California Mother’s Milk Bank 408-998-4550 – will only take if you have 100oz, they will do a phone interview, need 2 doctors notes that need to be signed, blood testing – same tests as when you donate blood hep B,C, HIV, they’ll take milk up to 6 months old.

They will not take milk that has herbs in it like milk thistle, chlorella, if you’ve drinking mother’s milk tea. They will not even interview you if you’ve taken these things even though they are safe for your baby and for you while breastfeeding. I can understand why because the milk donated to these milk banks is usually processed for premature babies in hospitals and they are very fragile and maybe compromised so even if it was me I would be extra careful to follow doctor’s guidelines in caring for a baby that tiny and fragile.
If they will not take the milk you can check area hospitals to see if they need milk but my thought is that their guidelines will be very similar.

You can see about informal milk sharing on websites like human milk 4 babies.com or eats on feets.
My personal suggestion is to do your homework on your own milk before donating it. If you have had an infection in the past 2 weeks and I would even say a month, don’t donate that milk to anyone. Infection can include virus, bacteria, yeast, fungus etc. I have been exposed to many viruses in the past which is part of the reason I was diagnosed with Chronic fatigue syndrome and I have an appointment next month to find out what that means for my daughter, but if you have been sick with anything serious in the past be careful and do your homework also. I can report more on what I find out later.

I have wanted to quit breastfeeding several times. There have been times my daughter as a toddler has nursed for three hours at a time. It’s not the same as the newborn or infant nursing where the baby is literally eating for the entire time. I did hear a mom at Le Leche Legue say that sometimes the toddler will nurse out of boredom. That day I was trying to work on the computer and Jessica seemed to want my attention and nursing fulfilled her desire for my attention.

The first problem for me was the lack of sleep. I had to do something about that for her sake and mine. No more waking up at 1, 3, or 4 am to nurse. I will now only go to get her after about 5 am for that early morning nursing.

My second challenge was not being able to clean the house. This really frustrated my husband. He thought I was putting my blog first and not the house but really it was that Jessica just didn’t want me to put her down for long stretches of time. I recently read most of the book entitled Mothering Your Nursing Toddler by Norma Jean Bungarner and I love how this book has affirmed and confirmed what I was doing by continuing to nurse my toddler. One quote about cleaning the house says, “When we turn away from a crying child in order to clean a carpet – or to buy a new one—we can be sure that our values are backwards.” Pg. 3 confirmation! My husband must read this!

Another issue I had was just feeling drained from the non-stop demand of my daughter. Norma Jean says, “It is often an intense and demanding occupation for about two years—maybe one, maybe three—through nursing may continue at a more relaxed pace for much longer.” Pg. 5

This author goes on to talk about how with tantrums and bedtimes can be difficult and nursing makes the job of mothering easier not harder. I have found this to be true. My daughter is demanding without nursing.
My daughter is just clingly even if I didn’t breastfeed I think my daughter would need more attention than other children or babies. I felt that from the beginning when I brought her to church and she seemed so confident reaching out to other babies. I didn’t realize that through nursing I was meeting innate attachment needs. “They cling because that is a basic need in itself…the best way to help our children grow toward emotional maturity…is to meet their needs to be dependent and clingy while the children are little…nursing goes a long way towards fulfilling your child’s dependency needs…the freely nursing toddler is getting the bulk of his dependency needs met and is going to show the independence his personality and development allow.” Pg. 35

Even though the author of the book I have quoting from says that most mothers will not have a problem feeling depleted from nursing, I have. I felt the most depleted when I was sick with food poisoning, or viruses. The book says, “Only in a severely undernourished mother would there be need to worry about nursing’s drain on her physical resources.” Pg. 51

During times of illness I have gotten IV vitamins which have helped me to feel better and become better nourished. Being a mother can be draining and its not just related to nursing. One last thought from this great book that I highly recommend is, “Mothering preschool children is quite a drain on mother, yet nursing is not an added drain, but one way to make that mother job easier.” Pg. 52

I don’t know how long I will nurse but I can say I am grateful for every day and every moment nursing my daughter. It has been a challenge in every way from the beginning. I have persevered and I pray that in the future I will see the positive evidence of success with a confident, strong little girl. I am starting to see these things now.

Please share your feelings or story of extended breastfeeding and the challenges you have faced. Your words could have a positive impact on someone else and might incredibly benefit another toddler.

 

I didn’t use my pumped milk for quite a while after pumping it. I started using it when I needed to give my daughter supplements to build her immune system at around 9-10 months old. My milk was about 8 months old at that time and had been stored in a deep freezer so I thought it should be fine.

When I thawed it, it had a funny smell. It smelled sour or soapy maybe even rancid. I looked up online what to do from many resources. I started scalding and even boiling the milk, because I was only planning to use a very small amount and I was still nursing from the breast so I didn’t worry about the boiled milk. I was mixing her supplements in this boiled, cooled milk. She tolerated it but didn’t really like it and I had to give her supplements in it.

Some of what I learned about lipase and some resources for you if you have or think you have this problem. The first thing what is lipase and why it’s important:

• Lipases help keep milk fat well-mixed (emulsified) with the “whey” portion of the milk, and also keep the fat globules small so that they are easily digestible (Lawrence & Lawrence, p. 156).
• Lipases also help to break down fats in the milk, so that fat soluble nutrients (vitamins A & D, for example) and free fatty acids (which help to protect baby from illness) are easily available to baby (Lawrence & Lawrence, p. 156).
• The primary lipase in human milk, bile salt-stimulated lipase (BSSL), “has been found to be the major factor inactivating protozoans” (Lawrence & Lawrence, p. 203).

My expressed breastmilk doesn’t smell fresh. What can I do?


Kelly mom got this information from a book entitled Breastfeeding: A Guide for the Medical Profession. I have not read the book but I personally look into the details sometimes when I feel the need for more information on certain subjects.

I thought that scaling or boiling the milk would help the milk smell and taste better but it didn’t. My daughter sometimes would vomit up the milk mixed with those supplements. It’s hard to say if it was the milk or one of the bad tasting probiotics. I may never know.

The best thing to do is to scald the milk before freezing it and see if that helps to prevent the breakdown and bad taste. A woman by the name of MandD627 on youtube has a really good video on how to warm the milk properly by scalding the milk only to 180 degrees F. She uses a bottle warmer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMUVgxOnbPo&t=471s. I might have made a video about this but I didn’t decide to continue pumping at the rate I had pumped so I didn’t do this.

There is another resource I thought was helpful was another video by Oasis Lactation Services and there is what I think is a lactation consultant talking about testing your milk for excess lipase at home. I did attempt this and was so busy I didn’t get to taste it so it didn’t help me. She talks about the book The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding which sounds like an excellent book which is full of science. I might try this test with freezing and see how long my milk lasted after freezing it for 1 week, 1 month, 3 months etc. This is the link to her video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcgpGKHUC4c.

There was one other resource I thought might be helpful if needed was http://www.chroniclesofanursingmom.com/2011/08/excess-lipase-in-breastmilk.html. There was also another website that was helpful in explaining this topic as well as multiple other breastfeeding topics called http://www.justbreastfeeding.com/diet-concerns/lipase/. I wanted to leave multiple resources about this subject because while at first it was heartbreaking that I might have to throw away all my pumped breastmilk I read that it might be a blessing because I had a yeast infection in the breast for 2 months of pumping and may have had other chemicals that were being dumped into my breastmilk that may have helped to dilute what my daughter was getting. I say this because we recently had a lab test done and found out my daughter is toxic for several heavy metals some of which came directly from me; maybe all of came from me and the pumping probably helped dilute it.

Please share your story of lipase or other metallic substances in your breastmilk, your story could help someone else tremendously.

Twenty-five years ago I was only able to breastfeed my son for six months. Four and half of those was full time breastfeeding and the other six weeks was supplemented with formula. There were many factors involved in why I didn’t make enough breastmilk but essentially, I wasn’t eating enough food in general, I wasn’t drinking enough of any liquid especially water; the nurse said I was dehydrated at my 6-week checkup; and I was very stressed out. I was a single mother living with my father who was very unhappy that I had a baby out of wedlock.

When I had my daughter by C-section I wanted to breastfeed her as long as possible but wasn’t really sure I could because of my history with my son. I have been able to breastfeed for eighteen months and because she is over a year old one would think that we are out of the woods nutrition wise. Maybe if she could drink dairy, ate veggies better, or didn’t have so many allergies I would feel ok about stopping breastfeeding. We’ll see what happens.

I do talk so much about breastfeeding but if I had to do the formula over again with my son or if I had to do something different with my daughter I would supplement the formula with probiotics, cod liver oil, and vitamin C if needed. I do give my daughter probiotics with food and also give her vitamin C and cod liver oil when I can.
I also looked into making my own formula in case I needed to because my daughter is currently sensitive to dairy. I read in the book Super Nutrition for babies by Katherine Erlich, M.D and Kelly Genzlinger, C.N.C., C.M.T.A. about a liver based formula that I would consider if I still need to or if I have to stop breastfeeding any time soon. I have SIBO and I’m not quite sure how I will be able to get that treated while I am still breastfeeding. I have been taking DE diatomaceous earth but will find out from a new doctor this week if that ok. I muscle tested fine for it.

Price-Pottenger foundation at price-pottenger.org they have many resources for homemade formulas as far as I know. The Healthy Home Economist on YouTube gives instructions for a homemade formula. I think she does talk about dairy or whey based but I am sure you can find substitutes. I think I might try goats milk powder. It may be less mucous forming (which is part of what makes it so bad for my daughter).

 

Just wanted to give you some hope and resources real quick if you feel stuck and don’t want to give your baby formula. Please share what you have done to supplement your baby’s formula or if you have made your own. It just might help save a life.

Earlier this year Jessica my daughter was having low grade fevers or better worded elevated body temp of up to 100.2 and sometimes 100.4 but usually it stayed between 99 and 99.6 or 7. Doctors when evaluating what you could or should do with a temp like this is pretty much nothing unless it goes over 100.4 for a long period of time like more than 3 weeks. Now that our pediatrician has gotten to know Jessica’s patterns better she gave us an antibiotic recently after 14 days of low grade fever mostly 99.6 – 99.9 with a snotty green nose and strange croupy cough. Even though she’s been on an antibiotic for eight days she’s still got these fevers. Today it was 99.6 and yesterday it was 99.9. This is so frustrating.

I knew something was very wrong before because along with the low-grade fever Jessica had a rash that began to grow quite large on her back and a very snotty nose a lot of congestion. When we got out of the mold these symptoms disappeared quickly.

My pediatrician said fever is not fever until it is over 100.4 yet WebMD says,

“A person is typically considered feverish if oral temperature is above 100 F (37.8 C) or rectal temperature is above 99.5 F (37.5 C). Temperatures measured under the armpit are not considered as accurate and can be as much as 1 degree F lower than an oral measurement.

A temperature above normal but below 100.4 F (38 C) is sometimes considered a low-grade or mild fever. It may mean that the body is responding to an infection.” https://www.webmd.com/first-aid/fever-in-adults-treatment

There are so many diseases that cause fever. You can find a long list at http://www.rightdiagnosis.com/symptoms/low_grade_fever/common.htm.
At Health Grades.com they say that low-grade fevers can occasionally accompany serious medical conditions…if your low-grade fever is persistent or causes you concern, if you have other symptoms of infection, a weakened immune system, or have chronic medical problems, seek prompt medical care. http://www.healthgrades.com/symptoms/low-grade-fever.

There was one website that really helped me when I first researched this subject. At http://epmonthly.com/blog/low-grade-fevers/ this emergency room doctor rants on about how parents take their kids to the ER with a low-grade fever and it is a waste of time and ridiculous. He is actually quite degrading in the way he talks. If you read the comments below many people will tell you about major health conditions that they figured out from low-grade fever. The take away message from them is to not ignore a low grade fever. I think it might really go without saying if you are following your mommy intuition.

There was one last website that I can’t find the address for but says that fever could be caused by any of the following things, 
Pyrogens (fever-producing substances) that come from outside the body include the following:
• Viruses
• Bacteria
• Fungi
• Drugs
• Toxins

I guess it should not have surprised me that this list included fungus, drugs, and toxins. That was what was ailing Jessica early on.

If you have struggled with low-grade fever in your child or yourself, please share your story below. It may help someone else.

I was really concerned about whether my breastmilk had all the nutrients it needed when my daughter was sick for the 3rd time in four months earlier this year. My husband and I had concerns about giving her vaccines if her immune system was struggling so hard to fight illness. My husband told me to research nutrition and breastmilk and write a paper we could give to our pediatrician about why my milk may be deficient and therefore Jessica was probably deficient because that was all she was eating at the time. Her possible deficiencies were affecting her immune system.

I had my gallbladder removed when I was twenty-nine years old and have had a decline in my digestion ever since. The gallbladder stores bile and is secreted in response to fatty foods. If it is missing, bile continuously gets secreted from the liver irritating the digestive tract and diminishing the digestion of fat soluble foods.
I started looking up research studies on PubMed. There was one research study which was loaded with relevant information on this subject, especially fat-soluble vitamin A. The title is, “Lack of micronutrients hits mothers and infants hardest from the Safe Mother 1994 Jul-Oct and it said,

“People most affected by deficiencies in micronutrients (e.g., iron, vitamin A, and iodine) are pregnant women and children. Vitamin A deficiency suppresses the body’s ability to fight infection, induces eye disease, and may result in blindness. A lactating mother’s need for vitamin A is 30-60% greater than when she was pregnant. If a mother has enough vitamin A reserves the breastfed child receives enough vitamin A.”

The article goes on to say that extra iron is needed during pregnancy to build maternal blood volume and diet alone does not satisfy iron and folic acid needs during the second and third trimesters of pregnancy. It also talks about the need for iodine and how that deficiency causes more stillbirths, miscarriages, and low birth weight infants.

The bottom line from that study is that mothers milk is affected by mother’s intake and deficiency. I did have deficiencies immediately after birth for multiple reasons but as Jessica grew her needs grew and I needed to supplement more but I was not doing that at that time. When Jessica was 10 months old a lab drawn from Genova Diagnostics said I was deficient in vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E, a-Lipoic acid, riboflavin B2 and borderline on B1, B3, B7, Zinc, magnesium, and manganese. If I was deficient Jessica most likely was too.
Another article I found on PubMed entitled “Maternal micronutrient malnutrition: effects on breast milk and infant nutrition, and priorities for intervention from SCN News 1994 said,

“Lactating women are more likely to experience micronutrient deficiencies than a shortage of dietary energy or protein. Micronutrient deficiencies are also more likely to affect breastmilk composition and the development and nutritional status of breastfeeding infants. Dietary interventions or supplementation can increase the secretion of many of these nutrients in breast milk and improve infant nutritional status.”

The article goes on to say that breast milk deficiency is most affected by water soluble vitamins vs. fat soluble vitamins but unaffected by mineral status. I have done vitamin C flushes where you take large amounts of vitamin C until you have diarrhea and taken high doses of magnesium for constipation

References

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12345821

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12288231

My breastmilk stash

I pumped and froze a 20.5 cu ft. freezer full of breast milk because I wanted to make sure my daughter got breastmilk for the first year and since I was making so much milk I thought maybe I could freeze enough for a year and half. I was also in a lot of pain and was having trouble getting the milk out which landed me in the ER one night.

Thank God I didn’t need to use this milk because I found out later after using some of the frozen breastmilk for a supplement that it smelled and tasted funny. It smelled a little sour or bad or like soap. I learned that excess lipase can make your milk taste and smell this way. All that means is that lipase is breaking down the fat too fast and making it have that smell and taste. It does not lose any of the nutritional value but some babies will not drink it. Jessica didn’t like it.

We used lansinoh brand breast milk bags which worked well for us, plus we got them half price at the military base grocery store. The guidelines from La Leche Legue for freezing and storing breastmilk for healthy full-term infants are the following:

1. Freshly expressed at room temperature 4-6 hours, if its insulated with a cooler pack it could be 24 hours.
2. Refrigerated fresh milk 3-8 days, thawed milk is 24 hours
3. Frozen refrigerator freezer 3-6 months (ideal 3-4 months), deep freezer -4 degrees F 6-12 months (ideal 6 months)

I was trying to use milk that was 8-9 months old when it tasted bad. You can test your milk to see how long it will store before it breaks down. You can also scald your milk before freezing to prevent the lipase from spoiling the taste.

The following websites may be helpful if you need more instruction of information about how to handle and save breastmilk.

http://www.medelabreastfeedingus.com/tips-and-solutions/11/collection-and-storage-of-breastmilk

http://www.llli.org/faq/milkstorage.html and https://www.cdc.gov/breastfeeding/recommendations/handling_breastmilk.htm 

Please leave any suggestions or comments on how you have stored breastmilk any new ideas?