The original author of this saying must have been a breastfeeding mother.
Breastfeeding has been going really well so far. Bo was quick to latch on after birth and has been going to town since then. He seems to be eating plenty as he gained quite a bit by his first checkup and he is already looking pretty snug in some of his 3 month clothes. We definitely have a BIG baby on our hands!!
I have been trying to pump 3 times a day in addition to his feedings. I want to keep my milk supply up and I am trying to build a freezer stock for when I head back to work. I have been pumping at 9 am, 4 pm, and 10 pm.
One trick we learned this week is that he sleeps a lot better if we give him 2-4 oz. of breastmilk in a bottle before he goes to bed. He still nurses after he takes the bottle but giving him the bottle allows Mike to spend some quality time with him while I finish my last pumping session of the day. Plus, we know how much milk he is taking in.
Around 10ish every night we have started our bedtime routine. I send Mike up to Bo’s room with a bottle and Mike changes him and gives him the bottle while I pump. When I finish pumping I go up and Bo usually still wants to eat so I nurse him for a little bit longer. This seems to be working pretty well and while we haven’t had another 8 hour night yet he does usually sleep until somewhere between 3:30 and 5:30. He eats and usually goes back down pretty easily at that point.
Last night though our bedtime routine ended with Mommy in tears. I had a 4 oz. bottle made for Mike and I was getting ready to pump. Suddenly from upstairs I hear – “Don’t freeze that milk!”
I hadn’t started pumping yet so I ran upstairs. Mike is stripping his clothes off and Bo is laying on the floor covered in milk. When Mike went to give him the bottle it leaked somehow and they spilled my precious, hard-earned, made of gold breastmilk everywhere. All over both of them and their clothes. All over the glider. All over the Boppy. All over the floor. Who knew breastmilk could spread so far so quickly.
Even though rationally I knew this was just one of those things I started to cry. I worked so hard to pump that milk. This totally threw my pumping system off. What if the milk stained the glider? I was a mess and literally crying and quite upset about the spilled milk…
While I have always thought that “Don’t cry over spilled milk” is a silly saying, I now understand. Obviously, the person who originally said this was a breastfeeding mother who was hyped up on hormones and afraid her child would starve. So while I would never cry over spilled cow’s milk — when the milk comes from me, you can pretty much bet you’re going to have a crying Mommy on your hands if any of it is spilled.
