After my little guy switched to amino acid formula due to his multiple protein allergies, I had over 200 ounces (about 6.5 quarts) of breast milk sitting in my freezer, all dressed up with nowhere to go. Over the months, I had painstakingly pumped and saved my breast milk to feed him during the two days a week he goes to the baby sitter’s house and for any other occasion that might separate us during a feeding. I also pumped because I overproduced milk, which I later learned was probably because I was pumping too much (more on that vicious cycle later). In the back of my head, I had hoped that even when I weaned Baby from the breast, he could still receive breast milk for several weeks, but alas, we all know how that story ended.
I wanted some good to come from all the late night pumping, tedious washing of parts, and time spent with the awkward bugle horns suctioned to my chest, so I started looking into breast milk donation. I first checked out Helping Hands Milk Bank (http://www.helpinghandsbank.com), a national milk bank, but ended up abandoning that endeavor. Do I want to help premature infants? Sure I do. Do I want to help support the Susan G. Komen for the Cure effort. Absolutely. Do I want to go through a multi-phase process that feels like the equivalent of taking the SATs? Not really. Call me a bad person not following through, but here’s what you have to do to donate:
