Hi, I’m looking for suggestions on what to do with excess breast milk. I’ve been EPing for my 5 month old and between frozen milk and quarantine food, both our freezers are full. I was in the process of getting certified as a milk donor in Feb/early March, but don’t feel comfortable going to the hospital for the blood test right now. I also put out to a local moms group on Facebook that I have extra milk if anyone can’t find formula or otherwise needs milk, but no takers (doesn’t really surprise me). So what else can I do with milk? Sometime soon we’ll do a milk bath with DD and see if she likes it, but other than that I’ve got nothing.
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I'm probably not the best person to ask, as my LO is 4, weaned over two years ago, and I still have two gallon bags of breast milk in our chest freezer. I keep thinking I am going to order a piece of breast milk jewelry, but never get around to it.
At 5 months, your LO will be ready to start eating foods soon - maybe you could use extra milk to cook for her?
I know cow's milk whey is supposed to be good for tomato plants. If you have house plants or a garden, maybe some of them would like a little breast milk fertilizer?
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@lady baltimore: We'll definitely be doing milk + solids once we're ready, our pediatrician actually recommends soaking oats in milk as a first food and mixing a little peanut butter with milk for early peanut exposure (although I'm not sure how I feel about giving allergenic foods right now). I hadn't thought about fertilizer, though.
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I would see if there’s any other Facebook groups in your area. I donated my extra milk through Facebook both times and my sister just did it (she literally reactivated her account to find the group and then deleted it again). In my area there is “eats on feet’s” and “human milk for human babies” specific to multiple regions, so I would start there! It’s nice to make it as simple and painless as possible since you’ve already put in all that work to produce and pump!
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I would reconsider getting those blood tests. There is going to be a shortage of donor breast milk because of this pandemic. They are separating covid19 positive mothers from their babies at birth and there will be a greater need potentially for donor breast milk.
Having said that I 100% respect your choice not to finish your donor labs given the current situation (it's scary out there). You could also see if there are any human milk labs in your area (at universities). I donated both to mother's milk bank, but also to a research lab that does research on human breast milk ( and I didn't need any blood tests for that).
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@Tionn3: I appreciate where your point, and if there were a private lab or even my pcp that I could go to for the blood draw, I would. But I live in a relatively rural area and the only place I could go within ~2 hours drive is the hospital. I know a couple people who have been there for non-Covid issues recently and been fine, but DD was sent to the NICU for respiratory complications at birth and I just don’t want to push my luck.
@mrsbubbletea: Interesting, I’ll keep looking for other groups. Thanks!
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