Category: Exclusively Pumping

I can’t imagine being a new mother these days. You are scared to death that you or your baby will die from COVID and now you can’t feed your baby if you use formula. I can only wonder, is this more propaganda to get us to stop having babies?? Look, we are not overpopulated nor are we going to be overpopulated. A simple Google search will show you that. So what are we to do now that we’re scared to bring a baby into this world and now we can’t feed them?

Here are some solutions to the formula shortage.

NOTE: DO NOT WATER DOWN YOUR FORMULA, IT CAN KILL YOUR BABY

RELACTATE!

I love kellymom.com! She has been a resource for me for the past 18 years. She has a whole page dedicated to resources on relactation. First, if you have produced milk at any time in your life, you CAN relactate. Even women who have never been pregnant OR given birth can learn to lactate. We are designed to feed our babies! Doctors should be on board with helping you.

If doctors can help a lesbian partner who has never been pregnant or given birth to lactate, they can help you! If they don’t, why not? There are drugs and there is a protocol. Plus, MANY adoptive mothers will lactate so they can feed their adoptive babies. This is a plausible option and though it is not an INSTANT fix, once you are lactating, you can feed that to your baby and not worry about needing formula ever again.

Yes, this sounds judgmental, some of it is, especially if this offends you but you are NOT the only one to suffer. My breastfeeding journey was not easy for any of my babies and I had to make many sacrifices and suffer. Too many women give up easily and that is because our society tells us that it’s okay to give up and there is not much support to try harder and little options are given over “just switch to formula.” We’re exploited really.

Want to relactate? Get with an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant.

On a personal note, I pumped for ALL my babies. They got the breast until their tongue-ties caused issues and then I switched to pumping. I donated over 300 gallons of milk over the course of my breastfeeding journey. I’m not saying this to be presumptuous and I’m not the only one to experience this so this brings me to the next solution.

MILKSHARE

You have two options for milk sharing. A wetnurse or private milk sharing. Let’s talk about a wetnurse. These have been used for centuries! Moses’ wetnurse was actually his own mother because the Pharoah’s daughter wasn’t breastfeeding when she found Moses. How would a baby eat if there was no formula? Many died if their mothers could not find a wetnurse.

Do you have a breastfeeding sister? Friend? Will they step up to help feed your baby? If you have SOME formula, can you supplement half of it with shared milk?

PRIVATE MILK SHARING

I’ll relactate for you. I will do it in order to help you and save your baby but I ask that you try and try hard. I helped a mother supplement her milk with my milk because she had breast cancer and she could not produce much milk after treatment. I had one mom who truly had been diagnosed with insufficient glandular tissue (little breast tissue) who could not produce enough milk either. So she used what I gave her to supplement what she made. Her breasts were not “small” either so it doesn’t have anything to do with breast size.

Now that I have made the offer, will you use a milk share?

Milk sharing used to be free but I imagine moms are beginning to charge. Most of us used to just ask for repayment of supplies or asked you to provide your own milk storage bags. Human Milk for Human Babies and Eats on Feets are great places to go for milk sharing. There are other sites, but most are full of perverted men and women who want to nurse from a strangers breast for $200+/20+ min or use your milk for body building. I would stay away from those milk sharing sites.

Milk sharing can be safe…IF you ask. Most don’t ask. I was only asked a dozen times during my private milk sharing journey if I was drug, disease, and alcohol free (including smoking and marijuana). I shared with hundreds of families. It’s sad because they should have. Ask!

If they are legit, they will not be offended and will appreciate you asking. One person wanted me to sign and have a document notarized. I don’t recommend this because the mother is providing a gift but if there is money being exchanged, it’s worth it. Just know, there are never guarantees even with a legal contract in place.

There are human milk banks, but they cost you. 20oz of milk is offered as a “new mom” kit but it’s $100. 40oz can be given without a prescription, after that, you need a prescription and you’ll pay $5 per ounce or more. The mothers are screened extensively (more than for blood donation), and they have to adhere to strict guidelines and can’t take any meds, herbs or supplements outside hormone replacement like thyroid. The milk is tested, pasteurized and tested again. It’s safe but it’s not sustainable. I don’t recommend you use this option just because of a formula shortage. This milk goes to very sick and premature babies as well as cancer patients in recovery. I love the milk bank so I am not putting them down at all.

I donated over 30 gallons of milk to the Mother’s Milk Bank over two of my breastfeeding journey’s but in addition to donating to the milk bank, I privately shared my milk. I actually preferred private donation because I got to know the families and babies in most cases. Again, I will relactate for you but I want you to try yourself not just use me as a “pill” to get you through.

MAKE YOUR OWN FORMULA

Yes, you CAN make it. Doctors don’t want you to though and will tell you it’s not safe. Why is homemade baby formula such a risk when our grandmothers and mothers did this for decades? Homemade baby formula was perfectly fine for your mother or grandmother (depending on how old you are). What is the option than CDC? Starve the baby, water down the formula?

The US Federal Government provided the proper way to make formula in their publication, Infant Care by the Children’s Bureau Publication (1951) from the Federal Security Agency, Social Security Administration. The same formula can be made these days safely.

Got an allergy to cow’s milk protein? Try Goat’s Milk! Look, it’s even in the book!!! Camel’s Milk is another option! There are even more options! I know a local woman who sells goat’s milk. I’ll put you in touch with her.

Are you looking for the easy way out? Most likely. Being a mother isn’t easy. In a world full of, “you shouldn’t have to suffer,” and “You shouldn’t experience hardship,” why WOULD we choose the hard path? We have no support on the hard path.

MEN CAN LACTATE

This post wouldn’t be complete without telling you to have your husband or partner step up. Too far-fetched? Not in this day and age. If women can become men and men can become women, then men can also breastfeed. Of course, this is a mockery of society because as a woman, this completely violates your own dignity. The dignity God gave you.

The problem with society degrading the dignity of women, means that society will require that men step up. Here is a prime example of men being forced to breastfeed. Feminists have destroyed the dignity of women with their, “women are oppressed” nonsense and the progression of emasculating men to uplift women. Laura Shanley shared her husband’s journey to lactation. I’ll let you Google “Milk Men, Father’s Who Breastfeed.”

To be clear, just because men “can” lactate though, doesn’t mean they breastfeed. This is NOT their role. I’m placing this here purely for the secular world where anyone can do anything. So why aren’t you asking your baby’s father to step up? It’s just the continuation of feminizing men. So feminists, have them step up!

I see a much deeper issue though.

I was at Wal-Mart shopping the other day and there was NO shortage of regular infant formula. What does that tell me? Most of your babies are on a specialty formula. They had regular formula on CLEARANCE! The shelves were empty of any specialty formula. Why are your babies on a specialty formula? Are ALL babies allergic to cow’s milk protein?

My guess is, we’re so convinced that gas in babies is bad. We don’t want our babies to cry, it’s too stressful. We don’t want to invest in holding the baby longer. We have so many devices to put the baby in that when they don’t work, we look for another device instead of taking off your shirt and bra, undressing the baby, and just sitting skin to skin on the couch. Yes, I suffered from postpartum depression so I get it but what if we had support for these hard times rather than pills and band-aids?

Another issue is, “we (women) don’t have time because we need to work.” Do you REALLY need to work? Maybe but why? Society tells us we need MORE. More things, more vacations, the latest car, etc. If we don’t have those things, we aren’t “happy.” Those “things” won’t make you happy anyway. The unhappiness you feel is because God is on the back-burner or nowhere to be found for you. God will make you happy and God WILL provide you what you need, including your baby in order to survive. You have to ask Him and trust Him. Like, really.

I know many of you will say, “my baby won’t nurse now,” so you want to poo-poo the solutions. Don’t. Your baby CAN be retrained to nurse but if you relactate, you do that through pumping. You don’t have to “breastfeed” you can just pump the milk and feed it in the same bottles you were using for formula. Honestly, I found pumping easier than breastfeeding and consumed less time. Contact me, I’ll help you.

I know many of you will say, “I never responded to the pump,” which could be true. Guess what, now it’s life or death for your baby. Does that mean you won’t try again? Maybe you need a different pump? Maybe you need different flanges? There could be other reasons as well. Don’t poo-poo this solution either. Contact me, I’ll help you.

I know many of you will say, “My baby is allergic to breastmilk.” Even reiterate it with saying, “my doctor told me so,” as if that has some kind of authority behind it. BABIES ARE NOT ALLERGIC TO BREASTMILK. It could be something IN the breastmilk. Ready to give up dairy for your baby? Or soy? Or just eat chicken and rice? I don’t know many who will suffer that much for their child.

I’m not crass, I didn’t have it easy either. My first baby pooped blood for three weeks straight. From about one week old until four weeks old, his poop was blood. Not flecks, pure blood. His pediatrician said, “he’s allergic to breastmilk,” and then followed up with, “remove dairy and soy from your diet.” Oh! So he’s not allergic to breastmilk but dairy and/or soy? The way we say things is important. Not a breastmilk allergy but something IN the breastmilk??

So I changed my diet. I went for three months with no dairy and no soy but he only pooped blood for three weeks. Somehow, removing the dairy and soy didn’t fix it, his body did. When I began eating dairy and soy again, NO CHANGE. Did I suffer with no dairy and no soy? ABSOLUTELY! I should have been smart enough to offer up all that suffering for the souls in purgatory, but I didn’t. Milk protein is in almost everything. Soy is in almost everything. Our government has damaged our food supply. It’s even harder now to eat dairy and soy free than it was 19 years ago.

Bottom-line, think outside the box. You DO have options. Stop freaking out. Pray! Get a pump (they are free from insurance) and start to relactate or find a milk mamma. You are GOING to need to make yourself uncomfortable. You WILL have to make a sacrifice and probably suffer a bit but that’s what happens when you have a child. Your whole life becomes a sacrifice FOR that child. Aren’t they worth it?