A WWYD: Who gets the extra breastmilk?

[Greenbabybottoms]

Ok, I have 3 girls. My oldest will be 5 in October, she just weaned this past April at 4 1/2. My 2nd will be 3 in September and has only asked to nurse twice in the last 2 weeks (since the day before I was induced with my youngest). Before that she was nursing pretty regularly. And of course my baby is 2 weeks old and will be nursing for a while. We don't introduce bottles and I don't pump but I do hand express about 4 ounces a day. I'm trying to decide who gets the 4 ounces.

Assuming my 2nd doesn't decide to start nursing again of course, both times she's asked to nurse since the baby was born she latched then immediately stopped and said she was done and didn't want to nurse anymore . This will be the first cold/flu season that my two older girls haven't nursed which makes me a bit nervous. Also, while I know almost 3 years of nursing is great, I would have preferred if my 2nd had gone longer, 3 1/2 has always been my minimum goal. I could either give the whole 4 ounces of extra milk to my 2nd or I could split it up and do 2 ounces each for both of my older girls. I really just want to get us through cold and flu season and then I would feel better about being done for both of them. My oldest did have 4 1/2 years of breastmilk which makes me feel pretty good but this is her first year in preschool, I'm wondering if she will need that little extra boost to keep her from getting sick constantly. I have been very lucky and my kids are almost never sick, last year was the worst and I think it's because my milk almost completely dried up during my pregnancy.

So WWYD? Who would get the extra breastmilk?

[cbreeding]

Here are some possibilities:

1. Freeze it for emergency
2. Use it in other food for both girls - like oatmeal, muffins, smoothies, etc.
3. Let each girl have some, and then if one seems to be coming down with something give it all to her.


For me, I know my older girls won't drink it straight because it now tastes "weird" to them, but I can mix it in anything that I would use milk and they will consume it just fine. Often, I will freeze extra and then thaw and use as needed whether for the newbie or in food for the older ones.

[Greenbabybottoms]

Oh, they'll both drink it straight no problem.

[mysticmomma1879]

smoothies... yum.

[Kätzchen]

I'd split it even, or do a daily rotation.

Welcome baby Edeltraud! 27-7-2011 Von meinem iPhone gesendet.

[Tooshie]

I'd split - some is better than none!

[kocho]

That's great that you can hand express that much. For the life of me I can never get anyone to try hand expression. I'd lean toward freezing it for just in case, but I'd hate it to go to waste.

[Greenbabybottoms]

Originally Posted by kocho That's great that you can hand express that much. For the life of me I can never get anyone to try hand expression. I'd lean toward freezing it for just in case, but I'd hate it to go to waste.

Hand expressing is easy for me but I can't get my body to let down for a pump for anything.