Sharing milk with SIL's preemie twins

Brownie_222

I just read the how to help a friend post below. The blog post was very helpful. Thank you all. My SIL is going to have her twins this weekend at about 31 weeks. I want to help however I can. I offered to share my breastmilk (I have 100 oz in my freezer). Can you tell me how to best give this to them? I've offered whatever I have until her milk comes in. With my first baby (c-section) it took 5 days. I have fresh too, pumped today. Should I give today's in 1/2 oz or 1 oz increments? Will the NICU need any paperwork from me to be able to feed my milk to the babies? Obviously the parents consent, but wondering beyond that how NICU BM feeding works. I hope your babies are all doing well. You are an amazing group of mamas. Thanks for your help.

kck329

First, its great you are so willing to help your SIL in every way you can. She will need your support in the coming weeks. I have a lot of questions for you:

Is she pumping? She should be pumping every 2-3 hours around the clock. At first the babies only need colostrum. Is she having trouble with milk production?

Are her babies even eating BM yet? A lot of preemies are first fed through IVs and then milk is slowly introduced. And by slowly I mean my DD ate no more than 3 mls per feeding for about a week. Then, if the baby tolerates it, feeds are slowly increased. There is a lot of concern about making sure immature systems are ready for food so they proceed cautiously. All of this is usually fed through a tube that goes through the baby's nose or mouth to their stomach because babies born before 34 weeks usually don't have the suck-swallow-breathe reflex. As they mature, bottles or breastfeeding or both will be introduced.

She will need to talk to the team caring for her babies about how they feel about using your milk. A lot of NICUs do use donor milk but that usually comes from a milk bank where the milk is pasteurized. Only the hospital can tell you how to store and deliver the milk if they will accept it. Each NICU has pretty specific policies for that. There will also be questions about your diet, medication, supplements, the age of your baby, etc.

Good luck! And please share our blog with your SIL too-there's lots on there for new preemie moms.

 

Lavender444

 That is very sweet of you to want to help out but early on, I'm not sure it will be nessassary. My son was born at 31 weeks, and he ate so very little that first week I was able to get waaay ahead of him milkwise.

I work on a mom/baby unit and honestly, I'm not sure we would be allowed to feed a baby breastmilk that did not come from the mother herself, or the doner bank. Even giving babies doner milke requires a lot of paperwork. 

I'm sure your milk may be helpful later down the road though, if she finds she is struggling to make enough milk for twins. But for the first couple months, I think she is best jsut pumping as much as she is able to establish a good supply. Have her rent a hospital grade pump and use it at least 8 times a day for the entire time the babies are in NICU. Hospital grade pumps are best for establishing a milk supply, expecially with a preemie.

GL to your SIL!

Lavender444

I also wanted to add- your baby is only 3 months old. You may want to hang onto that milk, incase your supply dips. With both my kiddos my supply took a big hit between 6-8 months. I was glad I had a large freezer stash to fall back on.

Brownie_222

That is really encouraging that you were able to get ahead of your DS. Sorry, can't quote on phone. I will definitely encourage her to get the hospital grade pump starting as soon as possible after they're born. I will also bring food and do whatever else would be helpful for them. Thanks for your kind thoughts. I am less worried now.

hunt2005

Likely at 31 weeks they won't even introduce BM yet, and if they do it is in such small increments that she can get ahead. With my triplets at 33 weeks, I brought over a 10ml syringe of colostrum and it lasted almost a day. In the beginning they weren't even getting 1ml of milk at a feed (Think 30ml = 1oz to give you an idea of how much they got). It could come in handy day 2 or 3 though if her milk isn't coming in quickly. If they do what my NICU did, a nurse will be in her room as soon as she's coherent after surgery with a pump in hand, the parts for it, and will show her how to work it, along with labels for the NICU. I asked and they even came in every 2 hours like clockwork to wake me to remind me to pump. Most hospitals are very BF-proactive and sometimes push pumping almost to a fault for NICU moms. You're so sweet for her, though, and I know she'll appreciate it!

Lavender444

Brownie_222:

That is really encouraging that you were able to get ahead of your DS. Sorry, can't quote on phone. I will definitely encourage her to get the hospital grade pump starting as soon as possible after they're born. I will also bring food and do whatever else would be helpful for them. Thanks for your kind thoughts. I am less worried now.

 

Bringing food was the best thing people did for me. My son was in NICU for 7 weeks. Not having to worry about making dinner and knowing we had so many frozen meals to get us through was soo nice and so appreciated! 

You're a great SIL for thinking of ways to help them.