WIC emphasized on the importance of breastfeeding over formula use, but I don't remember them talking about colostrum. They just wanted me to be aware that formula wasn't going to be the best choice and that breastmilk was the golden ticket for healthy growth. The facility had wanted to post our names up on the wall for having foregone formula (like it was an achievement). I had two kinds of pumps (a plastic electric one with a lot of parts and wooden pedal one that I still own) and we'd mark a date on the baggy and freeze the milk for later (our baby wasn't hungry all the time, but the "golden" factory never ceased their production).
Indeed! I'm doing WIC too, though I haven't been to a facility in person because of the pandemic. They're letting people send in their documents digitally and stuff. Unfortunately, we can't use WIC to get groceries online yet, though I heard they were making some moves in that direction. Our plan is for Husband to go out super late at night or super early in the morning when the stores aren't crowded.
I induced lactation through massage a few years ago for erotic/fetish reasons, but I only made a tablespoon of milk every four hours at my peak because I didn't have the hormones to support it. I read a bunch of stuff in the process, and now I'm basically a master at hand expression, though I still need to figure out how to breastfeed an actual baby. I also have a pump, but pumping isn't as efficient as hand expression, plus there are more little parts to clean after pumping.
As I explained to my lover, milking myself now and saving the colostrum for later wouldn't be the best thing for me since feeding baby from a bottle immediately would spoil baby's ability to suck straight from the nipple. My mom couldn't directly breastfeed me for this reason. I don't want to be constantly cleaning bottles and other supplies, so we're going to keep that colostrum inside my body until my baby sucks it out. We might go to pumping/expressing later and play around with spare milk then.
Anyway, I gave up lactating around the time I started my current story because it was too time-consuming, and once I got back into writing, I had to give up one hobby to make room for the other. When I was lactating, my periods never stopped, but my cycles got longer, so I didn't have periods as frequently, which was nice. I'm hoping that, with the hormones on my side this time, I can delay my next period for a year at least.
