to all the mamas with giant BM freezer stashes

Genevieve_kris

How are you rotating through it?  My stash is by no means giant (150-200 oz.), but I am wondering how/when to start using it?  I understand that BM changes over time to suit LO's needs, and that frozen BM may not have the full benefits of fresh BM.  And obviously I want to start using it before it reaches its expiration date.  How and when do you use yours?

SuperThat1006

Mine isn't giant, it's about the same size as yours.

It's not supposed to stay in there longer than 3 months (unless you have a deep freezer).

When I went back to work, I started defrosting my older stuff (that dated back to when Abs was a week old) and mixed it with fresh milk per advice on the BF board.

That way, it is still "current" in regards to fat content and probably doesn't taste like crap as it would if it was totally frozen.

Now that the milk in the freezer stash is fatty, I don't mix it.

JDO

Sadly, as I started rotating through mine I noticed it had a mild soapy taste. W will drink it, but fusses more when he gets a bottle with frozen. If I use it for a bottle, I mix half frozen with half fresh (to make sure he's getting more of a benefit from it) but usually I just use it to mix cereal now. At this rate, I'll never get through all 300oz. I've stopped freezing at this point.

Genevieve_kris

JDO:

Sadly, as I started rotating through mine I noticed it had a mild soapy taste. W will drink it, but fusses more when he gets a bottle with frozen. If I use it for a bottle, I mix half frozen with half fresh (to make sure he's getting more of a benefit from it) but usually I just use it to mix cereal now. At this rate, I'll never get through all 300oz. I've stopped freezing at this point.

This is kind of what I'm wondering about too.  Is it worth it for me to keep trying to build it up?  I don't want to stop just in case my supply suddenly tanks, but sometimes the stacks of baggies in the freezer seem a bit ridiculous.

SuperThat1006

Genevieve_kris:

JDO:

Sadly, as I started rotating through mine I noticed it had a mild soapy taste. W will drink it, but fusses more when he gets a bottle with frozen. If I use it for a bottle, I mix half frozen with half fresh (to make sure he's getting more of a benefit from it) but usually I just use it to mix cereal now. At this rate, I'll never get through all 300oz. I've stopped freezing at this point.

This is kind of what I'm wondering about too.  Is it worth it for me to keep trying to build it up?  I don't want to stop just in case my supply suddenly tanks, but sometimes the stacks of baggies in the freezer seem a bit ridiculous.

I would just rotate it through if you ever give bottles.

But it doesn't hurt to have it. I have about 225 ounces right now and that's actually not a lot at all.

I'm setting aside 160 ounces for my four-day trip this week.

Genevieve_kris

ChrissieW3:

Mine isn't giant, it's about the same size as yours.

It's not supposed to stay in there longer than 3 months (unless you have a deep freezer).

When I went back to work, I started defrosting my older stuff (that dated back to when Abs was a week old) and mixed it with fresh milk per advice on the BF board.

That way, it is still "current" in regards to fat content and probably doesn't taste like crap as it would if it was totally frozen.

Now that the milk in the freezer stash is fatty, I don't mix it.

I don't have anything from before January, and it's mostly been in a regular freezer.  I've been moving some of it to our basement freezer and have been wondering how long it can go in there (it's just a regular freezer as part of a refrigerator, but because it's in the basement and basically has the sole purpose of storing BM, it doesn't get opened very often).  But anyway, the reason I quoted your post is that I haven't been mixing it with the fresh goods and I think that's a smart idea.  Gracias.

Genevieve_kris

ChrissieW3:

Genevieve_kris:

JDO:

Sadly, as I started rotating through mine I noticed it had a mild soapy taste. W will drink it, but fusses more when he gets a bottle with frozen. If I use it for a bottle, I mix half frozen with half fresh (to make sure he's getting more of a benefit from it) but usually I just use it to mix cereal now. At this rate, I'll never get through all 300oz. I've stopped freezing at this point.

This is kind of what I'm wondering about too.  Is it worth it for me to keep trying to build it up?  I don't want to stop just in case my supply suddenly tanks, but sometimes the stacks of baggies in the freezer seem a bit ridiculous.

I would just rotate it through if you ever give bottles.

But it doesn't hurt to have it. I have about 225 ounces right now and that's actually not a lot at all.

I'm setting aside 160 ounces for my four-day trip this week.

This is what I keep telling DH.  He finds the stash impressive (and excessive).  But I keep telling him that if I kick it, he's only going to have about a week before he has to buy formula.  Morbid?  Perhaps.  But it gets the point across.

nicole0719

I started pumpong when N was a week old or so and did after a lot of feedings early on to increase my supply and freezer stash.  I was terrified of loosing my supply when I returned to work so I had about 450oz when Iwent back on Jan 24th).  Pumping is going well and I pump in the am before I leave for work now and 1-2x at work and I make more than enough for his 3 - 4.5 oz bottles that he takes a day at daycare. I give fresh every day from what I pump the day before. At the end of the week I freeze all leftovers and on Monday he gets 3 thawed bottles (I always send 4 and the 4th is the last bottle of fresh left over from friday and he will usually be the 1st bottle on tuesday - I dont defrost the 4th because it has to be used within 24 hours and I will not feed him from a bottle when I can nurse).  So I am still increaisng my freezer stash but not as quickly, about 15-25 oz a week now extra.  I prob have 500-550oz - we have a storage box full in our deep freeze and a drawer full in our freezer that I move to the deep freeze when it gets full.  DH makes fun of me and  will moo at me (nice huh? ) - but it is comforting to know it's there.  If it gets more out of control I will donate it through milkshare - but I like hoarding it incase my supply tanks or he self weans etc.

FirstBabyMomma

Genevieve_kris:

This is what I keep telling DH.  He finds the stash impressive (and excessive).  But I keep telling him that if I kick it, he's only going to have about a week before he has to buy formula.  Morbid?  Perhaps.  But it gets the point across.

This is hilarious, because it's the same thing I say to DH. I really have no need to freeze anything until the summer (not going back to work until September) but I have probably 50 oz in the freezer and am building on it every day "just in case." I'm such a worst-case-scenario nutjob.

emriley84

I EP so my advice may not be helpful, but this is what works for us. I give fresh milk all day, and freeze the extra. Then at bedtime while I'm giving DS a bath, I thaw a bag from the freezer and give it at bedtime. So he has 1 bag of frozen milk/day.

SnoopyLuv

I have about 500 oz in the deep freeze. Here's what we do:

I pump about 2x a week now, that automatically goes in the fridge. If we go out we pull a bag from the freezer and combine it with the fresh from the fridge. Any leftover from the fridge goes in the freezer after 5 days. It helps LO take a bottle if there is fresh in it.

Since it's in the deep freeze it will be fine for a year. I plan on using the extra milk I have for cereal and sippy cups. I plan on extended bfing so I expect BM is going to be a primary component of LO's diet for at least another year. If I have any left over I would love to donate that to a local mom.

SnoopyLuv

Also, they take 24-30 oz a day so these "massive" freezer stashes of 500+ are maybe 2 weeks worth of milk.

aljon

I don't have a huge stash (about the size of yours) but I can't use some of it bc it's from before I gave up dairy.  To rotate through what I can use:  I freeze what I pump on Friday and use frozen for Monday night.  That way I can work through the frozen, and I start w/ the oldest.

If you have some that's about to expire you could always look into donating it.  Eats on Feets is a mother to mother donation program where you can find a mom in your area who might need some help, and even a little bit would help.