My Newborn Baby Brother Drank My Breast Milk First & I Couldn’t Be Happier

Ofelia Hernandez

This is me holding my newborn brother today, feeding him my milk in that bottle. 

I am 23 years old, with two children of my own. One is 2 years old, the other is 2 months old. Thankfully I’ve never struggled with low supply for either of my babies. And as of right now from my 2-month-old, I have 1000 ounces stashed in the deep-freezer. My mom, Trisha Hernandez, felt her water break yesterday at 11 a.m. and my little brother, Mr. James, was born at 10:27 a.m. today.

So why is my milk in that bottle?

Ofelia Hernandez

My mom is a type two diabetic and needed insulin for her whole pregnancy. So when James was born, he had low blood sugar. He first tested at 38 when they wanted to see him at 45. My mom was struggling to get his latch fixed but if the baby’s sugar didn't come up, they would’ve had to poke his little veins with an IV and/or take him to the NICU.

Because I had been there at the hospital with my mom laboring for nearly 24 hours, I of course had to take my pump with me. I pumped 21 ounces the whole time I was there.

So, my mom asked if she could bottle feed the baby just to get his sugar up to bypass the painful poke.

She however did NOT want anything to do with formula.

Ladies, my mom asked me if he could have some of my milk. My heart melted and I felt so special. I got some milk around quick for him, warmed up and in a bottle. I went to hand the nurse the bottle and she pointed to my mom so I tried to hand it to her and she said, “Why don’t you feed him?” I COULD HAVE CRIED.

The look on her face was so priceless and I will never forget how proud she looked.

His sugar came up to 47 after the feeding. Perfect. I want people to understand the true value behind breast milk. The fact that it can do so much, including save a baby's life while providing them ALL of the nutrition that they need is truly amazing.

I’d thought about saving some of my frozen milk stash for her just in case she had any issues producing later on but I’d never thought about feeding him my freshly pumped milk just an hour after he was born. 

The moment was amazing. Of course I’d do anything to help her and my new little brother. I personally do not like hearing babies “pain” cry and I knew an IV would make him hurt. I especially didn’t want him to have to be taken to the NICU because I couldn’t imagine having to be separated from my own babies. It was just instinct. I didn’t have to think twice. When he started eating, he looked up at me and I swear I felt my heart get a little bigger. I knew I was doing something right.

I fell in love with another baby that isn’t mine, today. Forever and always, little brother.

Ofelia Hernandez

I just helped my mom find position that's more comfortable for nursing and he's now doing great latching! I see no future issues with latching so I don’t think I would need to nurse him in the future, but I would definitely try my best to pump and save it for her to bottle feed.

I have a 2-year-old and 2-month-old. My oldest brother is 5 and then there’s newborn baby James. My 2-year-old son and my 5-year-old brother LOVE each other so much. They play together so well and it’s awesome seeing them grow up together. I’m sure my youngest boy and James will be the exact same!

A big misconception would be that my milk wouldn’t be safe for him because it wasn’t tested prior. I am very healthy and I have two extremely healthy babies. Obviously my mom had no problem with it and neither did I. His sugar did in fact come up and they avoided NICU. Happy ending. I hope people consider donating their milk because them doing so could save a baby like my little brother some day. Maybe even save a baby born way too early. You just never know.

This post was written by Ofelia Hernandez and printed with permission.