Tell me about your freezer stash

honeybee434

Wanted to make a separate thread from the BF'ing discussion in case not everyone checks into that one.

I can see my freezer stash getting out of hand soon, so wanted to see what everyone else was doing to make sure I'm not freezing pointlessly. I'm afraid my supply is going to tank when I go back to work with pumping more, so I feel like I'm becoming a milk horder.

What storage bags do you like the most?

What size incriments do you store your milk in?

Do you store your milk in a fridge attached freezer or a deep freeze?

How long will you store milk before you use it?

What goal are you trying to reach to keep stored? What is the minimum and maximum you want stored?

What will you do once you've reached that goal? Keep storing or pump less?

Do you take from the "back" of your stash to feed LO and freeze new milk or do you feed recently pumped milk and keep what's in the freezer there?

Any other tips/tricks/hints you may have, feel free to let me know!

JuniperGaze

Thanks for posting this. I haven't even started a stash yet. I go back to work at the end of the month. I'll get started one of these days, I'm just not sure how to go about it.

shortstack930

I use the medela bags and so far they work fine. I store however much I pump in a session but I have a bit of a low supply so the bags usually range from 2-4 oz depending on the time of day/how long it's been since I last nursed.

I store milk in a fridge attached freezer so it's good for 6 months or so. We won't start using it until I go back to work in 6 weeks unless I have to go out somewhere for more than a few hours without LO.

I don't really have a goal, I would just like to pump enough that DH can feed DD mostly breast milk while I'm at work. We supplement with formula so that makes it a little less stressful. I'll only be able to pump once at work so I'll probably freeze that when I get home.

I've read that it's best to take the oldest milk from the freezer first and use that.

The only tip I would give is to try to pump in the morning because that's when you'll get the most milk out. Good luck!

hgtvmom

I EP so my answers will probably differ somewhat from most of you.

My goal is simply to keep giving LO breast milk as long as I can, so I don't have a numbers goal for my stash.

Ideally, I would keep a 3 day supply in the fridge, rotating the oldest stuff to the freezer if I go over that.!

But, I'm struggling to get back to a 3 day supply in the fridge after a 5 day trip with my PISA (rather than the hospital grade I'm renting at home).

I have had to pull from the freezer once and pulled the oldest from the deep freezer.

I have a mixture of bags - kiinde, madela and target brand. All are ok, but the kiinde take up a lot more space.

1982Babies

What storage bags do you like the most? ---I use lansinoh, just because that's all I have yet.  I've gone through 51 bags so far.

What size incriments do you store your milk in?  ---honestly, I fill the suckers.  Anywhere from 10-14 oz.  SO FULL.

Do you store your milk in a fridge attached freezer or a deep freeze?  --- I start freezing them in the fridge freezer, then move to the deep freeze.

How long will you store milk before you use it? --- uh, well, idk ... I've already used 4 bags on low production days (currently am working on bag #2 this month... wtf boobs)

What goal are you trying to reach to keep stored? What is the minimum and maximum you want stored? -- no real goals. i was running out of room, too. my boobs must've sensed that and slowed down so i could use some up.

What will you do once you've reached that goal? Keep storing or pump less?  Uh, no goals.  I suppose if I get too much, I could donate some.

Do you take from the "back" of your stash to feed LO and freeze new milk or do you feed recently pumped milk and keep what's in the freezer there?  --- When my supply is normal, I feed recently pumped milk and if I have a bottle that I know is going to be out too long for her to eat, I put it in the back of the fridge.  When I have 3-4 bottles (or 10-14 oz worth) of excess and still have 2+bottles in the fridge, I freeze a bag.

Any other tips/tricks/hints you may have, feel free to let me know! ---pump until empty! 

SummerMomma2Be

I prob have close to 100 oz stored. Most are 4 oz bags. I have a deep freezer and keep them in the bottom. I use the Lansinoh bags and they are great. When I go back to work I will try to arrange oldest on top and defrost what is needed for the day. Whatever I pump at work will freeze and put at the bottom. LO isn't really taking bottle so I freeze whatever I pump. I pump 1-3 times per day after feedings.

stefaniew26

Lansinoh bags are by far the best ones I've used.

I store in 3-4oz increments

Stored in a fridge attached freezer

I'll keep it in the freezer until the 4 1/2 month mark. Then I will feed frozen milk and freeze new pumped milk.

My goal is roughly 300oz. Right now I have about 90oz.

With my first born, my supply tanked at about 7 months and with my stash I made it to almost 8 months... This time I'm not going back to work anytime soon (maybe when this LO is 9-10 months) so I'm hoping my supply stays up being that I can feed on demand.

My goal is to try to make bf last a whole year. But anytime we get is an accomplishment!

My tip: try not to stress and enjoy this time!

Eta: I only pump 3-5 times a WEEK right now

argonne

What storage bags do you like the most? Target brand. They're cheap and work well.

What size incriments do you store your milk in? From 2-6oz.

Do you store your milk in a fridge attached freezer or a deep freeze? Attached freezer, but temp is set very low and milk is stored at back.

How long will you store milk before you use it? 3 months

What goal are you trying to reach to keep stored? What is the minimum and maximum you want stored? I have about 200 oz. right now and haven't had to use it at all (I never used any stash with DS). I'll just keep stashing and throwing out the old.

What will you do once you've reached that goal? Keep storing or pump less? See above

Do you take from the "back" of your stash to feed LO and freeze new milk or do you feed recently pumped milk and keep what's in the freezer there? I feed DD fresh milk. The stash is only for situations where I won't have fresh available.

I freeze what she doesn't drink at daycare and anything I pump that I know I won't need as fresh.

ADC1979

I use the lanisoh bags. I've only used those and one other kind that I forget what it was, and I liked lanisoh more. I currently pump twice a day, though my supply at both pumpings depends on LO. He's in a growth spurt currently so days like today I'm sucked dry like a juice box. I try to freeze in increments of 2 or 4 oz. I keep the milk supply in a freezer attached to our fridge. I usually try to keep about 3 bottles in the fridge ready to go but the last couple of days I've been freezing most everything. I have no idea how much I need to store, but it want to hoard it so that we will be ok when I go back to work. I'm worried that I won't have enough and that my supply,will tank when I go to work.

marsalisails

What storage bags do you like the most?

rght now i'm relying on my friend's leftovers of different brands to see which ones i like the best.  i've been using lansinoh bags, and i just got a stash of honeysuckle pump bags to try.  i just ordered the pump adaptors for them, so hopefully i'll just be pumping into the bags by the end of the week.

What size incriments do you store your milk in?

right now, i've just been doing smaller pumping sessions in the morning. i'll feed and then pump.  i've been storing 4 ounces at most in one bag. most times if i pump more than 4 ounces, i'll separate it into smaller increments so that i have different amounts that my mom can choose from.

Do you store your milk in a fridge attached freezer or a deep freeze?

i freeze most of the milk immediately after pumping it.  i just have an above the fridge freezer.

How long will you store milk before you use it?

so far, i've just been storing it for at most a week - we're trying to give her a bottle a day, and the bottle has been from the freezer stash.  when i had DS, the LC told us that milk changes as the babies get older.  so there's no point in storing it for months on end before using it b/c it's not the same nutrient content that they will need months and months from now. (i don't know if that is true, but that's what we were told)

What goal are you trying to reach to keep stored?

i'm really only trying to keep 3-5 days stored. enough so that a) if i don't have enough from my day-to-day pumping that my mom can get a few ounces to supplement and b) so that when i start traveling, i have enough stored to get me through a trip.

What is the minimum and maximum you want stored?

see above.

What will you do once you've reached that goal? Keep storing or pump less?

i think once i have that stored, i would just be pumping day-to-day...so i would pump at work for the next day, and so on...

Do you take from the "back" of your stash to feed LO and freeze new milk or do you feed recently pumped milk and keep what's in the freezer there?

my mom takes the oldest milk first...

Any other tips/tricks/hints you may have, feel free to let me know!

i have no tricks as i'm new at this as well.  i was home with DS for over a year, so i didn't really need to pump at all.

Huahine

My biggest tip - if you haven't yet fed LO any of your freezer stash, try it before spending a month pumping. I learned the hard way while on my first work trip after DS1 was born that I had a lipase imbalance. All my stored milk was inedible. Now I know that I can't freeze my milk without scalding it first and my pumped bottles only last 48 hours in the fridge.

email2ash

I have used the lanisoh and medela bags that attach to the pump pieces. Both seem to work well. I have a gift bag filled in my freezer (attached to fridge) with mostly 2oz increments. I don't have an exact goal in mind other than to do the best I can at maintaining enough breast milk when I go back to work 10/6. I will also pump at work but in case my supply lowers I want some backup. I usually pump once a day or every other but sometimes I use what I pump. I generally keep a short supply in the fridge before rotating it to the freezer within 3 days.

I am worried about when I go back to work how much frozen milk I will need to send with DS because I mostly BF and don't know how many oz he is getting. Also, how do you send the milk? Frozen and they defrost or thawed out the night before and put into bottles ready to go (as long as they are used in 24 hrs)?

honeybee434

Thank you everyone! This definitely helps!

honeybee434

@email2ash‌ I plan on trying out my pump schedule a a few days the week before I go back, so I can see how much milk I would get at each session and see how much she will drink during the day in bottles. I think she will need 3 bottles if I can feed her before I go to work, and probably 3-4 oz for each bottle.

After reading these comments on here, I will probably send bottles of milk I pumped the day before unless I have a bag in my freezer stash that is getting past the 3-4 month mark. Then I will thaw that and use for one of the bottles and freeze a new one to start my "timer" over.

ghostof5letters

I EP as well and travel for work (usually 1-2 day trips, but also 4-5 day trips too). 

My freezer stash is over 200oz currently, and I have no limit on what it can be. I have a deep freezer in my garage that we purchased for this reason. 

My daughter eats 21-26oz per day and I pump roughly 30oz per day. 

With my DD1 I stopped pumping presidents day weekend (late february) and gave her frozen breastmilk until Mothers Day (total coincidence) via our freezer. I was even able to donate milk to another mom who needed some. 

EllaSmella

I was a milk hoarder with DS1, and it didn't really turn out to be that helpful. I took a longer maternity leave (16 weeks) and by the time I went back to work, the stuff I had frozen the first month needed to be used ASAP (no deep freeze). I tended to just use my fresh milk and sent one bottle of frozen a week, so some of the frozen stuff went to waste before I got around to using it (bad planning on my part)..

My plan is to have 100 oz in the freezer when I go back. That would mean if I had to supplement 2 oz of milk a day then I would have enough milk in the freezer to cover 10 weeks, which would mean she would be 6.5 months old at that point and ready to start eating solids.

What storage bags do you like the most?
I have used Honeysuckle and Lansinoh. I did read that the Nuk/Gerber bags performed the best in testing (ie no ruptured bags while thawing). A trick I learned is to always thaw the bags in an empty bowl so if they break you don't lose the milk. Happened to me a few times with DS and I was thankful the bowl was there.

What size increments do you store your milk in?
This was really hard for me with DS because I had no idea what size bottles he'd take. He ended up taking a 4 oz bottle in the AM and a 3 oz bottle in the PM (I work PT, so I'm only away for 6 hours at a time). With DD, I am mostly freezing 4 oz bags, but a few of the other increments just so I have options.

Do you store your milk in a fridge attached freezer or a deep freeze?
Attached freezer.

How long will you store milk before you use it?
With DS, they said up to three months in a regular freezer. Now I'm reading up to 5 months in a regular freezer. Not sure, but I'll do more research when I get closer to some of my milk being 3 months old.

What goal are you trying to reach to keep stored?
What is the minimum and maximum you want stored? I would like to have a minimum of 100oz. I have about 50oz stored now and two months before I got back to work.  I would probably stop at about 200oz, but I can't imagine I'd get there by November 1st when I go back unless my milk supply goes nuts.

What will you do once you've reached that goal? Keep storing or pump less?
I would probably just keep storing, but as I said above, the chances of that happening for me are slim.

Do you take from the "back" of your stash to feed LO and freeze new milk or do you feed recently pumped milk and keep what's in the freezer there?
With DS I ended up feeding my recently pumped milk, but trying to send atleast one bottle of frozen a week. I still threw some away, so with DD, I'll probably send two bottles of frozen a week just to avoid the waste. I am less stressed about a big stash this time, however.

argonne

Also, frozen milk does not taste as good as fresh.  If you're going to use frozen milk, I have found it's best to mix it with fresh at first and gradually add more frozen so LO gets used to it. 

Nichole8787

What storage bags do you like the most?

I use the target up and up brand. I also use,  I know this is weird, specimen cups from the Dr. office and hospital. When in the hospital the nurse had me pumping and storing the expressed milk in specimen cups. They are really handy and easier to travel with. Also I don't have to worry about them getting a hole in them. I get some each time I go to the Dr. 

What size incriments do you store your milk in?

Anywhere from 3-6 oz so far. I'm thinking of starting to store 8oz bags as he gets older.

Do you store your milk in a fridge attached freezer or a deep freeze?
I store it in the fridge, fridge attached freezer and a deep freezer.
How long will you store milk before you use it?
We probably use about 8-10 oz of pumped milk a week....I think I pump around 15-20 oz a day....so I dunno. Some of it get's used sooner and some later?
What goal are you trying to reach to keep stored? What is the minimum and maximum you want stored?
I want a minimum of a month stored and I have no maximum. If it gets close to it's end date I'll donate it I guess.

What will you do once you've reached that goal? Keep storing or pump less?
Since I have no maximum I'll just pump indefinitely

 
Do you take from the "back" of your stash to feed LO and freeze new milk or do you feed recently pumped milk and keep what's in the freezer there?

I take from the back of my stash to feed lo and freeze new milk.

Any other tips/tricks/hints you may have, feel free to let me know!

Tips:

Your body will make as much as lo eats or you pump. If you are having engorgement issues only pump enough to ease the pressure. Also I keep a full days worth of milk at my parents house and my in laws house in case of emergency.

PregsMcSnoozalot

What storage bags do you like the most?  Medela 5 oz bags...I like them ok.

What size incriments do you store your milk in?  5 oz bags and 3 oz bottles

Do you store your milk in a fridge attached freezer or a deep freeze?  Freezer drawer on the bottom of our fridge.

How long will you store milk before you use it?  Most of my milk is from June, when the baby was in the NICU and I was pumping more than the nursers were feeding him.  Now baby gets milk straight from the tap, so a lot less pumping.  I'm thinking the stash will start getting used up when I go back to work in October, though I plan to pump at work.

What goal are you trying to reach to keep stored? What is the minimum and maximum you want stored?  I have about 100 oz now...I had never thought about having a "goal" amount!  I just figured I should freeze as much as I can  

What will you do once you've reached that goal? Keep storing or pump less?  I definitely pump less these days, but not because of any goal, just because I'm lazy  

Do you take from the "back" of your stash to feed LO and freeze new milk or do you feed recently pumped milk and keep what's in the freezer there?  If I have to leave a bottle when I go out, I have DH or Grandma give baby fresh milk if there is any in the fridge, or if not, then the oldest milk from the freezer

Any other tips/tricks/hints you may have, feel free to let me know!  When I pump, I find visualizing plentiful milk pouring forth to be very helpful  

Here's a photo of my stash:

RichLab

What storage bags do you like the most?

I am using the Lansinoh bags, and they have worked out great so far. I also bought the Ziplock milk bags and Gerber Bags, have not gotten to those yet.

What size increments do you store your milk in?

I store it in 4oz increments. With our schedule, he will only be getting 2 bottles a day, the rest of the time i will BF him, so 4oz bottles is just perfect.

Do you store your milk in a fridge attached freezer or a deep freeze?

I have a fridge attached freezer and i bought the frozen milk containers to keep them stored upright. I started pumping on August 1st, so i am not concerned about milk going bad.

How long will you store milk before you use it? 

by the looks of it, a week

What goal are you trying to reach to keep stored? What is the minimum and maximum you want stored?

I am pumping about three times a day, so a day about 8oz, sometimes a bit more. I want to store as much as i can, and try to keep it as fresh as i can. I will be doing this for a year, once we reach the year mark, I will asses the situation and decide what to do then.

What will you do once you've reached that goal? Keep storing or pump less?

dunno, i will decide then. Maybe i will be ok with being done, maybe i will be such a pro at this that i will continue, we shall see

Do you take from the "back" of your stash to feed LO and freeze new milk or do you feed recently pumped milk and keep what's in the freezer there?

I rotate it, make sure i use up what i have frozen so i can keep it as fresh as i can

Any other tips/tricks/hints you may have, feel free to let me know!

the best tip i can give, as i am myself still learning, is to have a corner in your kitchen designated for working with your milk. I have a drawer in our kitchen with all the pump supplies, i have about 200 Lansinoh bags (obsessed much? lol) in a plastic box with the Sharpie pen, the area is always clean and i ONLY keep my pumping/milk supplies there. it just makes things easy, keeps the kitchen neat and clean and helps me know when i am running out of supplies.