So I have been working on my stash for my breast milk for when I start back at work in a month. I am wondering, how much milk do you put in each storage bag? Do you mix your pumped milk (meaning 4 oz from morning session, 4 oz from next session, etc)? If you out more milk in each bag than what your baby eats at one sitting, how do you portion it. Any tips and tricks are welcome. I am currently putting about 4-6 oz in each bag and laying flat to freeze. I have about 250-300 oz frozen currently and am pumping about 10-15 oz per day. Tell me your secrets! I like to be as organized and efficient as possible! Share pictures if you have them!
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Great stash!! I tried to do one portion or even smaller per bag. You can always combine but once it's thawed you can't save it that well if you can't use it. And over time needs will change. I never had a huge stash but I tried to set up a system of first-in-first-out. Like using plastic containers or reusing boxes so that it's easy to put new stuff in the back, and pull old (needs to be used up) stuff in the front. I'm sure others have many more ideas than me!
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I freeze in 100ml portions (that's about 3.5oz I believe). That usually works out pretty well. I lay them flat to freeze too. I use plastic containers to store them upright once frozen and keep the newest in front.
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I used to combine and freeze in larger portions but I don't anymore because I ran into daycare rules. They can't reuse any breast milk so I needed to send smaller portions to avoid milk getting dumped.
Right ow I freeze a max of 4 oz in a bag. Always thaw the oldest stuff to use. Lay flat to freeze in my regular freezer then transfer to a basket in our chest freezer.
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@schubr03: I made the mistake of increasing the size of portions because I thought she would eat more and more--we ended up wasting a good deal of milk. If I could go back, I would do 2oz portions instead of 5. 3 wouldn't be bad.
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Id freeze in quantities 2-5, though I leaned more towards the 4-5. I didn't like wasting bags or the little amount that was left over in each bag. My LO drank 6 oz bottles for months 5-9 (so sometimes I even froze 6 oz bags, during that time) I mixed mix from pumping sessions and even mixed warm with cold on the same day.
As for storage, I used color coded tape on the side to mark how many oz (yellow for 2 oz, blue for 3, etc) and stored them oldest- to newest in large rectangular generic tupperware from Target.
Sounds like a great stash size! I'd start cycling through by giving one frozen bottle a day, because the milk composition changes over time and the antibodies aren't as powerful in frozen milk (so I prefer to limit my use of frozen, per day, and spread it out over time).
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Also every baby is different but I did a poll awhile back and most babies maxed out at 5 oz bottles.
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I combined the milk from all day and froze in 4 oz portions. I would often do 50/50 fresh/frozen in her daycare bottles to cycle through the freezer stash (meaning half her bottles were mixed fresh/frozen). She did eventually drink 100% frozen later on when I quit pumping but I had been paranoid she might not drink it quite as well.
I'm pretty sure DD1 never drank more than 4 oz bottles but she was a good solids eater as she got bigger.
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The only thing I'll add is try to thaw in a bowl because every so often you'll have a bag that leaks. It's rare but so disappointing!
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I froze in 4 oz bags and put 20 (I think, she's 2-1/2 now...) bags per gallon freezer bag. I'd take 2 gallon bags to daycare as needed. It worked out really well. She drank 4 oz bottles and for a little while, 6 oz bottles.
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When I was first pumping I'd do bottle sized bags (3.5-4.5 ounces, and 6 ounces for straw cup depending on age). This worked great when I was always making more than I needed. Once I started coming up short I appreciated smaller bags of 1-3 ounces to supplement. I started making sure I had several sizes available.
Now I'm 17 months into pumping (3 weeks before I can throw the pump away!) and I learned I can break off pieces of frozen milk when I'm short. There was no need to be so anal.
My tips are give as few bottles as possible outside of daycare. Baby on the boob helps with antibodies and your supply. I'd also try not to stress about using your freezer stash. I totally used on freezer bag a day for months, but then he'd need less milk at daycare and I could rebuild my stash.
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I freeze in 3-4oz portions. I also will combine milk that is pumped within 24 hours. I make sure all containers have been brought to the same temp in fridge before combining. I don't think you are supposed to mix freshly pumped milk with milk from the fridge before freezing.
Also, I had 350 oz stored when I went back to work with DD. I was pumping about 8oz at work and I ended up tossing a bunch at the end because she was just drinking 9oz when I was at work. I had way more than I ever needed in the freezer. However, she was 7 months at the time so maybe you will need more? I'm going back to work at 10 months with DS and I am not stashing any this time. I can't bare to throw it down the drain.
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@DesertDreams88: when did your baby start taking bigger bottles?
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I stored frozen breastmilk in 2oz or 4oz amounts. It has worked out really well - I can defrost a small amount, a larger amount, or combo them together if needed.
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@Clementine12: months 5-9 I think.... but I nursed a lot for months 5-6 so I didn't do bottles often. Basically, the peak time before solids, and then at the beginning of solids, before solids started to take over.
My boy just REALLY loved his mama's milk. Loves cow's milk now, and still after being weaned for 6 weeks still tries to dig around in my top to get the gold
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Lasinoh bags fit perfectly in Target's up & up containers:
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@schubr03: Sounds like you have a great plan! It took me a bit to figure out how much to freeze per bag but I settled on four ounces and that worked out perfectly. Bags with more just got wasted. So I put 4 ounces per bag, froze them flat and put them in a labeled gallon size zip lock bag and they went in a deep freezer. When it was time to use a bag, I would take the oldest and put it in the freezer in our kitchen. I took however many bags I needed, put them in the fridge the night before and poured them into bottles in the morning. I think I ended up freezing 600 oz and was so glad I did. I used every ounce since I wasn't able to pump often at work.
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I agree 4 oz seems about right and for the most part that was the size bottle they took. We also were sending 4 bottles to daycare so if one bag was a little less or a little more we could spread out over the bottles
I always just put my milk in the fridge and at the end of the day poured into bags for freezing. its ok to combine milk as long as its the same temperature. So cool it down in the fridge first and then combine to freeze!
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I froze in 2-4 oz portions. DS never drank more than 4 oz all the way up to when I pump weaned at 14 months. I froze some 2 oz because I sent a half "top off" bottle in case he needed it. I also made sure to send some bottles of fresh and some of frozen while I could since the milk does change over time and I wanted him to get the milk I was making for him at the time.
I used 3 of these bins to store the milk upright after I froze it flat: https://www.target.com/p/sterilite-white-ice-cube-bin/-/A-13797819
And I used this container without the top to defrost my milk in the fridge in case of spills:
https://www.target.com/p/oxo-2-7-qt-food-storage-container-clear/-/A-15672341 -
Same as most pp's. I freeze in 2-4 oz's. I use the lanisoh bags, lay flat to freeze and then stack them up to save room. I do combine my milk from the same day. I pump at work and make fresh bottles for DS for the next day and freeze any overage. On Friday I freeze all fresh milk and then use frozen milk for Monday. I use the oldest frozen milk. Eventually I assume my supply will decrease and i'll have to use frozen milk bottles along with fresh milk bottles.
This happened with my DD, I stopped making enough for the following day so I'd make 3 fresh bottles and then one from frozen milk. Eventually I ran out but we made it pretty close to 1 yr on all breastmilk (no formula). I think we did have to buy one or two cans of formula at the end.
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