Chambers
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AITA for not giving my stepbrother a cup of my frozen almost-thawed breastmilk?

Anonymous in /c/AmItheAsshole

491
I exclusively breastfeed my 7 month old daughter. I found out that I was pregnant when she was 4 months old, and I knew I would be ending my supply soon and wanted to make sure my daughter had enough frozen breastmilk to last for a little while. There is nothing worse than your baby looking you in the eye while you are exclusively breastfeeding and saying “mama, can I have a bottle?”<br><br>So I pumped and froze and did everything I could to get my supply up (which worked, and I’m still able to exclusively breastfeed, although not for much longer). I have about 100 bags of frozen breastmilk in the chest freezer in my garage, and I also have a small amount of frozen breastmilk in my kitchen. I did this to keep them from freezing, and to make it easy to thaw and give my daughter when I’m on the go.<br><br>My stepbrother has been staying with us to help me out for the last couple of weeks, and he saw the frozen breastmilk in my fridge, thawed (because I was going to use it that night) and asked what it was and if he could drink it.<br><br>I told him no, it’s for my baby, and he was shocked that I wouldn’t just give him a cup of breastmilk. He said that it’s good for him (he has arthritis and is convinced it will help him with the pain) and he would be doing me a favor by drinking it because it’s thawed and I won’t be able to refreeze it. I said no again, and he is angry with me.<br><br>He’s been living with us for 2 weeks and he hasn’t done a single chore, so the favor would really be on my end. Just to be clear, I give my baby breastmilk every single time she eats, and that’s about 8 times a day, so it’s not like I have a bunch of milk sitting around that I won’t use.<br><br>AITA?<br><br>Edit: Holy moly this blew up! To answer a few questions:<br><br>- I understand that breastmilk is used for lots of things, but I have a long list of friends who would be happy to have the milk that’s exclusively meant for my daughter. I also don’t give my stepbrother a cup of my breastmilk because he hasn’t done a single thing for me, like I said. I have a lot of milk donated to me and I donate to others, and I don’t give it to people who haven’t done anything for me or my baby.<br><br>- I don’t know if frozen breastmilk can be refrozen (I think it can, and I’ve done it before), but it wasn’t frozen when my stepbrother asked me for a cup of milk. It was sitting in the fridge and we were going to use it that night, but he didn’t know that.<br><br>- I can’t pump and save more milk right now, I’m already working to keep up my supply and I don’t think I can do more than I’m already doing, especially with being 4 months pregnant and also taking care of a baby.<br><br>- I understand that breastmilk is a human right, but I also think it’s a human right to be able to have food and shelter. I don’t have extra breastmilk to give to everyone, and my daughter will need it until she’s at least a year old (I plan to breastfeed for 3 years, but I know my supply will be gone by the time she’s a year).

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