giving non bf 3 yr old breast milk?

[lilmamabrown]

My husband is deploying and my 3 yr old is going to start going to preschool/daycare 4 half days a week at the end of October. She was never breast fed but I'm currently ebf my 6 mo old. The 3 yr old has been in a daycare setting before and was sick all the time from the other kids. I'm just curious about giving her breast milk to avoid all the sickies and how much/often she would need to have it? I'll be pumping for my younger one anyway. Anyone else tried this with an older child you didn't bf?

[mamakaikai]

well, I am still bf my older child, but I sometimes use extra pumped bm for cereal and in a cup.

If you have more than what your 6 month old baby needs, than giving the older child bm is a great idea. I would for sure do it in your situation. I think it could help with her immune system, and certainly wouldn't harm anything. Go for it if you can. It might just require a little extra time with your bp.

[Abraisme]

I agree with the PP. I say give her all extra bm that you can get. It's only going to help and it certainly won't hurt anything.

[gagin37]

definitely wouldn't hurt to try it out.

[Chocomama]

Wow, I had this same thought myself yesterday! I got sick with a cold, and was thinking about how great it is that my babe (3 mo) gets all the antibodies and won't get sick...then I thought, "Hey, why not share some of this with my 3yr old!" She's starting preschool next week too, so I may just make a habit of it.

[vrclay]

Can't hurt to try.

I have a 3YO and 1YO - BFing and pumping for the 1YO. At times my 3YO requests Mommy milk in a sippy cup. For a while I had an abundant supply so if I had extra milk, I had no problem with it. Last winter, I regularly gave my then 2.5YO breastmilk in his nightly bottle.

Just recently we were in the car and he asked for his brother's bottle of breastmilk. Little one wasn't drinking it so I said, sure, here ya go. He said, mmmm, i like mommy milk. My heart melted. I only wish I still had an abundant supply to give him...

[Youngfrankenstein]

I say go for it.

[YayJennie]

Definitely try it!

My son weaned when he was 14 months old, but I plan on giving him cups of breast milk once his little sister is born and I'm breast feeding again. He'll be 20 months when she's born, and I look forward to him getting the benefits of breast milk again!