Donor Milk

Earth Mama Angel Baby sent me a great newsletter today about donor milk. I'm breaking the article down. If you want to read the whole article click here.

Milk Banking Questions

Why:

One in nine babies is born premature every day. These babies do better with breastmilk. It increases their survival, health and makes their hospital stay shorter. Sometimes Mother's are unable to produce enough. That is where the donors come into play.

Donors:

Donors are becoming more of a need. Unfortunately there are not a lot of sites out there for donors to acquire money for donating their pumped breastmilk. It's more about the deep personal satisfaction from knowing they have helped improve the health of other babies.

All donor milk is pasteurized in order to eliminate any bacteria or other infecting organisms that may have been present.  Donors are screened before their milk is used.

Northwest Mother's Milk Bank:

The Northwest and Oregon have the highest breastfeeding rates in the nation. Their hospitals do not get donor human milk from their local area. Instead they get it from California and Colorado.

The Northwest Mother’s Milk Bank is working to open a local facility in their area. They need money for equipment and staff. For every box of Milkmaid Tea sold on Earth Mama Angel Baby from November 21 to December 30, 2011, Earth Mama will donate $1 to the  Northwest Mother’s Milk Bank.

Guidelines:

There are special requirements that come from the donor themselves. They have to be clean, not taking any herbs or medicines.

How Much is Needed:

• A baby weighing 2 pounds takes up to 5.5 ounces of milk
• A baby weighing 4.5 pounds takes up to 12 ounces of milk
• A baby weighing 6.5 pounds takes up to 18 ounces of milk

Milk Trays

I feel like Milk Trays are the way to go with freezing breastmilk.

I happened to use Orka Ice Cube Trays when I froze my milk. They to have lids and were BPA free. I liked that they had silicone bottoms and were different colors. The variety of colors helped me to see which one I pumped first and last. The negatives were that they were not as thin as the Milk Trays. Thin = less time to thaw out when baby is hungry. If you pump a lot, you may have more milk then will fit into the trays. If I were a new mom today, I'd get both Orka Ice Cube Trays and Milk Trays. Orka Ice Cube Trays were really nice for baby food! The color really helped me to the differences between foods that I made. Sometimes foods look exactly alike when in cube form. I think Milk Trays would be better for milk!

Source

Source

I've tried multiple ways of freezing milk. The bags take longer to thaw out. Then the seems leak milk.

With this system you can drop the frozen milk into drop in liners, or stainless steel bottles. They thaw quicker, with little to no mess.

Just Some Features:

• BPA and Phthalate free.
• Made from a medical-grade plastic.
• Designed by working and breastfeeding moms. 
• 16 (8 in each try) cavities that each equal one ounce. I like this because you know how much you are getting out before you thaw the milk.  
• You buy 1 unit that has 2 trays and 2 lids for $21.95 at Mom4Life. No tax or shipping costs. 
• The 2 trays stack easily. 
• Fits through all bottle openings.  
• Made in the USA

Right now Mom4Life is giving away a set of Milk Trays. Go there to enter!

Organizing and Labeling Your Milk

I spotted another Medela giveaway!

One of Blessing Abound Mommy's readers will win a Medela Breastmilk Labeling and Storage System! This retails for about $16.99 and includes the tray as well as 2 labeling lids and 2 Medela 5 ounce bottles.

 

 Benefits and Features {found on Medela's site}:

• Holds up to 6 Medela bottles.
• Makes it easy to protect, organize and locate milk bottle in the fridge or freezer.
• Compatible with Medela Pump and Save breastmilk bags (sold separately). 
• Lids can be used with all Medela polypropylene breastmilk bottles.

 For Another Great Way to Store Breastmilk Go Here!

Do You Need to Take Prenatal Vitamins When You are Nursing?

• It is a good idea to take prenatal vitamins during the first 2 to 3 months of breastfeeding. I was told to keep taking prenatal vitamins with my youngest, but not with my oldest.
• With my oldest I took a Woman's One a Day vitamin. You should continue to take of woman's vitamin after you are done taking prenatal vitamins.
  
• This makes sure you're getting essential vitamins and minerals. Most women can get all necessary vitamins and minerals if they are eating a well-balanced diet.
  
• But that can be hard to do when you're taking care of a baby, a home, perhaps another kid and career as well.
• Iron is the main mineral women lack. Women who give birth lose quite a lot during delivery and loose blood every month when they menstruate.
  
• Also, you need a lot of calcium a day when nursing. You need about what you'd get in three 8-ounce glasses of milk. It can be hard to get that much calcium from food.
  
• Even prenatal supplements contain only about 200 mg of calcium, so you still need to drink your milk, calcium-fortified orange juice, and eat dairy products such as yogurt, cottage cheese and cheese.