I ran the numbers, because I was curious. We've tracked every single bottle of breast milk and formula since they came home from the hospital. The spreadsheet tells me that's been 2,829 bottles of breastmilk, for a total of 358,443 ml. If you haven't lived the NICU life and gotten used to measuring everything in ml, that's 12,120 oz.
They've also had 1,774 bottles of formula, for a total of 275,159 ml or 9,304 oz of formula. In case anyone is wondering, I did the math on that. With Neosure until they hit 9 months, and then Similac Advanced after, we've spent a total of $1,981 on formula. Yikes!
Overall, I'm really proud of myself. My goal was to give at least some breast milk until they hit one. If I could stockpile enough in the freezer to make it to one adjusted, even better. I met those goal. Pumping was awful, it was miserable, it slowed my physical recovery by months. Heck, it took more than six weeks after my last pumping session for the skin to stop peeling off my nipples daily. That was the first time since the babies' birth that I could dry myself off after a shower without wincing in pain when the towel touched my chest. Despite all that, and despite the fact that applying any logic at all makes it seem like it was a terrible idea to pump for so long, I'm glad I did. Providing breast milk was one thing I felt I could do for my children after being in so many situations where no amount of physical sacrifice would help them. It may not make any difference at all to them physically, but it gave me a measure of mental relief. So I'll take it and be proud of what I accomplished.
Tomorrow morning will be hard for all of us, I suspect. We'll get up and get straw cups of milk. I suspect the babies will miss lounging in their twin-z pillow with their warm bottles. I'll miss knowing I was the one providing for them. As much as I love watching growth and change, sometimes even the best of progress is hard, and this is one of those times.
Can you do a gradual transition? I warmed up cow milk for about a year after the last bottle. Also there are sippy cups that are an in between.
ReplyDeleteI've been thinking about it. I'll probably see how today goes with milk from the fridge, which they've been drinking with meals since 12 months actual. I'm hopeful that they'll have a few rough days and then be ok, but we'll see. If it's worse than that, heated milk will be my next step.
Delete