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March 2018 Moms
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Breastmilk Storage

ShawnnaOShawnnaO member
in March 2018 Moms
hey y'all! I'm five weeks pregnant with my second child, and my daughter is 9.5 months old, and still breastfeeding. She's never taken to bottles, which has made things a little frustrating with her, as I'm never able to pass her to dad or another family member for a feeding. 

So basically, I'm want to prevent this with Baby #2 by exposing them to bottles right away, so they'll take them when I'm not able to breastfeed. My question is, if I start pumping now, and storing the breast milk in the freezer, will it still be good come March to give to the baby? I don't want to have to worry about pumping in the hospital right after giving birth. 

Also, any advice on nurses being pushy to exclusively breastfeed? My nurses with baby #1 told me over and over not to offer her a bottle if I was planning to breastfeed, which eventually caused her to just hate bottles in general, I believe. 

Again, I do plan to mostly breastfeed, I just desperately want this baby to take bottles too  :# sorry for rambling, thank you for your answers! 
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Re: Breastmilk Storage

  • chasingroygbivchasingroygbiv member
    I want to say your milk is different now and then at the birth of your baby. Your body knows what your baby needs, so it makes that at that time— ex: colostrum post delivery. I at least wouldn't give any pumped milk right after delivery and just nurse instead so he/she gets that special milk afterwards.
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  • ShawnnaOShawnnaO member
    Good point, maybe I'll pump a little now but remember to breast feed for a while when baby is born. Thank you, I hadn't even thought of that!
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  • notthefathernotthefather member
    Ditto above. It will still be good but won't be the right composition for an infant. 


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  • garnetmamagarnetmama member
    I invested in a deep freezer to store my milk with my first baby, and I was told it's good for up to a year in a deep freezer but only up to six months in a freezer that's connected to a fridge. I definitely recommend a freezer alarm too if you're going to be storing a lot of milk! My alarm saved me a couple of times when the outlet our freezer was plugged into tripped. 
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  • LiveNLove44LiveNLove44 member
    I'll echo a bit of what others have said above: your milk changes with each pregnancy and child, and the milk your infant will get after birth is specific to his or her needs at the time. (Also, if your future LO doesn't like the taste or something happens to the milk, I'd hate for you to stock up a bunch and then have to toss it.) Beyond that, my understanding is that establishing good nursing habits in the first weeks are more important than introducing a bottle (if you intend to EBF). This is my third, and I am by no means an expert, but I do believe that's what I've read and heard through each of my BFing endeavors. For what it's worth, I can tell you that my brother and I were great at taking a bottle and my youngest sister just never would, so maybe it's just your baby's preference and not something you could've shifted too much? 
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  • missnc77missnc77 member
    I wouldn't worry about it until the other baby is born. When your milk comes in, you can start pumping an ounce here or there and have a couple of bottles worth by 2/3 weeks. Then you can just pump to replace those when you offer a bottle. I'd be worried about offering too many bottles and pumping though when your supply is trying to regulate. Maybe it was luck, but we regularly offered a bottle about twice a week starting around 4 weeks with DD, and she didn't have any problems with refusing. But like I said, I think it's more luck than anything. 
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  • HappyMonkey817HappyMonkey817 member
    If I recall correctly, breast milk is good for 6 hours at room temperature, 6 days in the fridge, and 6 weeks in the freezer. 

    But as others have already said, the milk your body is making now for your older baby, has a different composition than the milk you will be making for the next baby.
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  • ShawnnaOShawnnaO member
    Thank you ladies! I'll do with Baby #2 what I did with P; wait until I'm out of the hospital to pump and then cross my fingers this one actually takes a bottle  :D
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  • mamaloba816mamaloba816 member
    Sounds like your question has already been answered, but I wanted to offer some reassurance. My son is 10 months old. We waited to try to introduce a bottle or pacifier until we had established breastfeeding. We started offering him an occasional bottle of pumped milk probably around 3.5 weeks and he did great. We did have a phase where he did not want to eat from a bottle at bed time, but he was fine during the day, so I suggest offering a bottle at various times during the day. 
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  • HappyMonkey817HappyMonkey817 member
    missnc77 said:
    @happymonkey817 Ha - if it were 6 weeks in the freezer, pumping moms would lose their minds. In a regular freezer milk can go 3-6 months, and in a deep freeze it can go 6-12 months. 
    My mistake.
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  • kburg15kburg15 member
    We also didn't offer a bottle or pacifier to my son until a month old, and he had some trouble for a few weeks not wanting to take a bottle (and then he'd never taken a pacifier). This time, I'll offer it a little sooner (like maybe 2-3 weeks) occasionally just so that we don't have to go through the screaming we did last time. It was so sad. Additionally, after the first month or so, I'd feel comfortable offering pumped milk from the first baby if needed--just so you don't cause an oversupply from the pump too early on. 
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