I can say with a fair amount of certainty that this is not the blog post that will appeal to everyone. But it is my blog. About my life. So this is part of my story. Recently I had to leave a party early because... yes... I am STILL breastfeeding this baby. Which gets a range of reactions from the rare "good for you" to the more common "jeez give that baby a bottle already" or "really?! you are still breastfeeding?!". So yes. I am still breastfeeding. I don't know when I am going to stop. As tempting as a vodka on the rocks. A good buzz. And a night out sound. They are just not a possibility right now. Because that is what I choose. Rylan has never had bottle. That's right. NEVER. Breast feeding has its constraints which are far outweighed by its rewards. And I so I choose it over almost every other temptation.
Anyway everyone that breast feeds has their own story. Their own journey. And usually when they find that it is something they have in common with you they like to share. Their experience. Their trials and triumphs. They sympathize. Relate. And most of the time empower. One of the girls that was part of this particular conversation had also breastfed her children. Recounting her days of being married to the pump. To which I added that with both Aidan and Seark I had such an abundance of milk I could have fed a small country. With each of them I pumped a stock pile of milk. Anyone that pumps breast milk knows what a tedious labor of love it is. Filling bottle after bottle with liquid gold I felt like I had hit the boob milk lottery. Only to discover that Seark didn't like thawed milk. Which left me with a freezer full of breast milk that under no circumstances was going to waste even if that meant I had to drink it myself. Not really. But you get the picture.
My best friend had a baby the same age as Seark who wasn't tolerating formula very well and unfortunately the whole breastfeeding thing wasn't working out so well for them. When she learned of the mass amounts of milk that I had been hoarding it was like the solution to her feeding problems. Upon seeing my stash her eyes lit up like a leprechaun finding his pot of pumped gold. She asked if she could have my milk for her baby. Of course I said yes and was more than happy to be able to help her out.
Honestly it never struck me as odd. Weird. Gross. Or anything really. I had extra milk. She needed milk. It seemed logical. To me. And obviously her that this was a good solution for everyone. And so her baby drank and tolerated my milk well. I mentioned this in that conversation among the friends that I could not stay to hang out with past the two hour mark because I had to get home to feed Ry. As soon as the words left my mouth I could see the blatant look of shock and possibly disgust on a few faces. "OH. MY. GOD. THAT. IS. DISGUSTING!" Okay the look was definitely one of shock paired with disgust. Another girl seconded her shock and disgust.
Those reactions never made me second guess my decision to share my milk. They didn't even offend me. I felt more curious than anything. I mean people sell their milk on line. There are milk banks. Before formula there were and still are wet nurses that fed baby's that didn't belong to them... straight from the tap so to speak. I am not the first person to give my milk to someone else's baby. What was it exactly that they found so disgusting? I couldn't stop wondering what it was so I asked my group of mom friends what their thoughts were. Some said if they couldn't breastfeed themselves than the only other option they would explore was formula. Many said they would not even use breast milk from a close friend even if it was offered as an alternative. No body could really explain why other than to say "I don't know that is just weird and gross to use the milk from someone else". Yet they feed their baby milk that came from cow. I mean I love me some cow's as much as the next girl but in my head I see woman and a cow standing side by side and given the choice of either to nourish my kids the cow seems like the more bizarre choice. I have nothing. Absolutely nothing against formula feeding. At all. I just don't see where human milk from another woman crosses the line of weirdness but milk from a cow is not just acceptable but normal.
I think my favorite responses were "I don't what anyone else puts in their body... I just wouldn't trust it" opposed to what the close personal relationship you are carrying on with Betsy the cow?
So in my head I see this... and to me that cow looks way more questionable. Maybe cows milk is just too utterly delicious to pass up.
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