So I currently have about two days worth of pumped milked in the fridge. I'm an exclusive pumper and pump enough during the day to have just enough or an extra 4-8 ounces a day, depending on how much time I have to pump. I usually use the oldest milk first, which is no more than two days old at one time. That bring said, what's the point of having a freezer stash? Am I missing something, or does it just make sense to just use the fridge in my case? Even when I go back to work, I think this system still works too. If I had a larger fridge pile, then freezing is a no brainer since I know I can't keep pumped milk in the fridge longer than 5 days, but it doesn't seem to make sense to me at this point. At what point do you start freezing?
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I started around 8 weeks pp, just pumped once in the morning. I went back to work at 12 weeks. I'm 18 weeks pp now and we have 215 oz in our freezer stash. I did it so that if my supply dipped when I went back to work I'd have back up. Also so once I decide to wean I will be able to still exclusively feed her breast milk.
I think your method is great for now! If it works, keep at it! -
Going back to work can be stressful, so my supply kind of took a hit, plus two weeks after I went back to work I had to take a 4.5 day business trip away from my baby. I had enough of a stash that We didn't need to supplement while I was gone. Also, it's nice to have if you get sick or need to take any medication that might not be safe for baby.
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Usually your supply will take a hit when you go back to work until you get into a good grove. If you are pumping a few extra ounces, maybe save those in the freezer? Its just very assuring knowing that you have extra milk in the freezer in case something comes up and you can't make enough for the next day.
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there were 3 days last week where my mom fed LO bottles during the hours that i would be away at work and i pumped as i would at work. i definitely pumped less and less each day, and then since i've breastfed mostly for the weekend, my supply has gone up again. i figure once i start back full time, my supply may not return even if i breastfeed exclusively on weekends. i started my working on building my stash about 1 month pp.
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I started my freezer stash 2 weeks PP. I had a great stash where we didnt have any room for food. When I went to work we started to use the stash when my supply dipped at night and when she was with DH on paternity leave and now with her babysitter. My supply took a huge hit since I got sick and has not bounced back yet. I ended up using my stash and now we have no more stash.
I think if you could have a freezer stash for just in case why not.
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I built up a huge freezer stash before I went back to work and in the first month or two when I was back at work, and it was great for when my supply started tanking around 5-6 months and I could no longer keep up with LO's eating. I think that if you can throw in an extra pumping session and start to really be able to consistently produce more than your LO eats in a day, it means you'll be able to keep your LO in breast milk for longer. (It's not impossible to provide your kid with breast milk only for a year or more as a working/pumping mom, but I think I speak for a lot of working/pumping moms when I say it's pretty hard)
If you're at your max pumping output and you're pretty much producing what your LO eats, I don't think there's a reason to freezer rather than just refrigerate. I think freezer is what you should do if you can't use the milk within a few days. -
If you are going back to work, I highly recommend building a freezer stash. As previous posters have echoed, your supply will take a hit when you go back to work and you don't want to be stressed about being back at work AND not having enough milk for your baby. If you have a freezer stash, you don't have to worry as much if you pump a little less for a bit while you're getting acclimated to work.
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You never know what is going to happen. You might get sick, you might have a drop in supply, you might have a meeting where you miss a session. Your freezer stash is your insurance policy for those things
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I pump and nurse and have maybe 30 ounces frozen because I didn't know what else to do with it.
I'm not super concerned with building a stash because if anything were to happen or if I needed to go away for a bit DS can always have formula. -
I think there's no reason to NOT have a stash. It's not going to hurt anything and you might be grateful for it one day. My stash allowed me to take a 3 day trip with my husband and still provide breastmilk for the grandparents to feed my daughter. I also got sick last week and because I have such a large stash I was able to take stronger meds and get over it sooner.
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I built up a modest freezer stash, only about 60oz, while home on maternity leave. Once I returned to work I underestimated the amount of milk E would drink throughout the day and had a real hard time pumping enough in a day to keep up. That freezer stash was vital in being able to exclusively provide him breastmilk while I figured out how many times I needed to pump and got over the supply dip I experienced with the reduced sleep and added stress of going back to work. If you have the extra milk, freeze it!
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I worked on building a freezer stash when I was on leave and am really glad I did. The other day, when I was prepping bottles for day care, I spilled a whole bottle of BM! Thank goodness I had a freezer stash because then otherwise I wouldn't have enough. Also, our daycare won't re-offer heated BM, so that leads to wasted BM, so I'm glad I have some in reserve! Also, as others have pointed out, it can give you flexibility and I'm glad I have my stash so that when we begin the weaning process, I can use my stash and decrease the number of pumping sessions I have at work!
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You also never know what might happen with your schedule where you might have to skip a session or if your LO goes through a wonder week where they need to eat a LOT more than they were before. You would be amazed at how quickly you can go through a stash just from little things. It never hurts to have a stash for emergencies also.
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I was an exclusive pumper for a year but never imagined I could do it for so long. Assuming that I could reach my short term goals, I treated my freezer stash as extra milk for my LO to stretch out the breast milk until he would be exclusively on formula. It also gave me the ability to think of longer term goals. Did I have enough milk in the freezer so that I could stop pumping a few months earlier than his 1st birthday? In the end I stopped pumping soon after his 1st birthday and used my freezer stash for another month or two before he was completely weaned from the bottle.
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I was an exclusive pumper too after 3 weeks. I happened to wean myself once I went back to work, but during one point in time, I was producing so much that I started freezing for when I did go back to work. As time went on, LO started eating more and more, yet my supply started to diminish. I had to start tapping into that freezer stash when at 3.5 months, he was eating 5 ounces 5 times/day. It just increased after that once he got older, and I knew I couldn't keep it up once I went back to work.
Even if you could build up a little bit for security in case you don't produce as much as you thought...or LO goes through a growth spurt and eats a few ounces more in a day. You'll be glad you did later!
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Thanks for your input ladies. I guess there is no point of having a fridge stash and I may as well freeze the extra milk.
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