I shouldn’t have been surprised that my daughter was born with a discerning palate. My husband and I are self-described “foodies” after all, and we streamed a steady diet of baking and cooking shows while I was pregnant. Food, I like to say, is my love language. Our baby girl was born with a healthy appetite and I was blessed to be able to keep up with her needs while building a freezer stash. But when I returned to work, we started having struggles with giving her a bottle. After weeks of trial and error – and trying every bottle under the sun – we finally realized that the frozen milk was the issue. With some research, we discovered that some babies simply don’t like the taste of milk that had been frozen. Only the freshest milk will do for our little gourmand! As my freezer stash grew and grew, I began to wonder what to do with all of the milk I had collected. I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to donate it because my daughter was rejecting it, but after speaking to the absolutely lovely reps at the Mid Atlantic Mothers’ Milk Bank, I discovered that it wasn’t a concern! The recipients of the donated milk wouldn’t even taste it since it would be delivered via tube. I get emotional thinking that my daughter is sharing her “meals” with other babies. The whole breastfeeding journey has been wildly more complicated, educational, eye-opening and rewarding than I ever would have imagined. But the fact that she and I are able to provide nourishment for small, fragile, hungry babies, giving them and their parents hope? *Chef’s kiss.*

– Milk Donor

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