That Incident.

So yeah, it happened to me : the freezer door was accidentally left a little ajar over the night and thawed all my 105 oz frozen expressed breast milk. And lucky me and Eivie, we made 2 separate storage of frozen EBM; one at my own house, another at my PIL's. But still, the thought of losing 105 oz EBM is heartbreaking.


We only realized this situation around 9 am. At this point, all the 105 oz has fully thawed, i.e. needed to be used within 24 hours. As impossible as it sounded to finish all 105 oz within 24 hours, I didn't dare to break the 24-hours rule entirely. I chose to extend for another 3 hours and make it 27 hours and prayed to Allah to preserve the good condition of those EBM.


I wasn't in good emotional state for the whole day. I wasn't angry but rather frustrated. I forgot to think of better things to do but mourned. And it was actually a mistake on its own. At this point all I can think of was to put Eivie on sole EBM for the next 27 hours but that could only utilize around 25 oz of EBM. And at the same time I had the fear of Eivie rejecting direct feed after a long bottle feeding period as it happened 3 times during weekends (separate events). Too many issues to think of but not the solutions, silly me.


12 of 24 hours passed by. Then only I could think straight and come across the idea of giving the EBM while it was still OK, to other babies. 12 hours wasted, silly silly me.


Tweeted about it and a blogger-Twitter-Facebook friend Cik Daun, instantly replied. Alhamdulillah, we agreed to meet around 10 pm and I gave her 28 oz of the thawed EBM. The idea was to save (by giving to other baby) as much as possible. Cik Daun suggested to give the thawed EBM to NICU, which was a great idea but it was a little too late. We didn't have direct contact with a doctor or person in charge in any hospital and it was not a straightaway method of giving EBM to babies that need special care.


On the 28 oz breast milk give to Nazim (Cik Daun's baby), of course the ibu-anak susuan rule was always applied. My husband and I talked about it and with our limited knowledge on the subject (some say it will only jatuh hukum if the baby is fed with direct feeding, but some say regardless on whichever method, as long as the milk is supplied by mother A to baby B until the baby is full, five times of this session, they both are considered as ibu-anak susuan related, so we sticked to this rule), we proposed to Cik Daun to feed Nazim with my EBM for 4 times only. Husband said we wouldn't know what would happen in the future and this decision was very impromptu so we better stayed at the safe side.


All in all, I or rather we managed to use around half of the total 105 oz. Praise to God.


This incident force us to remember these things, if the same thing ever happen again to me or any breastfeeding mothers : 


1) Use 'to be used within 24 hours after the frozen EBM is fully thawed' to minimize the impact. You could perhaps put some buffer while the EBM is still OK (not advisable, but follow your gut feeling), but don't jeopardize the EBM quality by breaking the whole rule. Better yet, ask the expert on the impact of going further than 24 hours and if there's at any point you could tolerate.
2) Act fast; ask around whoever needs EBM, but they have to use it before the 24 hour ends. Giving it to NICU is a great idea but get the procedures in-hand first before you could proceed.
3) Be aware about the ibu-anak susuan guidelines as you don't want to have mahram issue in the future. Like my husband said, 20 years down the road is long, many things might just happen.
4) Yes you are panic and emotionally disturbed. Take a deep breath. Talk to your husband or friend. Try not to be too sad as there is nothing happen without His permission and He just knows everything and you don't want to doubt that. You need to stay focus to minimize the impact.
5) Equip yourself with knowledge of thawed EBM and the ibu-anak susuan guidelines beforehand.


You could read and ask the experts on the 24 hour rule, as well as the ibu-anak susuan guidelines. I'm still learning too but as of now I would still stick to the most stringent rules.

Till then.


Note : 
1) This might just strengthen my decision on hukum ibu-anak susuan, even with no direct feeding.
2) Husband cousin's suggested to bathe Eivie with the EBM, a good idea than let it wasted.
3) A fellow blogger friend had generously sought for the way to donate EBM to any hospital in Malaysia, please find the very informative article, here.