BF moms - What do you do with your freezer stash?

I only use it right now if I need to make a bottle for a babysitter or if I didn't pump enough the previous day, so I don't typically use a lot. However, I have a RIDICULOUS amount of milk in my freezer right now. DH is getting mad because its taking up a good portion of our freezer. I probably have enough to feed her solely on breastmilk and not pump for an entire month to 6 weeks at least. DD is going to be 6 months next week and I'd like to continue BFing at least through the new year, but I don't have any more room to store new milk or extra from the week. I'm not ready to start weaning her yet.

Any thoughts?

Re: BF moms - What do you do with your freezer stash?

You can rotate it out with fresh BM. Whenever milk is 2 months old, I defrost and use that and freeze the fresh milk. That might not be too helpful for you, though, if you're primarily nursing. I'm EP so it works for us.

Re: BF moms - What do you do with your freezer stash?

what do you plan on doing with it?
you can get a deep freezer to store it so it can last her past 1. or you can quit pumping a little early and feed her from that stash.

Re: BF moms - What do you do with your freezer stash?

do you leave her in daycare or with someone while you work? if so, you should use your frozen milk then.

i always rotate my stash - although it doesnt eliminate how much you have, it keeps it fresh so it lasts longer.
i would defrost 3 bags of milk each day for daycare and freeze what i pump the night before.

in terms of what to do with it - theres nothing unless you want to start weaning. it was hard bc DH and i always kept a full freezer...meats, chicken etc so that we didnt have to go food shopping weekly but the milk took up so much space we had to just keep less in our freezer.

i had to stop bfing dd around 7.5 months - my freezer stash was gone before you know it. it looked like so much but in the end it really wasnt.

Re: BF moms - What do you do with your freezer stash?

I have a ton too, and my DH is constantly asking me to get rid of it. I even gave my parents some to freeze.

I figure I would prefer to give DD fresh BM and I only go to my freeze stash in a pinch. I have even thrown some out, which hurts a bit since I HATE pumping, but I would prefer to use it as a back up.

BF moms - What do you do with your freezer stash?

I use frozen milk and freeze the fresh milk each day. Do you work? Why do you need to pump so much? If you don't need it then just stop pumping and continue nursing.

Re: BF moms - What do you do with your freezer stash?

I EP and have an excess supply as well. I donate it to Helping Hands Milk Bank.

http://helpinghandsbank.com/

Not going to lie- it's a HUGE pain in the butt - they have questionaires, they need an approval from your doctor, you baby's doctor, they take a DNA test (you swab yourself and mail it in), a blood test (someone came out to my house).

However, it makes me feel SO much better than throwing it out.

Message edited 11/15/2013 1:34:57 PM.

BF moms - What do you do with your freezer stash?

Are you still adding to freezer stash? If so cut out a pump sesssion.

Re: BF moms - What do you do with your freezer stash?

Re: BF moms - What do you do with your freezer stash?

I disagree with the PPs that say to freeze the fresh and use the freezer stash... freezing the milk reduces some of the nutrients and antibodies, it's always to use fresh when you can and not freeze it unless you have to.

I also feel like i lose BM here and there by transferring it into the bag, out of the bag and into the bottle, there are always drops left behind and I feel like that adds up.

Message edited 11/15/2013 3:23:27 PM.

Re: BF moms - What do you do with your freezer stash?

Re: BF moms - What do you do with your freezer stash?

I ended up tossing a lot of mine once we did wean..

Re: BF moms - What do you do with your freezer stash?

Thanks for the responses!

Just to clarify, yes, I do work full time as a teacher. My mom and my MIL take turns watching her during the week, so she gets bottles then. I obviously pump at work, but whenever I have the chance to not give her a bottle I nurse her instead, to try to reduce the amount of pumped milk.

I do rotate the stash on occasion. Typically during the week, I'll give her the fresh milk that I pumped the previous day. If I know the milk in the freezer is coming up to being in there for 5 months, I'll freeze the fresh pumped milk and defrost the oldest milk to give her instead.

I just still have so much. I thought about donating it, but I just can't bring myself to do it!

Re: BF moms - What do you do with your freezer stash?

Re: BF moms - What do you do with your freezer stash?

BF moms - What do you do with your freezer stash?

Donated mine to a milk bank and can share on eats4feets or human milk for human babies community

Re: BF moms - What do you do with your freezer stash?

Im pretty sure Sophia Gaynor still drinks breast milk.
If you were going to give it away- I would check with her mom and see if they can use it .
Sophias Cure FB page

Re: BF moms - What do you do with your freezer stash?

I always rotated the milk. I'd use 1-2 bags of frozen milk mixed with fresh milk for the first bottle or two of the day. That way, the milk didn't stay in the freezer too long and they still got mostly fresh milk.

Re: BF moms - What do you do with your freezer stash?

I'm in a somewhat similar situation. I started pumping when my DS was born because I was concerned about my supply. I honestly am now convinced that was based on bad advice I received from the hospital, Anyway, I'm a SAHM and ebf my almost 3 month old son, though he does get one bottle of pumped milk at night which is when my dh gets to feed him. I'm currently in the routine of pumping at night right before bed and again first thing in the morning. Since I pump a lot each time but he just gets 1 bottle/day, I now have nearly 200oz of frozen milk.

I know I should wean from that first morning pump but I'm nervous about how it could effect my supply. What's more frustrating is that my DS ((knock wood)) sleeps great!! Yet, I'm waking up earlier than him because my boobs ache and I need to pump. My freezer is like 90% breastmilk. It's crazy..........

Message edited 11/16/2013 9:58:56 AM.

Re: BF moms - What do you do with your freezer stash?

Posted by PennyCat

I'm in a somewhat similar situation. I started pumping when my DS was born because I was concerned about my supply. I honestly am now convinced that was based on bad advice I received from the hospital, Anyway, I'm a SAHM and ebf my almost 3 month old son, though he does get one bottle of pumped milk at night which is when my dh gets to feed him. I'm currently in the routine of pumping at night right before bed and again first thing in the morning. Since I pump a lot each time but he just gets 1 bottle/day, I now have nearly 200oz of frozen milk.

I know I should wean from that first morning pump but I'm nervous about how it could effect my supply. What's more frustrating is that my DS ((knock wood)) sleeps great!! Yet, I'm waking up earlier than him because my boobs ache and I need to pump. My freezer is like 90% breastmilk. It's crazy..........

Re: BF moms - What do you do with your freezer stash?

Posted by LadyBug1209

Posted by PennyCat

I'm in a somewhat similar situation. I started pumping when my DS was born because I was concerned about my supply. I honestly am now convinced that was based on bad advice I received from the hospital, Anyway, I'm a SAHM and ebf my almost 3 month old son, though he does get one bottle of pumped milk at night which is when my dh gets to feed him. I'm currently in the routine of pumping at night right before bed and again first thing in the morning. Since I pump a lot each time but he just gets 1 bottle/day, I now have nearly 200oz of frozen milk.

I know I should wean from that first morning pump but I'm nervous about how it could effect my supply. What's more frustrating is that my DS ((knock wood)) sleeps great!! Yet, I'm waking up earlier than him because my boobs ache and I need to pump. My freezer is like 90% breastmilk. It's crazy..........

I am SOOOOOOOO jealous!!!!!

The twins are 4.5m and I still haven't pumped.. mostly because they are still eating every 3 hours and I'm e.x.h.a.u.s.t.e.d. Your post just inspired me to start! I would love a little freedom to step out of my house for more than 2 hours at a time.

Message edited 11/16/2013 10:41:07 AM.

Re: BF moms - What do you do with your freezer stash?

I have an insane amount of breastmilk in my freezer. I finally used up all of August's milk by defrosting one bag a day, but now I have all of Sept & Oct milk to deal with, plus whatever I've frozen from this month. This kid is going to be drinking pumped breastmilk till he's 5 But seriously eventually I will probably have to throw some of it out, just because I won't be able to use it up before it goes bad.