freezing breastmilk

eacerna · January 2011

i go back to work in a month (boo!) so i'm gonna start on my freezer stash. for those of you who did this, what container did you use to freeze BM? also, how much milk should i have in my stash? i bought a pack of the medela freezer bottles. not sure if thats enough? i also have the medela pump and save bags but im not sure if you can freeze those? any recs on good freezing containers? also, do you cool fresh milk in the fridge before freezing them or put them straight in the freezer? tnx!

myday1708 · January 2011

Oh wow, you don't have a freezer stash yet?!! Get pumping, girl!! My lac consultant advised pumping right after the i'm-up-now morning feed, around 7-9 a.m. NO LATER than 9 a.m. And you should pump NO LATER than 10 minutes after you finish nursing. That way you won't take away from any of her feeds. And you have more milk in the morning, less later in the day.

I froze them in Medela freezer bags, but I think everyone has their own pref. I recall there was some talk of freezer bags on here a while back and many girls liked a diff brand. HTH!

SanHawaii08 · January 2011

i've always cooled in the fridge first, then frozen, but I don't know if it matters. A lot of ppl use the lansinoh bags. I like the medela pump and save ones better (yes, you can freeze them), but the lansinoh ones are *way* cheaper, so I use those too.

Married2MrWright · January 2011

I only had about 32 oz. in the freezer since my plan was to pump and store in the fridge and use that milk for her feedings.

1) I produce a lot of milk so I can pump 6-9 oz. in less than 10 minutes. I usually pump once a day between 9-10 a.m. Any later and my milk was less...so it would just take longer.

2) I have excess lipase so I have to scald all milk that'll be stored in the fridge or freezer. You probably don't have this issue, but if you notice that your stored milk smells soapy or metallic, that's a good indication.

3) Libby reverse cycled so only took 3-4 oz. milk by cup while I am at work. I come home at lunchtime to nurse. So our schedule is: nurse at 5:30-6 a.m.; 2-3 oz. of refridgerated BM by cup around 8:30-9 a.m.; Nurse during lunctime 11:30/12; sometimes she'd take more milk by cup around 2:30/3 but maybe 1 oz. and then I'd nurse her when I got home at 4 p.m.

If Elle takes a bottle, plan on 2-3 oz. per feed while you're at work, which for most mamas is 3 feedings (one every 2-3 hours). You might start by figuring out how many feeding Elle will take in your absence and then plan on leaving enough milk for those feeds.

4) You can pump at work and send that milk to the DCP the next day. Since Libby never took as much as I pumped I froze the rest within a day. I used Sensible Trays by Milk Lines: https://sensiblelines.com/ and transferred the cubes into freezer ziploc bags, labeled for two weeks worth of pumped milk. I liked the trays because the cubes a re 1 oz. portions, so no milk gets wasted. That said, they take up more space in the freezer than storage bags. I donated all of that milk in October to an adoptive mom. Libby won't take frozen milk (even though it's been scaleded to stop the lipase). Now, for the adoptive mom, I store the milk in 6 oz. batches in Lanisoh freezer bags.

Good luck!

MauiWedding08 · January 2011

I prefer lansinoh bags - they are cheaper and they freeze more flat than others.

Like many, J gets milk I pump the very next day so I only every freeze the day's excess or Friday's milk. I freeze Friday's milk to make sure I'm constantly recycling the frozen stash - so on Mondays he gets frozen.

I had +100oz (more like 150) by the time he was 6mo. old and I had to start traveling. Once I didn't have any travel coming up and now that he's a little older I'm much less concerned about it and have less than 100oz.

lelekay · January 2011

When I was pumping I did not cool first, just directly into the freezer in Lansinoh bags. I really liked them.

mrspresley · January 2011

all you need before you go to work is one day's worth of fresh or frozen milk so she has some to take while you are gone... of course it is good to start building up a stash that is larger than that though if you will be away from her for several days for work, then you'll obviously need a larger stash....

if you read in the last weekly check in, you'll see that i did not pump much. the stash that i built up was more b/c she would drink less in one day than i would pump while at work....and less b/c i was pumping every day! i just never had the patience but maybe since you are EPing anyway (HUGE props to you!) adding in another session isn't a big deal?

i would pump directly into the dr. brown's bottles (they hold more) and then pour into the lansinoh bags and freeze. i have put both warm and cold milk in, no problems (didn't even occur to me to ask about this).

i froze my milk in 3 and 5 oz increments.

myday1708 · January 2011

mrspresley:
i froze my milk in 3 and 5 oz increments.

This... Absolutely. Then you have more options in terms of unfreezing.

vanilla15 · January 2011

I did have a lot of milk frozen when I returned to work (and still do...my freezer is quickly running out of real estate!) but really didn't need anything frozen. I pump way more than LO eats during the day so I end up freezing everday about 14 - 18 oz of milk. I have been giving her 2 bottles of frozen and one fresh everyday (I give her 2 frozen just b/c I don't want the frozen to go bad & it is pretty rare that I am not with her other than during the work day so that is the only time she gets the frozen) I always tell DCP to give her the fresh bottle last just in case she skips a feeding, the frozen milk is only good for 24 hours after thawing and i dont' want to have to toss any milk (the fresh I could use the next day).

My LO eats 4.5oz in every bottle & would probably eat more if I put it in there b/c she is a little piglet! I freeze in 2 oz increments. I use the Medela or Ameda bags (though I want to check out the Lanisoh bags since it sounds like they are cheaper...the cost of the bags adds up!)

All of this works b/c my supply has stayed up, but if I was having supply issues I would have to rely heavily on my frozen stash. If you are already an EP, I am sure you won't have any supply issues either.

inamra · January 2011

lelekay:
When I was pumping I did not cool first, just directly into the freezer in Lansinoh bags. I really liked them.

This.

And I only had about 14oz stash when I went back to work. It worked out for me because I'd nurse him at lunch so he only needed 7oz (one feeding) while I was gone (and then there was a back-up 7oz if it was accidentally spilled or something) and I'd pump at work to replenish it. I used to freeze in 7oz increments in the beginning because that's how much I'd get when I pumped, but with time, I started freezing in smaller increments, like 2oz, 4oz, 5oz.

rwright5 · January 2011

I have 2 partial boxes of the lansinoh frezer bags if anyone wants them

eacerna · January 2011

myday1708:
Oh wow, you don't have a freezer stash yet?!! Get pumping, girl!!

I know. Time slowly crept up on me and before I realized it, I only have 1 month before I go back to work! :-(

Good to know that I can use the Medela Pump and Save bags for freezing. I'll try out the Lansinoh too.

eacerna · January 2011

vanilla15:

My LO eats 4.5oz in every bottle & would probably eat more if I put it in there b/c she is a little piglet! I freeze in 2 oz increments. I use the Medela or Ameda bags (though I want to check out the Lanisoh bags since it sounds like they are cheaper...the cost of the bags adds up!)

My LO eats about the same amount each feeding!

rwright5:
I have 2 partial boxes of the lansinoh frezer bags if anyone wants them

oooh, I'm interested!

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