CUYAHOGA COUNTY, Ohio — Thousands of Ohioans are still without power, including first-time moms trying to preserve their breast milk.
Jocelyn Lewis gave birth to her first baby boy a month ago.
Last weekend, Lewis was admitted to the hospital for gallbladder surgery. When she was discharged on Tuesday, everything was normal for about three hours, and then the storm hit.
“I'm still trying to nurse him at the same time as recovering. I can't pump because we don't have power. We were doing it all in the dark – trying to figure out everything. It's been very, very difficult,” Lewis said. “It genuinely feels like the worst week of my entire life. It feels like I get over one thing and something else happens and now I'm just scared, like what's the next thing that's going to happen?”
Lewis’ first thought when the power went out was what to do with her supply of breast milk.
“I was crying over my breast milk. It genuinely scared me because it's a lot of work and pumping is extremely hard on you. This is food for your baby, and you just don't want anything to mess with it and dumping it all out is probably the most heart wrenching thing you can do,” she added.
Another new set of parents: Joshua and Makenna Brogan.
The Brogans just had their first baby boy a week ago.
“We had at least $1,000 worth of groceries in our house, so we didn't have to leave this month because of newborn life. We were kind of freaking out about how we were going to salvage all of that. We were starting to get a backflow, a buildup of breast milk and we were like, how are we going to do that? We ended up getting coolers and throwing ice packs in it and throwing that in the fridge, so it was like extra insulated,” Makenna explained.
Joshua described their last few days of figuring out life as “hectic to say the least.”
“It was a lot of emotions – trying to figure out what exactly we would do – kind of weighing our options, whether or not it's worth it for me to try and buy a generator, which isn't a cheap thing to do either,” Joshua stated.
Luckily for the Brogans and Lewis, they have family that live within 15-30 minutes.
“I'd say we saved 99% of what we had in the house, which we're very fortunate for,” Joshua said.
“My aunt was so nice. She cleared out one side of her freezer to put all of my breast milk in there,” Lewis added.
For others, OhioHealth Mother’s Milk Bank gave News 5 several suggestions to not only preserve it but to prepare for a power outage.
“One of the most important things is not to open the freezer if you don't need to. I think that's one of those reasons that it's good if they have both a refrigerator freezer and a deep freezer that they keep a small amount in the refrigerator freezer. They could use that during a power outage and leave the deep freezer closed,” OhioHealth Nurse and Mother’s Milk Bank Donor Coordinator Marla Wilson explained.
Wilson said per CDC guidelines, human milk can also be refrozen.
“As long as there are still ice crystals in the milk, it can be frozen again,” she said.
To prepare for a power outage, Wilson suggests taking a cup and filling it with water to freeze. Once it’s frozen, place a coin on top.
“If they ever lose power again, that ice would thaw, and that quarter or nickel is going to drop. They're going to know whether their milk has thawed and refrozen if that coin has moved in that cup of ice. It's a good way to know that their freezer temperature has maintained,” Wilson said.
She added if breast milk is compacted between ice in a cooler, it should keep the milk at a healthy temperature.
Wilson said following those tips can allow breast milk to last a couple of days.
Lewis recommends not throwing out breast milk but instead using it for a milk bath. She used it every other bath to help relieve her son’s eczema.
The Mother’s Milk Bank is unable to store outside breast milk unless that individual is going through the donor process or is an approved donor.
Wilson said a church or local health facility may be able to store breast milk, though.
If you’re in need of breast milk donation, OhioHealth Mother’s Milk Bank does have dispensaries located in Northeast Ohio. There is a milk bank in Columbus as well.
However, there is an application process, and to obtain breast milk through a donor, a physician needs to prescribe it.
“We do have a little bit of paperwork. Just some demographic information that we have to collect to be able to do that. They have a very limited supply, but we can ship to them overnight on dry ice. That would be something they could look into with their pediatrician if their baby does not take anything else but human milk,” Wilson added.
To get in contact with OhioHealth Mother’s Milk Bank, email milkbank@ohiohealth.com. The main line to call is 614-566-0630.
Wilson said she is also available to answer questions at 614-566-0631.
The Illuminating Company sent a text to customers in certain areas this week – saying the latest electricity will be back on is August 14 at 11:30 p.m.
“We will make it through,” Makenna said.
