Odd breastmilk question (sort of vegan related)
Ok, please don't think I'm a complete weirdo. But, my partner and I have been discussing when the best time for us to have a baby would be. The topic of breastmilk came up, and all of a sudden we had this brilliant (bizarre?) idea.
I plan on breastfeeding for at least one year definitely. And then up to age 2 if the child needs/wants it. I'm vegan. My partner eats meat, but absolutely no dairy or eggs or other animal by-products.
Would it be weird of me to make things with breastmilk? Like ice cream? Or use it in baking in place of soy milk? I don't even know if it would work. But, we both miss "real" ice cream.
Then, as an aside, I thought to myself, can I still say I'm vegan if I try this? Technically, it IS dairy. But, obviously, ethically and voluntarily given. :D
Here's another weird (but serious) question - as a vegan, would you eat breastmilk ice cream? I know it sounds funny. But, I know there are milk donors for babies. So, I thought, what if you went to someone's house, is it something that you'd try? Or would it be too weird?
Has anyone here thought of trying this?
Should I just go re-register, now, under a new name to escape humiliation? ;)
If you can squeeze enough extra milk out of your boobies to cook with it, well that's awesome. I wasn't able to pump anything (but I hear if you invest in a really good electric pump it works better). The only milk that came out of my breasts went directly into my son's mouth.
But anyways, now i can bring up this topic about breastfeeding since the issue has resurfaced...what do y'all think of MALES breastfeeding? when I first heard the idea i thought it was preposterous! But i heard about an African tribe in which grandfathers nurse the young.. :o This article is about the fathers, specifically...but maybe its more accurate than what i heard...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/parents/story/0,,1506843,00.html
here's more reading...http://www.unassistedchildbirth.com/miscarticles/milkmen.html (watch for the logos on this one if childbirth or nakedness make you uneasy...)
HOW COOL!
I LOVE that site, by the way - unassisted childbirth. Totally the way I want to go, even though I "say" I want a midwife. That's really so no one reports me to CPS, as some people actualy do that. ::)
Males breastfeeding - when I first heard of it, I honestly thought it was weird. It just seemed unnatural. I can totally see the benefits in a tribal society where the father producing milk for his kids is better than no milk at all, or formula. I have heard of this - not grandfathers, though. I've heard of fathers producing milk if their wife died in childbirth.
I have to say, though, it's not something I would try with my partner. Biologically, I just can't get over the "unnaturalness" of it. I realize, technically, it happens "naturally" but I mean natural in the sense of the norm, biologically. Certainly, there are always outliers that happen spontaneously in nature.
I freely admit, though, my opinion is colored probably due to my background and social conditioning.
I think if people are comfortable with it and want to try this, for whatever reason - hey, go for it. At the very least, sharing breastfeeding with one's partner must be convenient, lol.
gratefulbeauty - this is a good point. Plus, I'm also a little weirded out by pumps. It kind of reminds me of those cows being pumped for milk 24/7. And I guess I probably wouldn't get far with hand expressing. ??? We'll see, lol.
Plus, I'm also a little weirded out by pumps. It kind of reminds me of those cows being pumped for milk 24/7. And I guess I probably wouldn't get far with hand expressing. ??? We'll see, lol.
Maybe I'm strange, but if I have kids, I kind of can't wait to see what it feels like to be "pumped"
I'm probably like...building up the idea in my head, but I can't imagine that it feels bad
This feels dirty. I'd drink my own milk. And offer it to others....straight from the tap
I'd try my own breastmilk. I might be crazy enough to dry it in every dairy recipe that doesn't work so well with analogs (human whipped cream :o human cheese! :o). But I don't know about trying my own meat (placenta). I mean, that's what it is, isn't it? Mango-like or not.
I wonder what effect eating your own placenta has on your cholesterol. And if guys eat it, will the hormones effect them?
This feels dirty. I'd drink my own milk. And offer it to others....straight from the tap
I am laughing so hard right now!!! ;D I love that visual...
The topic of drinking human milk came up in conversation with some friends yesterday. One of my friends said something about drinking rat's milk, and how gross that is. I replied that "yes, drinking rat's milk is gross, but so is drinking cow's milk." They were like "Well, you go ahead and drink your human milk then." So I told them how weird it is that we drink milk from another species, yet think it's gross to drink our own milk. That is confusing to me. Anyway, they weren't convinced, but I got my point across. Ok, so I don't really want to make a lifestyle out of drinking my own milk or anything (which is how they took it), but I I definitely think it's ok to taste your own milk, not to drink all the time...I don't think that we don't need milk as adults. Oh! I also told them about calcium absorption and Vitamin D...they were all shocked.
I did taste my own milk of course, the little bit that I could pump, it was kind of like sweet rice milk. I even had enough to mix with some rice cereal, which my son wouldn't eat, no that boy liked it with juice. Pumping was strange for me though. There was just something creepy about seeing my boob get squeezed into that funnel tube thingy, kinda like a mammogram. Hand expressing was easy at first when there was so much milk my boobs they were as big as cantalopes. I read that if you keep it up you can express a lot of milk, as if you were pumping. It's really more about getting your body used to producing that much milk, not so much about the device you use.
Breast milk is a fantastic thing, and I think it's awesome that you are so interested in utilizing it :)
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