facebook group Eats on Feets Texas. There are chapters in every state and all over the world. They are groups of mommies donating their extra milk to each other for free! I lurked in the group for a few weeks before I finally worked up the courage to post a request for milk. I admit I cried when I got a response from L. She is a mommy in my area who had a little girl only 2 weeks younger than mine (perfect! milk evolves to suit the aging child so it is ideal to have one close in age to yours). The day before Thanksgiving she gave me about 200 oz! That night in private, I got on my knees and thanked God for bringing this whole thing into my life because I (and Avery) were being blessed beyond measure. Since then I have met two other mommies, S, and M, and they have also blessed my baby. There is no way I could ever repay them back for this gift. I am forever grateful to them and humbled because I have realized it truly does take a village to raise a child.

So why would I talk about such a private, and seemingly bizarre thing? Simple really. Babies deserve mothers milk. It is what is best for them. The World Health Organization recommends exclusive breastmilk for the first 6 months of life, and continuing until age 2, or later if you want. Well.....I could only provide exclusive breastmilk for 2 months, and I know there are plenty more out there just like me. The demand is so high. Looking through all the posts requesting milk on the webpage, it is about 10 requests to every 1 offer. There just isnt enough to go around.......yet. So I figure if I tell my story, maybe, hopefully, prayerfully, someone out there will realize how truly blessed they can be in giving. Maybe one day we can have a whole huge network where no one has to stress out about giving the best to their baby.

I can only pray. :)

Links:
www.facebook.com/eats-on-feets-texas
www.milkshare.com




Ok you may need to copy and paste the links into your browser......I am not a computer whiz and cannot figure out how to make them active links. =)