So my in-laws will be watching Xander (will be 5 months) for a weekend (Friday - Sunday). He's currently EBF, so I know I'll have to provide them with breast milk to feed him. He takes about 30 oz a day, so I know I'm going to have to dip into my freezer stash to supply them with enough milk to get through the weekend.
My question is, how do I get my frozen milk to them without it thawing? They live about 1.5 hours from us.
blogger / watermelon / 14218 posts
Can you give them thawed frozen bottles for the first 24 hours of feedings, then give them freshly expressed refrigerated milk for the rest of the days? So he'll drink all thawed milk for the first day, then refrigerated milk the rest of the time. You can hoard refrigerated bottles for a day or two before you leave him (feeding him thawed milk instead so that you can refrigerate whatever you pump), and that way you'll have enough refrigerated milk to get him through the rest of the days? Does that make sense? That's what I did when we went on vacation and the frozen milk wouldn't have lasted through the plane ride.
clementine / 916 posts
If you can, I would bring as much fresh milk as possible. Pack the frozen milk in a cooler with ice (preferably dry ice, but bags of ice will work too). Put it in the freezer as soon as you get there. Tell in laws to feed LO from the freezer stash first, then move to the fresh milk.
nectarine / 2797 posts
I think if you put it in a cooler with ice it would be fine for 1.5 hours. My milk takes over 24 hours to thaw in the fridge from frozen.
wonderful pomelo / 30692 posts
@mrs. wagon: I hadn't thought to do that, but that's probably possible. I'm a little nervous about the whole thing because I can't just leave him 12 ready-to-go bottles and label them 1 through 12, haha. I'm going to leave them 4 bottles and I'll have to leave them the bags of milk and hope they use them in the right order!
Also, I know that you have to use thawed milk within 24 hours. Do you know if that 24 hours is from when you took it out of the freezer? Or is it from when it's first thawed? Any clue?
honeydew / 7504 posts
Hubs and I are going away for a long weekend in a few weeks, and I'm planning to do what @mrs. wagon: suggested. I'm going to send thawed frozen stuff to daycare for a couple of days so I can build up the fresh stuff. Then I'll just give my parents a bunch of bags of fresh milk.
ETA: Keeping it in a cooler with plenty of ice will keep it frozen for 1.5 hours, no problem. I've done that before. A 1-ounce bag KIND OF started to thaw (like, it was slightly soft/malleable), but everything else was still frozen solid.
blogger / watermelon / 14218 posts
@Adira: I believe it's 24 hours from when it's thawed because it takes my milk 24 hours to thaw completely! In any case, breastmilk isn't spoiled unless it smells sour. So you could always ask them to do the sniff check.
wonderful pomelo / 30692 posts
@LaineysMom: Thanks! I wasn't sure when the 24-hour started, haha. I only store 2oz in my bags, so when I put them in the fridge at 7:00 p.m., they are usually thawed by 6:00 a.m.
@littlebug: Okay, maybe I should do that too! It didn't even occur to me to send daycare with freezer and build of a fresh stash for them. How many days is it okay in the fridge? 6-8, right?
@mrs. wagon: Sniff check! Good idea! Although if it goes bad, baby's out of luck. I can't really replenish them while I'm gone...
blogger / watermelon / 14218 posts
@Adira: ah, the 2 oz bags explains it. My bags are 6 oz so they take a while to thaw!
I vote to hoard the fresh milk! My fresh milk is usually ok for at least 6 days. And I store in the door of the fridge like they tell you not to 
but it's a fridge dedicated only to breastmilk so we don't open it often and there's nothing else in it to take up the coldness. You can sniff test the day you drop him off, and if anything smells off you can always bring the bags and tell them to use those first!
clementine / 916 posts
If its this weekend I would start hoarding the BM tomorrow or Wednesday then label which bags need to be used first.. That way any leftover milk can be used when you get home.
wonderful pomelo / 30692 posts
@mrs. wagon: Okay, let's think about this. Xander's going to be there Friday to Sunday. So the oldest I'll want to give milk is probably... Monday. Monday to Sunday is 7 days and anything longer might be cutting it close.
I send 4 5 oz bottles to daycare. Xander usually goes through 3 of them, and I just send the 4th the next day with a note saying to use it first. The other 3 bottles are made from what I pumped the day before.
So..... if I save 10oz of what I pump Monday, and send 5 oz fresh, 15 oz frozen to daycare Tuesday... then I can continue to save 15 oz each day and send 15 oz of frozen (+5 oz of Monday's)... that would give me 55 oz fresh by Friday... hmmm, not enough.
So... if I send to daycare pumped milk from the weekend, plus frozen, then I could save 15oz every day Monday-Thursday, giving me 60oz total... just barely enough. Then I could send the daycare extra (Saturday/Sunday) as well for another 5oz and tell them to just use that one first.
I may have to check my freezer stash... I think I have 60+ oz, but this plan would definitely use it all up! Who would have thought that going away for a weekend would be so complicated!
blogger / watermelon / 14218 posts
@Adira: I know!! It's so complicated 
Don't forget to take into account the milk you pump during the weekend (bring it back!) and the fact that your supply MAY dip during your trip. I would schedule in an additional pumping session each day (one more than you usually do) just to make sure your supply stays up... and stay hydrated!!
wonderful pomelo / 30692 posts
@mrs. wagon: Gahhh!!!! True though, I will hopefully be able to replenish my freezer stash with everything I pump over the weekend. Currently I pump/feed 6 times a day, but I'm going to try to stick to a strict 3-hour schedule while I'm gone (which should give me an extra pump a day). I'm definitely nervous about my supply dipping or not being able to cover what Xander eats. Plus having to go pump every 3 hours for 30 minutes SUCKS.
honeydew / 7303 posts
I transported 300 oz of frozen breastmilk in a cooler packed with ice in a 2.5 hour trip. It was still rock solid when we arrived!
blogger / watermelon / 14218 posts
@Adira: I know... it is so daunting!! Traveling as a nursing mom is no joke, even when the baby IS with you but you can do it. And months from now, when you're only pumping a few times a day, this will all seem like a distant memory. Plus it really puts your planning and math skills into use!
Just concentrate on your trip on staying hydrated and rested, and you should be fine!! 
wonderful pomelo / 30692 posts
@mrs. wagon: So you're saying don't drink all the booze in sight since my LO won't be around? 
(I know, I know, don't do that because it would be in my BM and I DEFINITELY don't want to pump & dump)
blogger / watermelon / 14218 posts
@Adira: awwww! You can still have fun. Just drink RIGHT after you pump. One drink and it should have metabolized out of your milk by the time your next pump comes along!!
wonderful pomelo / 30692 posts
@mrs. wagon: Good idea! Everytime I come back from pumping, I'm going to be "Bring on the booze!!! ...one glass of wine please..."
wonderful pomelo / 30692 posts
@mrs. wagon: What sucks is that when Xander is older, he'll have no idea how much work it was to provide him with BM and he won't care either! Oh well! Hopefully my husband will at least appreciate it! I think he currently thinks the magic BM fairies come in the middle of the night and fill up the bottles for daycare.
blogger / watermelon / 14218 posts
@Adira: he won't... and this won't be the last thing you'll do for him that he will never remember or fully appreciate... But don't worry, it's all worth it, trust me
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