Milk Sharing tips

[bedsharer1015]

So I hope this is not a dumb question but I have toying with the idea of milk sharing.  I plan to go through CT's local Human Milk for human babies.  But they don't show much info on how to go about it.  Like how much should be expressed a day or month or however it is normally done.  Will this affect my own 5 month old babies nursing?  how can I make it a success for us and the recipient.  Questions like that.   Any information would be great!  thanks

[MamitaM]

I saw this and had to come and post! I also donate my milk and I love to hear that other women do the same . Donating your milk is a really personal thing and is different for each woman, but I'll try and tell you how I do it.

Nurse your baby as often as you wish or as often as he needs to nurse. Then pump once a day or 5 times a day of you like. Do NOT put pressure on yourself to pump 5 times a day (or more) or to get a certain amount of milk each day or week either. It's to much stress. Any parent asking for mama milk will tell you not to stress or worry about how much milk you're able to donate to them. You also wouldn't want to donate to a family who is pressuring you to pump more either.

I like to pump for about 10-15 minutes and try to fill up both bottles if I double pump, sometimes I can fill them both in 5-10 minutes, depending how full I am during that session. Then I fill a storage bag (I like the Lansinoh the best) with 3-5 ounces each. If you fill them more then about 6 they could leak or expand to much and you lose the milk. If I'm only able to pump 3 ounces or so then I put the bottle in the fridge and come back and pump later on and then put that in the bag to freeze. I lay the bags flat in the door of the freezer and once frozen I put them in the back of the freezer.

For me I've noticed that I can get about 10 ounces a day, but for some women it's only 5 and for some it's 20 ounces. The amount doesn't matter b/c every bottle is one less bottle of formula.

I always offer my son to nurse first and if he says no, then I pump. He might want to nurse right after I pump, but there's always more for him even right after I've pumped 10 ounces. I used to pump 3-5 times a day, but it was to much for me so now I pump once a day unless I'm really wanting to try and get a little more to donate to my friend.

If you have any other questions I'm happy to answer them.

[bedsharer1015]

Thank you so much for all the information.  I just posted on the sharing board, you made this sound like a very simple process!!!  So excited to get started!

I will definitely ask you more questions, thanks for offering

[neonalee]

I donate on a milk sharing board also. I find it very fulfilling. Mostly I donate every couple of months when my freezer gets full. I work outside home so I am pumping regularly anyway, and I often pump more than I need so that gets frozen. I don't aim for a specific amt, just give away the extra. I was posting when I was ready to donate but now I have a mom I give to regularly. She sends me pics of her son which is really nice. This is also nice because now I am really sick so I could ask her how she feels about certain meds. I saved milk in the beginning but now I am taking codein cough syrup and nyquil so am not freezing until I stop those.

sent from my EVO Shift using tapatalk

[Erin77]

I just donated some of my frozen stash through Eats on Feets on Facebook. I got a letter from my OB/GYN showing I had no communicable diseases and donated 120 oz I had from January, keeping my Feb and March stash. That seems to be the most common way to donate- save up what you can while nursing your baby normally and when you build a certain amount (usually 80-100 oz or more) that you're not using, donate it! I second the reco for Lasinoh bags, they can be bought cheaper in bulk on eBay too.

[MamitaM]

Milk sharing should be simple and stress free. I choose to only donate locally b/c I don't the hassle of shipping. Eats on Feets has had a name change, they are now Human Milk 4 Human Babies.

Most families who look for milk have a little screening process where they ask all the important medical questions about you. Some will ask that you get tested and some will ask for your medical records and some will just trust you. It's really important to tell them about any meds you do take. Some families will be totally fine if you take certain things, so don't think that if you do take meds they will refuse your milk.

If you follow a special diet you can post that in your "milk ad" if you like. Some mamas want milk from a dairy/gluten free mama.