Episode 52: Mom Journey - Breastmilk Donor to Breastmilk Recipient

On this episode, we invited Keira Chojnacki to share her breastfeeding journey with her four kiddos. She has been a breastmilk donor, and also a milk donation recipient. Her journey is very unique and diverse.

Keira became a mom at 20 years old. Right after her first baby was born, the first latch was magical. She had a fairly easy breastfeeding journey with her son and was able to donate 400oz of milk when he son was just 3-4 months old.

When her son was 1 year old, she decided to get a breast reduction and continued to give her son the stored breastmilk she had saved up after that. Two years later, Keira gave birth to her second son who ended up in the NICU for an entire month. She started out exclusively pumping and was able to make enough milk for him. She ultimately weaned at 3 months though because it was too difficult to maintain pumping with her two children and everything she had going on in her life.

With her daughter, Keira really wanted to try breastfeeding again. This time around her baby wasn’t getting enough milk and Keira could only pump about 1/2 ounce at a time. It was then that Keira decided to seek out donor milk and she was able to provide her daughter with donor breastmilk from the time she was 2 weeks old to 13 months!

Keira is now a mom of 4, with her current son being 5 weeks old. Her priority is to enjoy her baby since she knows this is her last. She’s learned to reset her expectations and is fine with breastfeeding, exclusive pumping, or donor milk.

LINKS:

• Eats on Feeds
• Human Milk 4 Human Babies
• Connect with Keira on Instagram

• Holistic Lactation Website
• Follow on Instagram
• The Nurture Collective
• Our Advanced Lactation Formula supplement for naturally increasing & sustaining milk supply