Grrr. I hate seeing wasted milk. (vent)

DahliaFlower · May 2014

So I have been having trouble keeping up DS's eating during the day, not so much because of supply, but because of logistics of pumping at work. Today I gave DH ample warning that I was leaving work, en route home, etc. and I walked in to find a nice 6 oz bottle out of the refrigerator and heated. Once DS sees me, he has no interest in the bottle, he wants Mama!

I keep trying to explain that this stuff is not on tap...

bossyfnp · May 2014

My DH came home from the daycare with one bottle with 5 oz of left over BM breast milk. He know I usually leave 2 9oz bottles and a smaller bottle with 4oz. I look at the daycare sheet and it says he took 5 4oz bottles. Something is not adding up. The count was off and his explanation was" Im not as good at this as you are."

Juliebird8307 · May 2014

Ugh I know how you feel. My MIL watches my DD once a week and has wasted so much milk. Last time she watched her she wasted a 5 ounce bottle. It was frozen mixed with fresh so I couldn't save it.

DahliaFlower · May 2014

msspeedymarie said:

Bottles can be reheated, as long as LO didn't eat off it.

He did.

flcl · May 2014

That stinks and it's not only DHs who don't get it. If they've never been hooked up to a machine milking them, they just don't have a clue.

realmissjess · May 2014

That stinks! Sometimes I think my H just loves giving the bottle as his way to calm and nourish the baby. I appreciate his enthusiasm, but sometimes he wants to bottle feed too quickly.

If he ate from it, I'd still save it on the counter until the next feeding, and you could pump to replace it, but it sounds like your LO won't take a bottle when you're around?

mommatotwo2 · May 2014

I'm sorry, that stinks

I've had those moments and conversations, both with DH and with daycare- it's incredibly frustrating.

What I've done in that situation as much as it stinks, is go into another room and pump, while LO takes the bottle. Even if it's been heated and LO drank some from it, there are a lot of mommas on here, myself included, who would still put that bottle back and offer it at the next feeding, or mix (at least some) it into cereal, etc. Nobody except a fellow nursing/pumping mother can understand the frustration we feel when at least 30 minutes of our time (from pumping), was wasted and the thought of throwing out that liquid gold is just too much to bear!

DahliaFlower · May 2014

Thanks all for your comments.

He will take a bottle from me if we are out (like in a restaurant) or in the car. But after I've been away at work for hours, he wants to BF only. I thought about saving it but it was late in the day and I always BF at night when he wakes up. So... rather than pumping in middle of the night, I figured I would just cut my losses.

As for 6 oz, he would really never drink that all at one, though he has been known to suck down 5.5 oz once in a great while. Usually if they start a bottle, he will complete it over 1-2 feedings over a couple of hours. I don't worry about offering him too much because he will not eat when he's not hungry. He just starts playing with it and we put it aside at that point.

VickyTGAW · May 2014

mommatotwo2 said:

Nobody except a fellow nursing/pumping mother can understand the frustration we feel when at least 30 minutes of our time (from pumping), was wasted and the thought of throwing out that liquid gold is just too much to bear!

Throwing milk out is sooo unbearable to me, when we do have a situation that requires it (like the time an entire bottle got forgotten in the car), it's my DH's job to pour it down the sink. I just can't do it. Even if I know the milk is dreadfully bad. : )

And while I'm here, I'll also confess that we as well will put partially eaten bottles back in the fridge and used them again later.

As a heads up, the wasted milk struggles may continue even as solids arrive. My husband currently loves feeding our 10 month old cereal in the evenings. It's sweet and father and son both enjoy it. I try my very best to be laid back when I see how much milk gets dumped into these bowls of cereal. And I also try not to flinch when I see the times my husband added too much cereal and produced a big powdery pasty glob.... so he has to get MORE milk to thin it out. : )

DahliaFlower · May 2014

theresat858 said:

DahliaFlower said:

ne, though he has been known to suck down 5.5 oz once in a great while. Usually if they start a bottle, he will complete it over 1-2 feedings over a couple of hours. I don't worry about offering him too much because he will not eat when he's not hungry. He just starts playing with it and we put it aside at that point.

Right, but if you are concerned about wasting milk, wouldn't it be better to just heat a 3 ounce bottle? (and then another 2 ounces if he needs more?).

Yes, and often we do. It's just that I am gone for many hours at a time and sometimes for convenience and in the interest of dealing with so many bottle each day we have a little bigger bottle. Esp b/c that's how I pump and store at work. Yes, for sure, it would be best to divide up and I certainly would have told DH not to take out the biggest bottle in the fridge! Unfortunately, it's not always easy for everyone to do what I would like them to do, lol.

DahliaFlower · May 2014

VickyTGAW said:

mommatotwo2 said:

Nobody except a fellow nursing/pumping mother can understand the frustration we feel when at least 30 minutes of our time (from pumping), was wasted and the thought of throwing out that liquid gold is just too much to bear!

Throwing milk out is sooo unbearable to me, when we do have a situation that requires it (like the time an entire bottle got forgotten in the car), it's my DH's job to pour it down the sink. I just can't do it. Even if I know the milk is dreadfully bad. : )

And while I'm here, I'll also confess that we as well will put partially eaten bottles back in the fridge and used them again later.
As a heads up, the wasted milk struggles may continue even as solids arrive. My husband currently loves feeding our 10 month old cereal in the evenings. It's sweet and father and son both enjoy it. I try my very best to be laid back when I see how much milk gets dumped into these bowls of cereal. And I also try not to flinch when I see the times my husband added too much cereal and produced a big powdery pasty glob.... so he has to get MORE milk to thin it out. : )

So true! One night I came home after working at night and saw like 3 half used bottles sitting out. I nearly had a heart attack. They just don't get it. Many guys are just trying to keep their head above water when they are alone with an infant anyway, so I try not to be too hard on him!

hollandmama · May 2014

I'd re-heat it.

If it makes you feel better, I had to throw away like 1 gallon of BM from the freezer because it went bad, LO refused to eat it because of the flavor and now it was more than 6 months old and nobody would take it

Next baby I will donate my milk for preemies...

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