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Dairyland
One of the traits I share with my husband it a tendency to keep things. While neither of us is anything like the Collyer Brothers who were practically outsider artists in their tragic dedication to packrat-ish-ness, we understand and respect this quirk.
In one area, however, I fear I am starting to impose. It is almost impossible to put anything in our freezer now without having some sort of genius for spatial relations, because it is so stuffed with packets of hastily labeled breast milk. Sure, lurking behind the white wall are containers of frozen tomato sauce and chicken chili. I've even found free spots in which I can wedge in strawberry popsicles, but a pint of ice cream would be much too much.
I've been storing breast milk for Felix since he was a few days old. The collection started as a solution to an engorgement problem, then it became an act of defiance during the brief (2 day) but painful tenure of an anti-breastfeeding (and anti-dog) babysitter. Then it became habit- compulsion even.
I wasn't even counting on breastfeeding working for me, but now I have preferences I never dreamed I'd formulate for things like milk storage bags. (I like the Lansinoh ones, even though they have idiotic text on them. Whose bright idea was it to write "My Mommy's Milk" on the side of these things? My kid can't read, and there's really no one else around here whose milk it could be. If they weren't so space efficient, I would boycott them based on unpleasant and unnecessary cuteness alone, but because they are so flat, I can store that much more... you see my problem.) And I have months of stored milk.
Advice about how long frozen milk really keeps is all over the place. Some say it lasts 6 months, others say 3 months is the maximum. No matter how I look at it, my freezer has at least 2 months of frozen packets I should ditch.
And I haven't yet.
I don't quite understand why I'm clinging to these things. They do comfort me in some vague way. They prove I can sustain Felix, something I worried about until he was a several months old. They prove my work and my care. Perhaps they're like so many talismans, ensuring that Felix will be taken care of until he's entirely on solid food.
As much as I want my body back, I am happy to be able to feed Felix. Throwing these packets away seems like such a waste, an insult to my hard work, and a testament to my shabby organization. A successful obsessive would have established a nifty rotation in which the newest milk would be frozen while older packets would thaw in the 'fridge, ensuring more freshness all the way around and less of the waste I dread.
What do other people do with surplus? It's too late for some of my supply, but I can't be alone with this tendency. At some point- who knows when it will be, the holidays, perhaps?- I will have to face facts. Someone around here, and I'm not saying it won't be me, may want mint chip ice cream, or feel its time the room temperature vodka took on a bit of a chill.
posted by Elise at 4:20 AM
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said...
I too had a serious reluctance to empty the freezer. I had packed it full during my pumping days when we were discovering my daughter was lactose-intolerant. That diagnosis essentially made the milk in the freezer useless for us, contaminated as it was with yogurt smoothies & half N half (unless I wanted to endure another bout of colic and misery in my darling baby). And yet, I kept it in the freezer for at least another month.
I think the reluctance is two-fold. I hated the idea of wasting the milk, and I deplored the thought of discarding all my hard work.
I considered looking for a milk bank, but I was still in the overwhelm mode of the first few months of motherhood. Perhaps, if you are comfortable with the idea, you can find a milk bank.
Good luck, and for the record, once I finally did purge, it was nice surprise to discover my freezer again.
Robin
10/21/2005 11:55 AM
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