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Attachment Parenting
BLW and frozen BM ?
If you do/did BLW, are there ideas for using frozen breast milk besides bottles. I still try to freeze some everyday, and LO doesn't really take bottles. The frozen stash is mainly for a just in case I can't BF (which I hope doesn't happen), and I was going to use it for mixing with cereal. Since there isn't a need for cereal/purees with BLW do you use the extra BM for something else? Or do you give them cereal with it when they can control a spoon themselves? I just bought some more freezer bags, but I'm losing the patience to pump everyday since it is a manual pump!
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Re: BLW and frozen BM ?
Do you need to keep pumping? I WAH so DS doesn't have to get a bottle ever (well almost). If I do miss I feeding then I pump to replace what was used. I have a small stash but really it just sits in the freezer not getting used. I pumped for a bit 1x a day or 1x every other day to create a stash but I never do it anymore and haven't for quite a while. If LO isn't really taking the bottle anyway and you don't really need it I would stop but that's me.
We BLW. DS likes cereal for breakfast. He eats that better in the AM than anything else. Guess he takes after his daddy who eats oatmeal every morning. I hand him the spoon and he feeds himself it. (I hold on to the tip of the handel to prevent it from ending up on the other side of the kitchen.) We have done this since about 7 months. You could use your milk for that although I always just use water and DS is fine with that. I've also heard of people making pancakes with BM. I think that Wholsomebaby has a recipie for those although I believe they have egg in them. I really don't cook with my BM though.
I am so glad I froze as much milk as I did, because my supply started to tank around 6 months (so we had to dip into the stash when I was at work) and once I got pregnant I had to wean completely. My milk changed overnight from "whole" to "skim". But thanks to my stash J gets at least 1 bottle of BM a day, sometimes 2.
You can do a partial BLW approach. We decided to start with oatmeal and some purees, and hold off on finger foods until around 7-8 months. It worked out well for us - we never forced him to finish anything, and he's a great eater now. Plus I wanted to do the oatmeal so he could get some iron too. But either way, I would keep pumping and freezing, maybe not every day but every other day or so. It was a good insurance policy for us!
M will eat oatmeal for breakfast. I just load the spoons and let him go. We use water, but you could use BM. Some of it may also be good to have on hand for sippy cup practice. I keep hoping M will take EBM out of a sippy one of these days as I have some weddings coming up. We are having more success with the sippy and a reg. cup than we did the bottle.
Otherwise, I'd slow down or give up the pumping. If you don't need it and don't enjoy it I don't really see an upside to doing it. For BLW you'd need *maybe* an ounce a day for cereal which you could just pump fresh.
I WAH as well and rarely pump. I will today because we're going out this weekend and I need to make a bottle or two. We BLW too and if I'm just stepping out for a bit, I have DH hold her off with some actual food.
So I guess what I'm saying is to put the pump away. They are a pain and its really not necessary, you can always pump if you need to. I have never seen so much pumping IRL as I see here on the bump.