XP: BFing and donating milk questions

flamencogal

Nate is 10 mos old.  He is doing great on solids and has been refusing to take breastmilk via bottle at daycare.  He still nurses well when we're together (morning, night, and on weekends).  We are working on getting him to drink from a sippy but not much luck with that--a few sips and that's about it.

My goal is to nurse until 12 mos.  I may decide to nurse morning and night after that but I really want to wean from daytime feeds b/c I don't want to have to pump at work anymore. Right now, I'm pumping twice per day at work and am planning to go down to one time per day over the next 2 weeks.

Can I go down to one (and eventually none) pump at work but still nurse on demand on the weekends?  During the day, he's really only nursing before naps and it's just until he falls asleep/gets sleepy.  So I'd say it's about 5 min of nursing before naps (he takes 2 naps per day).

I think I am approaching 2000 ounces of breastmilk in the freezer.  I was building a stash hoping I could be done by now with pumping at work and he'd be taking milk via sippy instead.  I'm going to keep the milk for now obviously but I have a feeling we will not need all of this milk.  I want to start looking into a good place to donate. I think I remember someone talking about Human Milk for Human Babies??

Congrats if you made it through all of this!  Thanks!! 

Artslvr

I donated to a lovely woman locally, DC Nestie/Bumpie LindseyJW connected me to her.  The sadness of DS not taking my milk was somewhat alleviated by the fact that I was helping a woman with cancer.  Page Lindsey on the board - not sure if that same woman would still need it, but Lindsey may know someone else.

tomandcourt

Regarding your other question, yes, you'll still have a supply on weekends. I weaned off pumping at work when J was one but was able to nurse nights and weekends until we weaned at 16 months. Just make sure to cut back on pumping slowly so you don't get plugged ducts/mastitis/etc.

WinesNotWhines

I don't know anything about donating milk, but I also had success nursing twice a day and keeping my supply. First I dropped down to 1 pumping session at work, which I did for one week, and then I dropped pumping altogether. I kept my pump at work in case of an emergency, but I was fine.

BirdGirl01

Are you at all concerned about excess lipase?  That may be why DS isn't taking the pumped milk.  And may mean you can't donate. Hopefully you can, though!

flamencogal

BirdGirl01:

Are you at all concerned about excess lipase?  That may be why DS isn't taking the pumped milk.  And may mean you can't donate. Hopefully you can, though!

No--no lipase issue.  He took expressed milk fine up until about a month ago--when he started solids.  It's like he wants to be a "big boy" now like the other toddlers at daycare.  At when he's at home, he of course has never taken a bottle from me--if I'm around, he'd rather nurse. 

BirdGirl01

flamencogal:

BirdGirl01:

Are you at all concerned about excess lipase?  That may be why DS isn't taking the pumped milk.  And may mean you can't donate. Hopefully you can, though!

No--no lipase issue.  He took expressed milk fine up until about a month ago--when he started solids.  It's like he wants to be a "big boy" now like the other toddlers at daycare.  At when he's at home, he of course has never taken a bottle from me--if I'm around, he'd rather nurse. 

Got it. What do the "big boys" (so cute!) drink.  Do they use a sippy or straw cup?  Could you just transition to that over a bottle?  The little girl in our nanny share starting drinking out of straw cups at 9 months.  She had no interest in bottles at that point.