Not Milk?!

"Breast is best!" except when your baby is Galactosemic. I breast fed my two sons, until they were two. Yes, that's right, 2! Breast milk is nature's miracle, with a list of benefits longer than my arm. I was heartbroken to give up that experience with my only daughter, but none of those benefits applied to her. The opposite really. It was poisoning her and could cause long-term problems and even death if she hadn't been diagnosed.

A wonderful lactation consultant helped me through this process. After 8 days of Sudafed, peppermint altoids, and pumping to comfort, my milk supply diminished. I went from pumping 10 oz & then nursing Hannah, to pumping almost nothing. I have always had an 'oversupply' of milk. Pumping 10 oz before you nurse your baby is not the norm. By the time we came home from the NICU, the milk from my breast was in my deep freezer. 120 oz of it.

The lactation consultant gave me some words of wisdom: "Breast milk is a gift. Even if your baby can't have it, another baby can."  And that's so true. I found a family 20 miles away that is adopting a baby boy this fall. His new mommy will feed him the breast milk Hannah couldn't have.