MILKING IT
Tabitha Frost, 29, from California, has a unique way of helping others…
Being a first-time mum is scary for any woman.
But when you just can’t seem to feed your baby, it can be terrifying.
Holding my baby Jaxon to my breast to feed him, I teared up with frustration.
I’d tried using nipple shields, syringe feeding, everything.
But no matter how hard I tried, he wouldn’t nurse.
‘This is so hard,’ I cried to my husband Nick.
And soon after, I was in agony.
My breasts were swollen with milk and I developed mastitis, an infection which made feeding even harder.
But I was desperate to feed my baby.
‘I’ll express milk and feed him with a bottle,’ I said.
So I bought a breast pump and my milk started flowing.
In fact, I couldn’t believe how much I was producing – up to five times more than my baby actually needed. I started storing it in my freezer, which was full to the brim. Two years later, I gave birth to my daughter, Adelaide, and in hospital, my midwife couldn’t believe how much milk I was producing.
‘Have you ever thought about donating it?’ she asked. I’d never heard of that before... Just like Jaxon, Adelaide struggled to nurse.
So I continued to express my milk, and before long, my freezer was full up.
Soon after, I was diagnosed with hyper-lactation syndrome, which meant my body produced three times more milk than normal.
Poor Jaxon and Adelaide had struggled to breastfeed because my milk was coming out too fast for them to cope with.
Remembering what my midwife said, I looked into breast milk donation and found a nearby milk bank, which distributed my milk to premature babies in hospital. I also donated to local families. One had a set of poorly twins who relied on breast milk to survive. ‘Here you go,’ I smiled, loading bags of milk into their mum’s freezer one afternoon. ‘Thank you,’ she said. ‘This means so much.’ It was an amazing feeling. In time, I gave birth to my third child, Cleo.
She was a bit better at breastfeeding than her siblings, but I was still producing too much milk for her to handle.
I had to pump every three hours, day and night.
I even had to do it on the bus sometimes, but I wasn’t embarrassed by it at all.
So far I’ve donated over 1,000 pints of breast milk.
I spend up to four hours a day pumping, but I can’t break my routine no matter how tired I am.
My milk ducts will clog if I don’t drain my breasts, and I could get an infection.
But I don’t see myself stopping soon.
Knowing that I’m helping babies in need is the breast feeling ever!
I pump three hours a day