When to start freezing milk

SmallCityLiving · April 2014

I'm pumping in addition to BF bc one of my twins doesn't get enough from nursing yet. The milk is starting to back up in my fridge (we currently have 4 bottles worth) plus I pump enough at each feeding for the next one.

Would you start freezing the excess at this point? Would you decrease the time you pump or just start developing a stash now for when I go back to work in 12 weeks? Thanks for the help.

Last question: do you freeze in bottles or in bags?

SmallCityLiving · April 2014

Thanks. Good point on ease of unfreezing. Babies are only a week old. I was pumping a lot bc she wasn't a good nurser but she is slowly becoming better so I may only pump 10 min after feeding instead of 15 so I don't get a huge oversupply.

Why no medela bags? Of course I was gifted a bunch of those!

SamanthaPo · April 2014

Medela bags don't freeze flat. When they freeze flat you have more room!

pinottoparenthood · April 2014

FWIW, I use the NUK freezer bags. I have literally gone through over 1000 of them and have NEVER once had a single bag burst or leak.

TheBorg7of9 · April 2014

Milk is only good in the fridge for 5 days at the most, so you should freeze now. Personally, I pump once a day during maternity leave and freeze all the milk flat in lanisoh brand bags. First, i keep milk in the fridge for 3-4 days then freeze it all at once. I freeze 4 oz bags. When I make bottles, I use the oldest frozen bag. I make a lot of milk, so I stack about 10 of the 4 oz bags inside one large ziplock bag and store in our basement freezer.

DahliaFlower · April 2014

Depending on your work situation, I would start now. You won't regret having the back up. My LO is only 6 months old and I am having trouble keeping up b/c I can only pump about every 4 hours or more at work and he takes more than I can pump many days.

Just be careful not to get too enthusiastic about pumping and end up with an oversupply issue

mamasoup030 · April 2014

Fwiw- Just a shout out for target up and up brand milk storage bags. Agree with PP about medela bags- too many have opened on me. Lansinoh(or however it is spelled arg) is ok too, but target is soo cheap and reliable- with that much milk and twins - you should consider it.

CNYBride05 · April 2014

I don't have a massive over supply issue, but do have a massive freezer full issue

. Really rocky start and pumping every 2 hrs on top of nursing. I had hundreds of oz in the freezer. Was able to scale back on pumping, donate a bunch of milk, and now pump a surplus of a few oz a day, usually, but sometimes no surplus at all. I'd start freezing now (and we use Target brand bags, no issues). Good luck!

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