Freezing Breastmilk Question

MrsSinner402

Help me out here. I've got quite the freezer stash going due to EPing and oversupply. I use the Lansinoh bags (I HATE the Medela ones) and I freeze between 8-10 ounces per bag. Now, everywhere I'm reading that people are only freezing 2-4 ounces per bag. This seems like it's wasteful (pertaining to using a lot more bags). I know once its thawed it needs to be used within 24 hours. And I can see the convenience of small portions to make bottles. But I'm sure if I pull 28-30 ounces of breastmilk to thaw and keep in the fridge, odds are DD will eat it all before the 24 hours are up. Is there something I'm missing? I'm hoping my 400-500 ounces aren't in some way ruined because I froze too much per bag?

hecklet

I think it's more so because not everyone is doing EP'ing. If I'm just going to pump to send the BM for daycare I don't want to waste any by bagging in larger amounts. So if I bag 4oz sizes I can send 3 or 4 to daycare to supplement day feedings. Also the 2oz are nice if you just need more to satisfy them if they eat more than usual.

MrsSinner402

hecklet said:

I think it's more so because not everyone is doing EP'ing. If I'm just going to pump to send the BM for daycare I don't want to waste any by bagging in larger amounts. So if I bag 4oz sizes I can send 3 or 4 to daycare to supplement day feedings. Also the 2oz are nice if you just need more to satisfy them if they eat more than usual.

Yes, I forgot to mention I'm not sending her to daycare until 6 months old, in which case she will be eating some solids so taking in less breastmilk as well. I also always have 20-30 ounces of fresh pumped milk in my fridge. My goal right now is to get a big enough stash to feed her breastmilk until she's 6 months old so I can stop exclusively pumping ASAP. EPing is really hard, so my goal is to get my stash to the point where I can burn and bury my pump for good.

MrsSinner402

crawford411 said:

Sinner, I freeze in small bags for the convenience of individual bottles since we only bottle feed at work. We end up wasting a lot of milk even with individual bags because I don't know yet how much she takes and how much to unfreeze every day. It's still a big learning process even though I've been working 2 weeks now.

Also, try the Target brand bags. My sis loved Lansinoh too but said Target was just as good but cheaper (she EPed for twins). No complaints with Target brand so far. They are great!

Thanks! I'll check those out. But because I have been EPing, I know how much she takes per feeding. Being an EBFer I can see why you would freeze in smaller increments. That makes perfect sense.

savicke2009

I also freeze smaller bags.. 3 & 4 oz at a time.. but shes only had two bottles.. I go back to work in a few weeks and will pump fresh bottles for her a couple days before I go to work.. and im a target bag user and used them last time too! Love them..

savicke2009

And you go sinner with all that milk!! I have close to a couple hundred oz and I was feeling like a badass!! Go you with 400-500!

MrsSinner402

savicke2009 said:

And you go sinner with all that milk!! I have close to a couple hundred oz and I was feeling like a badass!! Go you with 400-500!

Lol well I've been freezing since a couple weeks after she was born on Oct 1st. And I usually freeze about 40-60 ounces every 2-3 days.

JessAnnJ

I freeze in 4 oz amounts and did the same with DD1. I have about 400 oz saved this time around. With DD1 I EPed and used my stash solely as a backup. She received primarily fresh milk with the frozen here and there when I didn't have enough. I never sent frozen bags to daycare. My supply dipped around six months because I had trouble getting enough pumps in throughout the day so I needed the stash to have enough. With DD1 I didn't really notice a decrease in her milk intake when she started solids.

savicke2009

MrsSinner402 said:

savicke2009 said:

And you go sinner with all that milk!! I have close to a couple hundred oz and I was feeling like a badass!! Go you with 400-500!

Lol well I've been freezing since a couple weeks after she was born on Oct 1st. And I usually freeze about 40-60 ounces every 2-3 days.

You've got about 20 days of pumping on me.. and I freeze 4ish oz a day hoping to not have to buy formula this time around as she gets bigger, but we shall see! It gets tough to get all the pumping in that I need working 12 hour shifts! I made it 9ish months last time before I had to start supplementing!

rosalie12

Gees this thread makes me feel like I better start pumping a lot now! I'm not nearly so prepared for when I return to work in January!! :-S

swise22

I also have a large supply so I'm like you and freeze large portions at a time. I'd say I store between 6 and 9 ounces a bag.

MrsSinner402

Yeah I dont know if I will still have breastmilk for her once shes in daycare. My goal right now is to get enough for her to have BM until she's 6 months old, then once I create enough I'll reevaluate and see if I want to continue pumping. As you all know, pumping is absolutely killing me and I'm sooo ready to be done with the MOTN pumps and being attached to the stupid thing when I could be snuggling DD and/or sleeping.

MrsSinner402

...and as I sit here trying to do the math, I'm going to need thousands of ounces for her to live on exclusively BM until she's 6 months old. I physically dont think I'll be able to do it. Not unless I can pump and freeze upwards of 3000+ ounces... well shit. Guess I need to reevaluate my goals now. :-<

swise22

@MrsSinner402 How often is LO eating and how much milk are you producing a pumping session? Does DD STTN yet? I know this isn't technically what you're supposed to do. but since DS started STTN and since I have such a huge supply, I've been able to completely cut out the MOTN pumping session and still have plenty of milk to feed him all day. I only pump 4 times a day now (once at 6 am, 11 am, 4 pm, and 9-10 pm) and my supply has stayed the same. I can get between 10-15 ounces a pumping session. My long term goals are the same as yours though. I want to be done with this by 6 months. I hate having to drag this stupid pump around with me everywhere I go. 

MrsSinner402

swise22 said:

@MrsSinner402 How often is LO eating and how much milk are you producing a pumping session? Does DD STTN yet? I know this isn't technically what you're supposed to do. but since DS started STTN and since I have such a huge supply, I've been able to completely cut out the MOTN pumping session and still have plenty of milk to feed him all day. I only pump 4 times a day now (once at 6 am, 11 am, 4 pm, and 9-10 pm) and my supply has stayed the same. I can get between 10-15 ounces a pumping session. My long term goals are the same as yours though. I want to be done with this by 6 months. I hate having to drag this stupid pump around with me everywhere I go. 

I usually get between 8-12 ounces per session. I normally pump at 4am, 10am, 4pm, and 10pm. She's been starting to sleep from about 11ish -4 am.

Dani0329

I feel like I'm failing, I only have 20oz stashed in 4 oz bags. I go back to work Jan. 19 but I am nervous bc of all the traveling I'm doing leading up to that date! Hard to pump to freeze away from home.

pushgal84

So for anyone freezing largish quantities of milk, do you have a second freezer? We don't have a small fridge by any means, but I'm already running out of room in the freezer compartment with only 300 oz in there.

slsl509

We got a deep freezer for storing milk, which I had to throw out anyway for the reason @AmyG* mentioned above. I ended up pumping until DD was a year old. After that she nursed only when I was home and had cows milk and solids the rest of the time. I would pump 1 sometimes 2 times only and made plenty of milk for her. 

Are you guys building stash to stop pumping earlier? While lugging my pump to and fro was kind of a pain, I'm not sure it's any worse than pumping extra now, you know?

MrsSinner402

pushgal84 said:

So for anyone freezing largish quantities of milk, do you have a second freezer? We don't have a small fridge by any means, but I'm already running out of room in the freezer compartment with only 300 oz in there.

You should freeze breastmilk in a deep freezer, not your compartment above the fridge. I read this somewhere.

JessAnnJ

MrsSinner402 said:

pushgal84 said:

So for anyone freezing largish quantities of milk, do you have a second freezer? We don't have a small fridge by any means, but I'm already running out of room in the freezer compartment with only 300 oz in there.

You should freeze breastmilk in a deep freezer, not your compartment above the fridge. I read this somewhere.

It can be stored longer in a deep freezer but one is not required and it can still be stored for six months in a regular freezer

https://kellymom.com/bf/pumpingmoms/milkstorage/milkstorage/

savicke2009

I've pumped and frozen almost 20oz over the last two days! Woot! Do you guys freeze your milk flat? I started doing that last time and thats the only way I do it now!

MrsSinner402

AmyG* said:

Oh yeah. For those freezing milk do yourself a favor and thaw some of your milk and smell taste and give to baby. Some moms have extra high lipase which makes the milk taste funny and baby might refuse it.

It's better to know that now when stash is small so you can fix it on all your future pumps. If milk tastes soapy or metallic or smells funky you have to scald your milk before freezing to inactivate the lipase so the milk stays good tasting. Lipase is an enzyme that breaks down the milk fat so it's more useable by baby's system. It in a bottle it may do the work that is usually done in baby's stomach where nobody notices it sort of predigesting things. Heating the milk til almost boiling Inactivates the lipase so you can store the milk without issue.

This would just be the icing on the cake for me.. :-L I have a bag thawing in the fridge now. I'll try it tomorrow. If she refuses it can it be scalded after thawing so its not all wasted? If I can't use my stash I'm so done EPing. Its killing me.

MrsSinner402

AmyG* said:

MrsSinner402 said:

AmyG* said:

Oh yeah. For those freezing milk do yourself a favor and thaw some of your milk and smell taste and give to baby. Some moms have extra high lipase which makes the milk taste funny and baby might refuse it.

It's better to know that now when stash is small so you can fix it on all your future pumps. If milk tastes soapy or metallic or smells funky you have to scald your milk before freezing to inactivate the lipase so the milk stays good tasting. Lipase is an enzyme that breaks down the milk fat so it's more useable by baby's system. It in a bottle it may do the work that is usually done in baby's stomach where nobody notices it sort of predigesting things. Heating the milk til almost boiling Inactivates the lipase so you can store the milk without issue.

This would just be the icing on the cake for me.. :-L I have a bag thawing in the fridge now. I'll try it tomorrow. If she refuses it can it be scalded after thawing so its not all wasted? If I can't use my stash I'm so done EPing. Its killing me.

Remember to thaw it and use it within 24 hours.

Scalding has to be done before it's frozen.  Or the lipase keeps working as it's freezing and thawing so by the time you thaw it the milk is already broken down.

BUT if you have high lipase and your milk tastes or smells funky, don't toss it!

First offer it to baby, often they'll take it anyway, and that's ok. the milk isn't bad in any way, the milk fats would be broken down by the lipase normally in baby's stomach so it won't hurt baby.

If baby doesn't like it, you can ofte mix it with scalded milk at about half and half to the point baby will take it.

And if all else fails, you can offer it on eats on feets and other mother to mother milk sharing sites where a baby that medically needs breastmilk but doesn't care about lipase tasting milk or is on a feeding tube will gladly take your milk.

Use within 24 hours of pulling it out of the freezer or 24 hours after its thawed?

Leysin97

swise22 said:

@MrsSinner402 How often is LO eating and how much milk are you producing a pumping session? Does DD STTN yet? I know this isn't technically what you're supposed to do. but since DS started STTN and since I have such a huge supply, I've been able to completely cut out the MOTN pumping session and still have plenty of milk to feed him all day. I only pump 4 times a day now (once at 6 am, 11 am, 4 pm, and 9-10 pm) and my supply has stayed the same. I can get between 10-15 ounces a pumping session. My long term goals are the same as yours though. I want to be done with this by 6 months. I hate having to drag this stupid pump around with me everywhere I go. 

How long do you pump for? I've been doing 15 minute sessions and only getting 4 oz.

KariAnnM 23

AmyG* said:

Oh yeah. For those freezing milk do yourself a favor and thaw some of your milk and smell taste and give to baby. Some moms have extra high lipase which makes the milk taste funny and baby might refuse it.

It's better to know that now when stash is small so you can fix it on all your future pumps. If milk tastes soapy or metallic or smells funky you have to scald your milk before freezing to inactivate the lipase so the milk stays good tasting. Lipase is an enzyme that breaks down the milk fat so it's more useable by baby's system. It in a bottle it may do the work that is usually done in baby's stomach where nobody notices it sort of predigesting things. Heating the milk til almost boiling Inactivates the lipase so you can store the milk without issue.

This! I have a deep freezer full (1000+ ounces) of frozen milk that we will never use because W HATES the taste of it.

andrieya

Yes @AmyG*‌ my friend had to throw out 60 oz because of this! Milk was in her deep freezer.

@MrsSinner402‌ I started out w 5oz medela bags because they came w pump. I now use 6oz target bags, but I put 7oz in them since she eats 3.5 at each feeding.

MrsSinner402

AmyG* said:

MrsSinner402 said:

AmyG* said:

MrsSinner402 said:

AmyG* said:

Oh yeah. For those freezing milk do yourself a favor and thaw some of your milk and smell taste and give to baby. Some moms have extra high lipase which makes the milk taste funny and baby might refuse it.

It's better to know that now when stash is small so you can fix it on all your future pumps. If milk tastes soapy or metallic or smells funky you have to scald your milk before freezing to inactivate the lipase so the milk stays good tasting. Lipase is an enzyme that breaks down the milk fat so it's more useable by baby's system. It in a bottle it may do the work that is usually done in baby's stomach where nobody notices it sort of predigesting things. Heating the milk til almost boiling Inactivates the lipase so you can store the milk without issue.

This would just be the icing on the cake for me.. :-L I have a bag thawing in the fridge now. I'll try it tomorrow. If she refuses it can it be scalded after thawing so its not all wasted? If I can't use my stash I'm so done EPing. Its killing me.

Remember to thaw it and use it within 24 hours.

Scalding has to be done before it's frozen.  Or the lipase keeps working as it's freezing and thawing so by the time you thaw it the milk is already broken down.

BUT if you have high lipase and your milk tastes or smells funky, don't toss it!

First offer it to baby, often they'll take it anyway, and that's ok. the milk isn't bad in any way, the milk fats would be broken down by the lipase normally in baby's stomach so it won't hurt baby.

If baby doesn't like it, you can ofte mix it with scalded milk at about half and half to the point baby will take it.

And if all else fails, you can offer it on eats on feets and other mother to mother milk sharing sites where a baby that medically needs breastmilk but doesn't care about lipase tasting milk or is on a feeding tube will gladly take your milk.

Use within 24 hours of pulling it out of the freezer or 24 hours after its thawed?

24 hours after thawed --I cout from point where more than half the bag is thawed.  some count 24 hours from time where it's all thawed, but that means some of it might be thawed for a long time before that last milk ice cube melts.


I just gave her a bottle of thawed milk and she ate it with no problems! Yay!

MrsSinner402

theresat858 said:

Leysin97 said:

swise22 said:

@MrsSinner402 How often is LO eating and how much milk are you producing a pumping session? Does DD STTN yet? I know this isn't technically what you're supposed to do. but since DS started STTN and since I have such a huge supply, I've been able to completely cut out the MOTN pumping session and still have plenty of milk to feed him all day. I only pump 4 times a day now (once at 6 am, 11 am, 4 pm, and 9-10 pm) and my supply has stayed the same. I can get between 10-15 ounces a pumping session. My long term goals are the same as yours though. I want to be done with this by 6 months. I hate having to drag this stupid pump around with me everywhere I go. 

How long do you pump for? I've been doing 15 minute sessions and only getting 4 oz.

3-4 ounces is a normal output for pumping I place of feeding. @mrssinner has a bit of an oversupply . I pump for 20 min at work.

Yes, my boobs produce a bit more than normal! Its a blessing and a curse.

TheFutureMrs.O

I ep'd for my son for 6 months then quit. Had over 2000oz in the end. I only did 5oz per bag as I noticed if I put more in then the bag would leak when defrosting. It was also way easier to store in the deep freezer when they were flatter. I would put the bags into a bigger bag and number it for later use. But anyways, not a happy mama when your milk has defrosted all over the fridge. Just make sure to put your bags in a container when defrosting if your going to freeze that much per bag.

hecklet

MrsSinner402 said:

MrsSinner402 said:

MrsSinner402 said:

Oh yeah. For those freezing milk do yourself a favor and thaw some of your milk and smell taste and give to baby. Some moms have extra high lipase which makes the milk taste funny and baby might refuse it. It's better to know that now when stash is small so you can fix it on all your future pumps. If milk tastes soapy or metallic or smells funky you have to scald your milk before freezing to inactivate the lipase so the milk stays good tasting. Lipase is an enzyme that breaks down the milk fat so it's more useable by baby's system. It in a bottle it may do the work that is usually done in baby's stomach where nobody notices it sort of predigesting things. Heating the milk til almost boiling Inactivates the lipase so you can store the milk without issue.

This would just be the icing on the cake for me.. :-L I have a bag thawing in the fridge now. I'll try it tomorrow. If she refuses it can it be scalded after thawing so its not all wasted? If I can't use my stash I'm so done EPing. Its killing me.

Remember to thaw it and use it within 24 hours.

Scalding has to be done before it's frozen.  Or the lipase keeps working as it's freezing and thawing so by the time you thaw it the milk is already broken down.

BUT if you have high lipase and your milk tastes or smells funky, don't toss it!

First offer it to baby, often they'll take it anyway, and that's ok. the milk isn't bad in any way, the milk fats would be broken down by the lipase normally in baby's stomach so it won't hurt baby.

If baby doesn't like it, you can ofte mix it with scalded milk at about half and half to the point baby will take it.

And if all else fails, you can offer it on eats on feets and other mother to mother milk sharing sites where a baby that medically needs breastmilk but doesn't care about lipase tasting milk or is on a feeding tube will gladly take your milk.

Use within 24 hours of pulling it out of the freezer or 24 hours after its thawed?

24 hours after thawed --I cout from point where more than half the bag is thawed.  some count 24 hours from time where it's all thawed, but that means some of it might be thawed for a long time before that last milk ice cube melts.

I just gave her a bottle of thawed milk and she ate it with no problems! Yay!

I think I just realized I have excess lipase. I had thawed some breast milk 2 weekends ago and noticed it smelled funny. I just attributed it to thawing too long (?) even though it had been less than 24 hours. The only other BM that I had pumped and given to baby had been pumped the day of, so no issues. Well today we had some company and I thawed 4 oz to give to baby with a bottle. Same thing as 2 weeks ago- it smelled sour! I thawed milk I pumped this morning and no smell (I'm guessing since it was pumped so recently). Baby took the first bottle with the fresh milk but would not take the second bottle that smelled funkier. Don't know for sure yet if this was because of the smell/taste or because he was just full. I poured about 6 oz down the sink though becuase I kept thawing different bags to see if they smelled or not. At least I know now to save it and I can mix with scalded milk and maybe that will work.  X(

swise22

Leysin97 said:

@MrsSinner402 How often is LO eating and how much milk are you producing a pumping session? Does DD STTN yet? I know this isn't technically what you're supposed to do. but since DS started STTN and since I have such a huge supply, I've been able to completely cut out the MOTN pumping session and still have plenty of milk to feed him all day. I only pump 4 times a day now (once at 6 am, 11 am, 4 pm, and 9-10 pm) and my supply has stayed the same. I can get between 10-15 ounces a pumping session. My long term goals are the same as yours though. I want to be done with this by 6 months. I hate having to drag this stupid pump around with me everywhere I go. 

How long do you pump for? I've been doing 15 minute sessions and only getting 4 oz.

I pump for 15 minutes each session and will get at least 10 ounces. It comes out really fast though and I will typically have about 4 ounces per breast after about 5 minutes of pumping. It's crazy.

MrsSinner402

swise22 said:

Leysin97 said:

swise22 said:

@MrsSinner402 How often is LO eating and how much milk are you producing a pumping session? Does DD STTN yet? I know this isn't technically what you're supposed to do. but since DS started STTN and since I have such a huge supply, I've been able to completely cut out the MOTN pumping session and still have plenty of milk to feed him all day. I only pump 4 times a day now (once at 6 am, 11 am, 4 pm, and 9-10 pm) and my supply has stayed the same. I can get between 10-15 ounces a pumping session. My long term goals are the same as yours though. I want to be done with this by 6 months. I hate having to drag this stupid pump around with me everywhere I go. 

How long do you pump for? I've been doing 15 minute sessions and only getting 4 oz.

I pump for 15 minutes each session and will get at least 10 ounces. It comes out really fast though and I will typically have about 4 ounces per breast after about 5 minutes of pumping. It's crazy.

I wish mine came out that quick. Ive gotta be on the pumo between 20-30 minutes to get my 5oz per boob.