It would be awesome of someone in HB would create an entry on how to create a milk stash. I'm not really sure where to begin and what I should aim for in terms of my stash let alone how to continue to keep it up.
Thanks!
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I barely produced enough in the first 2 months, so I didn't save any milk until after my LO started sleeping longer stretches/through the night. I woke up in the middle of the night to pump and would freeze what I pumped (usually 8 ounces). Eventually I saved up a small stash.
LO stopped taking the bottle so I stopped saving and ended up using my stash when I started making solids. -
Maybe I could tackle this. When I had LJ, I thought I was only going to be able to nurse for 6 weeks, so I pumped like a maniac starting right away (even waking at night to pump!)... By the time we stopped feeding her breast milk, I had a stash of well over 300 oz in a chest freezer to donate.
Most people will tell you not to start building your stash until at least 2-4 weeks post-partum, but that wasn't an option for me
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hehe maybe I will chime in as well! I had a GREAT stash that we used after RJ was weaned at 7 months-- it lasted him until he was 1 year old (one 6 oz bottle a day).
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This is a great idea!!! I'm still trying to wrap my head around how this works, so any suggestions would be most helpful!
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Here is my personal experience/story (background I returned to work at 3 months):
When she was born, she nursed well, but just one or two times had a bad latch and she gave me a blister that bled on one side. Obviously it was VERY painful so after a week pp I started pumping that side. I just nursed her on the other side and started saving the pumped milk in the freezer (in storage bags in small quantities). After pumping for about a week or so, I had about 50 ounces in there (those early times I didn't get that much).
About a month before I returned to work, the baby was sleeping in longer stretches (down at 8pm, up at 8 am with two feedings in between). Since you typically have more milk in the mornings I would either feed her at like 4 am, and then get up around 6-7 to pump, and then nurse her again at 8 am or just nurse her one side at 8 am and pump the other side. A few weeks of this gave me another 50 ounces or so.
I've had to leave her for a few days here and there and honestly I wish I had more than 100 ounces in my stash. 200-300 ounces would give me much more peace of mind.
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@mrs. wagon: how much did you have in your stash?
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i think there are a lot of variables though. some moms may be able to pump more often than others because they have more help/better sleeping baby, some may produce more milk and can pump less, etc. but there are general tips that would be helpful so i'll leave it up to mrs. jacks!
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I just started pumping last week (5 weeks). I'm still experimenting as to when and how often but so far the most I've been able to pump is about 4oz twice a day. One in the middle of the afternoon and one around 3am after my LO nurses. I would also love to see a post on this
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I would love to see a post on this too. I didn't really have a strategy for creating a stash so I just pumped whenever I could, which probably wasn't a very efficient use of my time. I'd like to find a smarter way of doing this for baby #2.
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@Clementine: I never kept track, but I would say I had at least 60 bags of 6 oz each... so I guess that'd be 360 oz?
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