How large is your breastmilk stash?

hoosiermamaof2 · May 2013

Hi ladies! I have been a lurker during my first 3 1/2 weeks of motherhood so bare with me if this has already been answered. I didnt see it posted anywhere so hope i didnt overlook it.

I am a FTM and am exclusively Breastfeeding. I do try to pump a few times a day to have a bottle if we have a long night for DH to help feed or if we happen to be out and about we will have a bottle to feed him. I am slowly building a stash in the freezer but am wondering how big I need to make this stash? I am not planning to go back to work and like I said the bottles will mostly be just so DH can help feed, as well as for us to have when we go out.

What do you ladies think? I really hate pumping and don't want to overdo the stash if I don't need to. Thanks so much!!

CandaceLeigh · May 2013

My stash is roughly 2500 oz. That being said, I'm a milk hoarder. I got sick and dried up with my first daughter and couldn't relactate.

There is no right or wrong amount to have in your freezer. It all depends on your nursing goals and life style.

Ken&Anna · May 2013

I work full time but always send fresh milk to daycare with LO. I only have about 30 oz. in my freezer. We use frozen milk for emergencies, date nights, and for me to have some time to myself every now and then. If it were up to me, we would probably have about 100 oz. stored because as it is, every time we use up a bag of frozen milk, I'm stressed about replacing it by pumping extra. If you only intend to use your stash for date nights, emergencies, and an occasional feeding your DH can give to your LO, I would say aim for about 50-100 oz.

amberandtroy19 · May 2013

I was super excited when we got up to 20oz yesterday! just starting out FTM also. I am bagging 2oz each morning and keeping .5 in the fridge that I add to each day incase we go out or DH wants to feed. once the fridge stash gets to 2oz without being used we freeze that and start over. goodluck

CLLDLL · May 2013

I went crazy trying to build up a stash before I went back to work. I think I got up to somewhere in the 350oz. ballpark by the time he was 3 months old. We used some of that when I had a supply dip around 6 months. So now I have around 200 oz.

If I had it all to do over, I'd probably aim for around 200oz if I was going back to work and more like 50-100oz if I was SAH. Really though, don't stress about it. At first whenever you give a bottle you'll need to pump anyway, so you'll be replacing whatever you use. So the only reason to have more than a bottle or two stored is in case of a medical issue or other reason (travelling?) that you can't give milk you just pumped.

jess9802 · May 2013

Up until about a week ago I had over 100 oz. in the freezer, and my guess is that's the amount I've had in there since I went back to work at 8 weeks (I had to pump from the beginning and had quite an oversupply). I have not dipped into the stash for date nights or time away from DS other than for work. I was really conservative with my freezer stash and made sure it was not being depleted because I wanted to maximize my chances of giving DS breastmilk through his first birthday.

But now I am getting really burned out on pumping, my supply is dropping, and DS is less than three weeks away from his first birthday. So this week I started dipping into the supply more heavily (6 oz. yesterday, 5 oz. today) and am not trying to pump an amount equal to what DS is actually taking in during the workday, which is what I had been doing until a week or two ago.

If you're not planning on regularly giving your baby bottles, I don't think having a large stash will do you much good, because the milk is only good in the freezer for so long. I think 50 oz. is a reasonable amount to have on hand for the occasional bottle. I would still recommend pumping whenever you dip into the stash to rotate the milk.

mandy522 · May 2013

I think it depends on how much you want to pump. Saving a little bit at a time for a couple bottles is a good plan if you are staying at home and have no reason to be away from baby for an extended period of time. If you don't want to pump consistently over the long term, I wouldn't pump more than a couple ounces at a time, or you will create an oversupply.

I knew I would be traveling for work, so at my max, I had about 350 ounces in the freezer (and it took up half my freezer - I can't imagine was 2500 oz even looks like!). I'm down to 200 oz, and I'm sure that will get us through the end of his first year as I start backing off on my pumping sessions at work. It lasts a long time unless you have a major medical issue or are planning to be away from baby for a long trip.

ANA6 · May 2013

Took me a month to get mine to 154oz and I used about 24 oz of it. I am working on building it back up to 300oz at least so I can feel comfy leaving her with DH know the supply is there. She can go through 1 bag in two feedings or sometimes the entire bag in one feeding so I have to pick up the pace with my pumping.

IncogNeato · May 2013

I feel pretty comfortable keeping 100-150 in the freezer, just in case I were to need to go on medication for a few days that was not compatible with BFing. Don't know why I would, but I like knowing I'd have a week or so of milk set aside. That being said, I pump to donate to the milk banks so I usually have more like 300-400 oz in the freezer and when I have 500 I donate about 300oz at a time (that's how much it takes to fill a cooler to ship to the bank for pasteurization.)

I'm also going away for a weekend in June so I've known since before she was born that I would need at least 75 oz banked by then.

Leni410 · May 2013

I'm in the same position as you.. FTM/EBF/SAHM and I pump once a day (unless I miss a feeding then I pump to make that up) and have roughly 70 oz built up. I didn't get serious about pumping until a few weeks ago and have had to use some of the stash so DH could get up with her or when we went to visit the inlaws in Indiana. My goal is to just pump once a day to help maintain my supply.. most sessions lately I have been getting 4-6 oz which is up from 2oz

laxkal23 · May 2013

If you are not going back to work than I would say having 20 to 30 oz would be more than adequate. Before I went back to work all I did was pump for an additional 510 minutes after the am feeding to start my stash. I would collect 24 ounces at that time then freeze it. I might try that until you hit maybe 20 oz and then I would just pump to replace it for any skipped feedings. So really you are looking at about 2 weeks of pumping and I always found with so little pumping it didn't matter if I skipped a day or so because it wasn't causing an over supply. I work full time and probably have about 80 oz. in my stash I had about 100, but had to dump a bunch of unused old stuff remember in a fridge freezer it is only good for around 3 months. Now I try to use up the older stuff on Mondays and freeze the weeks leftovers as well as the Friday and weekendonce/day pumps.

jroth33470 · May 2013

I stashed 4-500 ounces and then at 9 months stopped pumping during the day, still nurse on weekends, when home. Now at 10 months baby won't take the bottle of milk anymore. He waits me out then attacks me when I get home. Trying sippy but not much luck there either. He'll take water no problem.

SkyBee · May 2013

Almost 400 oz. I am a SAHM, but I plan on hoarding as much milk as I can because I am paranoid to not have enough long term for my twins.

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