Wordless Wednesday - Crying Over Spilled Milk

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

crying over spilled milk
crying over spilled milk, originally uploaded by sam&bex.

Today I was finally strong enough to rid the freezer of 58 ounces of liquid gold. With the average freezer shelf life (not a deep freeze) for breastmilk being 2-3 months, this stuff from March and April was not even usable. Beckett refused the bottle until he was almost six months old, so my stash of milk I had pumped in the first six weeks of oversupply just sat.

But there's an attachment that only another nursing mother can understand and I could never bring myself to throw it out until now. I needed the shelf space for the next stage of food, and in essence, stage of life. Next on the list: bury the placenta.



Blogged by Making A Modern Family at 9:19 AM  

21 comments:

Katie said...

I understand...nice stash of bm, btw! It must have been hard chucking that...

Wed Oct 17, 09:35:00 AM EDT

 
Unknown said...

That makes me so sad to see. It reminds me of the few times where we come home from a weekend up north or a normal outing with a full 5oz bottle of milk in the diaper bag. Then I'll ask D hours later when I think of it if he put the milk in the 'fridge like I asked and when I find the bottle spoiled in the diaper bag I get super upset. And that is only over 5oz! I can't imagine having to throw away that much milk. :[

Wed Oct 17, 10:13:00 AM EDT

 
Jenn said...

Wow...look at all that milk! It would break my heart to throw it all out, knowing how hard you worked to get it!

My friend has 2 placentas in her freezer - one from her 1 and a half year old, and one from her 5 year old! She keeps them in there mostly due to a lack of a spot to bury them...as well as for the shock value I think!

Wed Oct 17, 10:19:00 AM EDT

 
MomSmoo said...

Oh sweetie -- I am so sorry!! We actually bought a deep freezer to specifically store milk and are just NOW getting through the April stuff. Amazing -- when you are prepared, you don't need it. If you aren't prepared, you will be screwed!

Wed Oct 17, 10:28:00 AM EDT

 
Melban said...

I'm sorry babe I know how hard you worked to get your stash stocked up. I also know how brutal it was emotionally to get also.

One day we'll bury the placenta :)

Wed Oct 17, 10:30:00 AM EDT

 
Lara said...

Ack! I totally feel your pain. It would make me want to cry to throw all that out too!

Wed Oct 17, 10:36:00 AM EDT

 
Shannon said...

As a mother of 4 I remember when I finally realized that all that frozen breastmilk was never going to be used. Soo sad!

Wed Oct 17, 10:47:00 AM EDT

 
MomOf4 said...

I totally understand! Breast milk is liquid gold when our babies are so little.

Wed Oct 17, 12:48:00 PM EDT

 
Amanda T said...

I can relate! I recently had to toss around 50 oz. that were left in our freezer as well. I waited until it was well past expired because it was so sad to see it go down the drain!

Wed Oct 17, 01:00:00 PM EDT

 
Magaritas said...

I totally understand. That's alot to have to throw away

Wed Oct 17, 01:18:00 PM EDT

 
jayna said...

Oh boy, do I understand. I'm about to tackle that emotional feat soon. I don't have room for anything else in the freezer anymore. I have nearly 600 oz from the past few months and E is never going to drink it before it expires - she never leaves my side. I'm hoping it's not too late to maybe donate or something.

Wed Oct 17, 01:50:00 PM EDT

 

Jayna -- WOW, 600oz!! How in the world did you find time to pump that much? I am amazed! I bet you could donate it. I would have but the place I talked to said I had to have at least 100 ounces.

Wed Oct 17, 01:54:00 PM EDT

 
Anonymous said...

I can relate! My first born had trouble nursing so I pumped for 3 mos, I tried giving the milk away to our local milk bank but they didn't need it either. Liquid gold is right! :-)

Happy WW

Wed Oct 17, 02:39:00 PM EDT

 
Anonymous said...

That would kill me too. I had a lot saved up after having Short Man (that he didn't drink) but we were blessed that it did not have to go to waste.

Wed Oct 17, 02:57:00 PM EDT

 
Dr. J said...

Hi!

I was just looking through your photos and I wanted to ask how cloth diapering works and is it a hassle to switch? I've been thinking about it but I don't know anything about it so...

Wed Oct 17, 07:47:00 PM EDT

 
JoDee Phillips said...

Aww, I understand mama!! I can't imagine throwing all that away! I haven't even frozen any this time around--i threw soo much away w/ Ashlee (she refused the bottle as well!), that I learned my lesson. McKenna still won't take a bottle, and my supply sucks this time round--so no extra milk!

Wed Oct 17, 08:04:00 PM EDT

 
Amanda said...

I feel for you, my daughter wouldn't take a bottle until she was 6 months old so I tried to save BM but it would have to be tossed too. HUGS!! I agree, it is ahrd to throw something away that you worked so ahrd at getting

Wed Oct 17, 08:22:00 PM EDT

 
Tracie said...

GULP! That would be so very hard to toss that out. SNIFF! SNIFF!!

BTW....lovin' the new graphic!

Wed Oct 17, 08:56:00 PM EDT

 
Jennifer said...

wow. I am just in awe that you were EVER able to pump and produce that much milk. I had a less-than-successful bfing experience this first go-around (I'm hoping to have better luck next time!) and my best pumping session ever was like, 3 ounces I think. And that took me over half an hour to get. I could only have dreamed about having that much in my freezer!!! So I can totally understand how hard it would be to just throw it away- every drop for me was precious!

Wed Oct 17, 10:07:00 PM EDT

 
Deb said...

Oh my, that would make me sad too, to have to throw all of that away - it's hard enough to pump so much! Happy (late) WW! :)

Thu Oct 18, 10:33:00 AM EDT

 
Anonymous said...

OMg.. i hate to see BM thrown out!!! But.. Yay that you didn't need it!

Mon Oct 22, 11:15:00 PM EDT

 

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