Liquid Gold...Squandered!

I am so sad, and SO mad at myself. I just had to throw away almost 5 ounces of breast milk.

This afternoon, for the first time in a long time, I found time to pump. Precious little time, mind you, as Andrew started screaming about 10 minutes after I started. But I managed to get about 2.5 ounces, and I was excited about perhaps having MDad give Andrew the "dream feed" tonight.

After I'd taken apart the breast pump and its assorted parts and dumped the contents of both collection containers into one, I noticed something floating in the milk. It was dark bluish-green.

It was mold. Or mildew, or something.

Apparently, the last time I'd washed out the collection containers, I hadn't done a thorough-enough job, or there'd been some milk in one of them, or something. Anyway, it was GROSS, and I felt like the Worst Mother in the World. To top it off, there was a container with about 2 oz still in the fridge from last week, which of course had been in there too long and was no longer safe to drink, so I had to throw that out too. I literally feel an almost physical grief about this.

The good news, I guess, is that all of the breast pump parts, the collection containers, bottles, nipples, and other items related to feeding Andrew are freshly washed, in very hot water, and are air drying.

Lesson learned. Ick.