Donating Milk ~ What I've Learned

Throughout my few years as a nursing mom, I've often thought about donating breastmilk. Giving breastmilk to NICU babies has often interested me, as well as offering it to other babies in hospitals who are sick or otherwise in need. But, my research led me to find out that the process of becoming a milk donor for hospitals is somewhat costly and involved, requiring a few medical tests and fees. Not that I discount the value of those procedures, but upon reading that, I chose to put the idea of milk donation on the backburner.

Then, when Bukley was 15 months old and got chicken pox, he stopped nursing for a few days. I pumped to maintain my supply, knowing he'd resume nursing when he felt better. At this same time it came to pass (haha, I don't know why that Biblical phrase popped into my head just now) that a little boy who was hospitalized and in a coma was being fed through a feeding tube and his mama wanted breastmilk for him. I handed off the milk I had pumped (which wasn't much) happy to help a mama and this little boy.

Then, my bestie had her third beautiful daughter and after weeks of attempting everything possible to exclusively breastfeed her, it was determined that she has Insufficient Glandular Tissue. She started seeking out donor milk to supplement with for her darling little babe via a SNS. At this time, I was newly pregnant with Cadriel and though I wished I could pump and donate to her, I chose not to since I was nursing Burkley through this pregnancy and wasn't sure if it was best for me to try to pump.

My friend Sarah has been an impressive, dedicated mama tracking down donor milk for her baby now for almost 11 months. She's had one main donor, but several others have pitched in when she needed more during growth spurts or when the one mama's supply dipped as her own baby grew. Once Cadriel was born and our breastfeeding relationship was established (at about one month postpartum) I began pumping for her.

It took me awhile to figure out how to best get out the most milk, but here are some things I've put into practice that have helped:

1. Timing
Cadriel eats approximately every two hours during the day, and sometimes it's closer to two and a half hours between feedings. He's an amazing sleeper, especially in the mornings, which happens to be when most women have more milk supply anyway. He generally nurses around 6:30 or 7:00am and then sleeps till 9:00ish. While he's snoozing away, I get Burkley and me breakfast, do a little housework, and then pump, about an an hour before Cadriel's expected to wake up. It took me awhile to figure out the perfect timing, but it has made a big difference in how much milk I get out.

2. Eating the right stuff
Just this week I realized that during breakfast, I could probably be eating more purposefully to help in milk production, both for pumping and for Cadriel. So, I'm trying to drink a large glass of water with my breakfast as well as have a bowl of oatmeal (which is a natural supply-booster).

3. The pump parts
My body does not respond very well to a pump. You must never judge your milk supply by how much milk you can pump out. There is a great amount of research on this, so I'll let you read about that yourself, or, you can just trust me. I will pump for about five minutes, which is when the milk, for me, stops flowing. It seems there is nothing left, but on the few occasions that Cadriel has woken up crying just as I'm finishing pumping, the fact that he latches on and immediately starts gulping tells me that there's plenty more milk in there. My body just doesn't want to give milk to a pump very much. Early on I started to feel a bit bruised on my right side from pumping, so I realized I need a bigger flange for that side. I borrowed one from a friend to see if that helped, and it did! Then another friend gave me hers that she no longer needed. It makes things much more comfortable and helps get out more milk than the smaller standard size that came with the pump (I should mention that Sarah gave me her pump, she didn't need it and mine was broken).

4. Hand expression
After pumping, I will sometimes do some hand expression, which really helps to get out more (like I said, my body doesn't respond amazingly to the pump). I would probably try this method more (or exclusively) if I wasn't usually multi-tasking while pumping (usually reading books to Burkley) where I need one or both of my hands.

Though I'm bummed by the fact that I'm only getting about three ounces out each morning, Sarah assures me that she's thankful for this. I wish I could give more, but I can only do what I can do. I suppose I could try to pump at other times of the day, but when I've tried pumping more than just in the morning (like in the afternoon or evening), I'm amazed at how much less I'm able to get out.

Informal milk-sharing has been a great experience and I didn't even know how to look into it when I was contemplating donating milk when Burkley was a baby. If you're interested in donating milk (for free!) but don't personally know anyone who needs it, check out Human Milk For Human Babies and Eats on Feets.