Breast Milk

Let me start off by saying that God is amazing!!! He gave us the most perfect food for our babies - mommies' milk! Formula does not even come close to how amazing and perfect breast milk is!
If your baby gets an eye infection, did you know that squirting breast milk in his/her eye is the fastest and best way to heal the infection? Do you think formula could do that?! Hah!
I could go on and on about how wonderful and great breast milk is, but I'm tired, so you lucked out!
Formula is full of a bunch of crap that can't even come close to mimicking what mommy produces! Did you know that most baby formulas contain corn syrup? Ugh... don't even get me started.
As a working mom, it has been a rough road for me to manage nursing my children and working. As a wedding photographer, we aren't often afforded the luxury to take very many breaks, if any throughout the day, no less a 20 minute break to pump in the bathroom somewhere.
I tried the best I could to pump ahead of time before a wedding, and then pump when I got home. It's all about supply and demand though. The boobs know something is up when they aren't being suckled on during a 8-12 hour time period. Your production begins to go down. In addition to not enough stimulation, the wrong diet, insufficient sleep, and stress can also heavily take a toll on a mama's milk supply.
I began pumping for Savannah the very next day after she was born. I refused to let them give her any formula. As healing as breast milk is, I wanted her to have only the best, not even knowing that she had suffered any brain damage at the time.
I pumped and pumped and stored up what I thought was a ton of milk.
I looked tired though, and the doctors took note of this, and told me to get some rest, not to pump during the night. Big mistake. My milk supply began to diminish like you wouldn't believe! Having an infant baby sleep though the night can do wonders for your sleep but it's not always best for baby. They need extra nutrients through the night, plus it helps keep mama's supply up.
Once my supply went down, it has been a struggle to try to get it to go back up. I have tried several things. The tea doesn't work. Fenugreek kinda sorta helped and Goat's Rue has kinda sorta helped too, but nothing spectacular at this point.
I found an amazing organization called Eats on Feets on Facebook! Mamas who are overproducing are donating their milk to mothers who are under-producing. I have gotten a couple of great donations, and have also found someone in Arizona who has 4 children who were all NICU babies, and one who had a similar situation to Savannah. This mama researched all of the best nutritional supplements to take that could help brain development and recovery, like fish oil, CoQ10, sunflower seeds, etc, and took that to help her milk have better nutrients for her babies. Her children are all doing very well, even the one whom the doctors said would never talk or eat.
Breast milk, baby! Oh yeah! The miracle food!
This mom has graciously taken extra supplements like the aforementioned just for my little Savannah and is shipping me 200 ounces that she had saved up. Naturally, she is shipping the milk frozen, packed in dry ice.
We are so excited and thankful to get it! I hate having to supplement with formula.
I gave up with my first two children. After the first 6 months, my supply began to diminish. I just didn't have the right supply and demand. My babies went on formula.
One of the ladies in our church donated her supply of saved up breast milk when Arielle was a baby, so Arielle had a good amount of breast milk her first year of life.
Isaiah was formula-fed from 6 months on. Isaiah also has autism!
We specifically did not have our children vaccinated, because of the amount of mercury in vaccinations along with all of the other crap that is in them that has been known to cause autism.
Well, what caused Isaiah's autism?!?
Answer: I don't know. But, after a ton of research, formula could very well have something to do with it. Sure, you can raise an eyebrow and question how come all formula-fed babies don't end up with autism then? My response: How come I'm allergic to MSG and cigarette smoke while others can tolerate it just fine? If I am around cigarettes for even a short period of time or consume any food with MSG, my muscles begin to ache, my neck hurts, I get a migraine headache and often times start throwing up. I have to lay in a dark, quiet room, and am sometimes just OUT for a whole day or two.
Some people are simply more sensitive than others. I'll tell you what though - autism is becoming an epidemic. 30 years ago, 1 in 5000 kids had autism. Now it's more like 1 out of 110 have autism!!!
Food plays a big role in your child's development! A very big role - it paves the future for their adulthood health as well. Take it seriously, and provide the best nutrients you can for your little ones!
In the mean time, part of Savannah's road to recovery will be taking breast milk, mine plus any healthy moms who are willing to donate!
Oh, and one final thought to close: Poop. Have you seen the difference between breast-milk-fed babies and formula-fed babies? WOW! Big difference. Not just seen... but smelled?!?! *fans nose* The proof is not in the pudding, honey, it's in the poop! The proof is in the poop! Your bowels are a big reflection on how healthy your body is.