Expressing for the next baby....

[Madi]

Hi :wave:
I'm not pregnant yet but this has been on my mind a bit......
I really passionately don't want my next baby to have any formula while in the hospital, but because of my diabetes and liver probs it is likely that he or she would be born at 34-35 weeks in a hypoglycemic state, which requires treatment with either glucose (not ideal) or formula. If my next baby ends up in ICN like Hudson did, they will want to feed him formula via a nasel gastric tube. :(

I am still breastfeeding my 14 month old atm and although he has lost interest in all but two feeds I still have plenty of milk. If I can sustain my supply through my next pregancy till at least three months before my edd can I express and freeze this milk and take it to the hospital for my next baby??
I know that the nature of your milk changes to suit the age of your nursing child, but surely any stage of breast milk is better that formula?
I don't plan to tandem feed, and my little man seems to be in the early stages of self weaning anyway, but I would express through my pregnancy to maintain some supply if that's what it took.

Phew, hope that made sense, thanks for reading :)

Madi.

[Tea Lady]

A couple of thoughts....

There's a breastmilk bank operating somewhere around the gold coast - not sure if they service Bris hospitals, but maybe you could contact them and make special arrangements? Maybe you could even pay for milk to be couriered up?


Have you talked to anyone at the hospital or a doctor about this? They might be able to talk about what they could do for you.


I know the recommended time for freezing is 3 months max, but maybe you could find out what would actually happen past that time - it might not be so bad to keep it a bit longer.

You could also contact the ABA and see what they suggest.

There are lots of lactating bubhubbers around the place.... I'm pretty sure I only live up the road from you and if you were happy to take your chances with my milk you'd be more than welcome to some! I do mean that seriously but I know lots of people are grossed out at the thought of their baby having someone elses milk, which is fair enough.

Good luck working things out. :)

[meme]

i think it's great that you are looking at ways to provide your milk for your next bubba. have you thought of contacting your local ABA group.

you can freeze milk for 6-12 months in a deep freeze.

so yes it would be possible to freeze milk for your next baby.

some mothers find that they leak colostrum while pregnant and can express a few mls into a small syringe and fre4eze for after the birth.

this is not so unusual , i have heard of others doing this due to gestational diabetes among other things.

you would need to consult with your medical advisors, but get the information and support to back up doing what you want to do first.

sometimes pregnancy hormones can affect supply during pregnancy regardless of nipple stimulation and milk removal, but it's definately worth a go.
i do think human milk is the most suitable food for a human infant ,good luck with it.

[Madi]

Thanks for your suggestions guys. I'll definately get in touch with my local ABA and do some googling to see what I can find out. I guess I just needed to hear someone say that it wasn't a crazy idea :o .
The longer Hudson breastfeeds the more passionate I feel about human milk for human babies :thumbsup:
I say I don't PLAN to tandem feed but that's really up to Hudson, so I'll make sure I've got as much info as I can get and see how we go.
Thank you Tea Lady for your generous offer! It's definately something that would take a little bit to wrap my head around, but I think if all else fails I would rather someone elses milk than artificial milk. :yes:
And you never know, I might just be lucky enough to carry to 38 weeks and come home with my breastfeeding baby the next day.... :fingerscrossed:

Thanks again,
Madi.

[the_queen]

You're a great mum, Madi :yes:

I agree that any breastmilk is better than formula - if they gave your new baby formula, well that's the same formulation as what a FF baby gets at 1 month, 2 months, 3 months, 4 months..? Yeah? Do I make sense (probably not :p)

I guess look at it like this: if Hudson continues breastfeeding, then you're going to still have that supply available to pump for the new baby. If he does wean, well if you just did a couple of decent pumping sessions each day, that would keep your supply up. From what my extended-BFing friends have told me, most kids older than 2.5-ish will have one or two feeds a day only. So if you pump in the morning when you get up, and then at night before going to bed, you'll maintain that supply just as if you were feeding a toddler.

And yes I think you can keep it in a deep-freeze for longer than just in a regular freezer. And even if you were pumping for over 12 months, and you had to chuck some out - the point is that your supply will be maintained, so you will have a constant milk supply.

[Mischief]

Madi, I dont really have anything to add to your questions but I wanted to say.....

You are one amazing mumma! You should be so proud of yourself, what a lovely thing to be trying to do for your next baby!

[HoopDeeDoo]

Y if they gave your new baby formula, well that's the same formulation as what a FF baby gets at 1 month, 2 months, 3 months, 4 months..?

If it's the same as the formula given in the first few days of my otherwise breastfed babies' lives it's actually different to regular formula. The formula given in NICU is a low birthwieght or special formula for premmies.

I think it's great that you are thinking ahead to give your new baby the best start :thumbsup:

If Hudson continues to BF even if it's only 2 BF per day, you should have plenty of milk to express for your new bub, because remember your bub will probably be small, so won't need a lot to drink. Does that make sense? You would have to talk to your doctor about the added glucose too, because I didn't think BM has enough sugar to balance a baby who has really off sugar levels. I could be wrong though...

[Alisonp]

I would say it is definitely possible if you have a deep tuckerbox style freezer. You could freeze EBM in there for much longer than a regular freezer because the temperature is lower and more constant. If you freeze the milk asap after pumping it would also prolong the storage time.

I found this link and it says for 6mo or longer if the milk is kept in a deep freeze. They quote -19 as the temperature so a tuckerbox would fall into this category.

http://www.askdrsears.com/html/2/T026900.asp#T026901

It also says if you are pumping for a pre-term baby to make sure everything is sterile. That will minimise any contamination that may prematurely spoil the milk or be passed on to the bub.