I keep going back and forth on the easiest, most efficient way to store/ration/provide pumped milk. Since I have a bit of a freezer stash, I figure that it might be best to thaw out the oldest bags, use those to get W through the day, then replace what was eaten (by freezing) the freshly pumped milk from that day. However, now I'm reading that some of the nutrients are lost during the freezing process. So...share your routine with me. Do you freeze, each day, always providing thawed, previously frozen BM, or do you merely work from a refrigerated state, only using frozen BM if necessary to supplement the refrigerated milk?
Re: Pumpy McPumpersons
Emeline 5.28.13
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Post-Baby PRs
Esri 5K 7.16.2014 - 21:30
Heart Half Marathon 3.16.2014 - 1:43:30
Canton City Marathon 9.8.14 - 3:30:56
I was a freak and had all my frozen milk organized by month in shoe boxes in my deep freeze. I would use the fresh milk first and then supplement with frozen milk. My system helped me figure out what milk needed to be used first. Plus the cardboard insulated the milk and saved my arse when we lost power to the freezer 2x within the year I was BFing. Any milk not in the boxes thawed and I had to pitch it. So I highly recommend keeping the frozen milk in a shoebox!
I also had a few ounces of frozen milk in my mom's freezer (my sitter) so she could use it if she needed extra milk one day.
Jennie
Lazy a$$
I was working FT when I had Justin, so I pumped daily and used exactly the method you described above. I figured he always got "fresh" milk when he was with me and nursing, so the 2 or 3 bottles of frozen that he got at daycare would do him no harm. If so many nutrients are lost in the freezing process, then what exactly would be the point in freezing it? As long as it is used before the expiration date, I see no reason not to use the frozen milk, because as I said it's only 2-3 bottles per day at most. You are nursing at home, I assume, so he's getting a fair amount of the real stuff anywho.
And FWIW, Justin is so full of life and energy, I give every ounce of credit (pun intended) to the frozen BM he ingested during his first year of life.
Tyler Anthony arrived on 9.21.09
The Chronicles of Justin and Tyler
I send yesterday's fresh milk to the sitter, and she's got a small freezer stash in case of emergencies. I almost always send 3 fresh bottles, and depending on how late I'm at work, Nora sometimes has a 4th bottle before I get there, so the freezer stash does get used.
On Fridays I usually freeze any extra, because I pump 1x/day on the weekends, too.
When my supply was at it's highest, we used only fresh milk from the refrigerator the few days a week I worked. I would freeze any extras from the day.
As my supply started to dwindle around October we started supplementing with the frozen milk. It worked out until December when my supply was nearly non-existent. Then we started rotating through what was left of my stash to get him to a year.
DS #1 born January 2010. DS #2 due June 2014.