Anyone else not building a stash??

cara117 · May 2014

I have a 2 year old and a 4 week old. With my first, I would pump after his morning feeding every day of my maternity leave, plus try and squeeze in pumping sessions after he went to bed, etc... to build up a stash for when I went to work or went out for an evening or was away from him. I just don't want to do that with my daughter. I was all set to pump and got it out a few weeks ago and pumped once and got pretty much nothing. The next day I got the pump out again and just put it away and decided I am not going to build a stash. I will BF, but if I need to be away from DD longer than a few hours then I'll just use formula and then pump to keep my supply up. Same with at daycare, I plan on pumping during the day, but what I can't keep up with I will supplement with formula. It just seems like most people are one way or the other on this and just was wondering if anyone else does this, not supplement because of low supply, but for convenience and sanity?

[Deleted User] · May 2014

I only ever had a few feedings stashed, like maybe a days worth. DS has never had a drop of formula. The only time I had to pump extra (just once after he went to bed) was his 6 mo growth spurt and for my first overnight trip away. So you might not even need to supplement. Not stressing about building a stash is certainly a valid aaproach!

SadieBee · May 2014

My boy turns 6 months on Sunday and he's never had formula, but I also haven't built a stash. I pump a few times a week, but it gets used within a couple days, so I don't typically have any extra saved. I don't work, which is obviously a big factor.

mommatotwo2 · May 2014

I would highly recommend against having no stash if you would like baby to be on exclusively breastmilk. If you're ok with formula, then I wouldn't stress. I only had a fifty ounce stash when I went back to work and was able to add to it a tiny bit when I'd be off for the holidays or something, but there have been so many times where I thought I'd have to supplement because my stash got hit hard a few times due to not being able to pump often enough at work, having to work overtime, AF supply dips, or dips due to LOs illnesses or my own. I completely ran out if stash 2 weeks ago and LO is 11 months and I don't have a clue how I managed to stretch it that long, it took a lot of creative planning, the addition of solids, many nights pumping after LO was in bed and months and months of reverse cycling. So, if I had to do it again, I'd make the commitment to build a better stash during my maternity leave.

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