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When do you use your freezer stash?
Since I EP I've built up quite a stash. I keep pumping fresh so I'm not sure when I'd ever use it. My plan had been to pump for 6 months and then spend the next 6 months using what I have saved in the freezer. I don't know how realistic this is though. I'm freezing approximately 30 ounces a day.
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Re: When do you use your freezer stash?
I used mine when we went out, etc. ?I had a stash, but never that big. ?Also, when I went back to work, I wasn't able to keep my supply up, so we supplemented a bit each day.
I don't know if it is realistic to have a 6 months stash though - that is like 5500 ounces and even in 8 ounce bags, that is almost 700 bags. ?
You would definitely need a deep freezer (and possibly more than one)? ?It is only good for 3 months in a normal freezer and I can't remember how long in a deep freezer (either 6 or 12), so you would have to make sure to have a deep freezer and then use it FIFO.
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i used mine in oatmeal, when henry first started to eat food.
henry never took a bottle, but that was my original intent
What kind of freezer are you using, because you're only supposed to keep it in a fridge freezer for 3mo. That's part of why I donated my stash to that little boy that lost his mother. It was about to go bad, and I was able to provide fresh still for Katie. I have had to pull out 3-4 bags in the last month for various reasons, but in June, I"m going to have more milk expiring. I may unfreeze some and rotate my stock for a bit. That's a tough call, because obviously fresh is the best, but you spent so much time building a stash. I've also heard tht the milk is geared for what the baby needs at that time, so I don't know what you're supposed to do with 3mo old milk. OK, I'm rambling now, aren't I?!
I think you will be surprised how quickly that stash will disappear. I needed 3 bags the other day to send to school with Katie.
Are you freezing 30 oz in addition to what you're feeding the baby?
Katie, Duke Gardens, 6months
Zach, Duke Gardens, 6months
Photo courtesy from the amazing Ever You Photography!
If I were you, I'd do a little spreadsheet to figure out how much you'd need saved in the freezer to stop pumping at 6 months. It's REALLY hard to know though, because the needs of each baby is so child-specific.
What I do for DS is use a FIFO method, like Evans was mentioning. I used the schedule using fresh milk on Tuesday through Friday, then freezing Friday's milk to go in the stash and using frozen milk on Monday. That way I cycled through the freezer stash. However, it was just the past month or so that I was using milk that was within 3 months of when I pumped it. I have a huge deep freezer and I had a lot of plastic containers to organize my milk, so it worked out well.
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Thanks you guys. We have a freezer only deep freezer. I think the milk should be good for 6 months at a time in there. I understand that I would have to probably use the oldest frozen milk to keep it from expiring while continuing to freeze fresh milk.
I am freezing 30 ounces in addition to what I feed fresh. I'm pumping about 60 ounces a day and he's eating 6 four ounce bottles a day (sometimes he takes a few more ounces so I put 2 ounce "snack" bottles in the fridge).
The spreadsheet is an awesome idea and I can also use it to track how many ounces I'll have expiring on which days.
MrsG give me some information on milk donation. I'd love to donate.
My Sweet Girls
It feels like a million but 7 times a day. I pump every 3 hours except overnight when I skip a pump to get some sleep.
My Sweet Girls