How much breast milk should you keep in the freezer?

Question

Everything I've read, and common sense, says that you should have enough stored incase you get sick, baby gets sick, you go away for a few days, etc. I am returning to school in about 2 weeks and I only have enough for 4 feedings or so. I know that what I pump during class will maybe make up for what he being fed while I am there. I also want extra so I can go out once or twice. So how many days worth of milk do you think I should keep in the freezer. My baby is 4 weeks now and at htis point I'm only pumping enough each day for about one feeding so it's taking me a while to build up a bank. I figured 7 days worth would be ideal but thats an awful lot of milk! Any thoughts, suggestions, experience?

Answer 1

pump and save as much milk as you can. you can save breast milk in the freezer for up to a year. you can't have too much so save as much as you can. the more you pump, the more you will make so keep it up.  i applaud you for nursing. i did but lots of women don't for just this reason. i can be (for lack of a better word) a hassle.  congrats on your little rug rat and keep up the breast milk.  

Answer 2

as much as you can really.  Once you go back to school it may be hard to pump enough to keep up with baby's needs (remember it may take 2-3 times pumping to make up for just one feeding), so the more you stockpile in advance the better.  seven days sounds like a great number.

I'm a stay at home mom and I try to have at least 2 or 3 days worth of milk in my freezer just incase of emergency.

Answer 3

Because he's so young, it's hard to build up your milk supply, much less some to store.  If you intend to pump while you work, you're definately going to need a better pump than a manual.  I have a week's supply of milk in the freezer (that's a lot, considering my 6 month old drinks 40 oz. a day!) because I know when I start back at work teaching next week, I'm not going to be able to get as much milk from a pump as I would be if I were feeding her.  I usually end up defrosting one extra bag for each day because I'm about one feed short with the amount I can pump while working.  Sometimes I defrost two bags and freeze one fresh bag so that the old milk gets rotated out.

SInce I went back to teaching when my son was 6 weeks and now again when my daughter is 6 months and plan to breastfeed for a full year, these are some of my tips to keep up/increase supply:

1) herbal supplements: fenugreek (15 capsules each day, 5 pills 3x per day, but be careful because when you're ready to quit taking them you have to taper off or you'll dry up your supply if you suddenly stop) and More Milk Plus by Motherlove (the best, but expensive) really helped.

2) Make sure you have a large waterbottle with you and drink and fill it frequently while teaching, it's easy to get busy and not drink water which makes it harder for your body to produce enough milk.

3) I pump one side in the morning while feeding on the other before school in the morning.  I pump 10-15 minutes 3 times during the day (recess, lunch, and right after school) because pumping more frequently is better than pumping for longer periods of time for increasing supply.  I breastfeed in the evening and before bedtime and then pump one more time right before I go to bed.

4) I use a Medela Pump in Style, but any double electric pump is better than a manual.  Look at getting a hands free pumping bra so that you can pump while eating lunch or working at your desk grading papers.  http://www.easyexpressionproducts.com/

Hope that helps!

Answer 4

What pump do you have?

I had a problem with pumping a feeding each time and changed pumps with better milk out put.

My six moth old eats that much per feeding so if your 4 weeker eat they will be a very cute chubby baby!

Answer 5

I think you are best to keep it on the low side, I have about a full weeks worth of milk in my freezer, but he is never needing frozen milk because there is always fresh milk to have, therefore it will eventually go bad. However it is definitely comforting to have some stored in case of an emergency or the event that you would like to go out!

Answer 6

Sounds like you've got this figured out. I'd continue to put away enough for one feeding each day until you get a three day supply. That will be enough to go out occasionally and still have a backup in the freezer. Use the oldest milk first and replace what you use so you always have a stash if you need it. I have a little over a day's worth in the freezer right now but I work at home and don't leave my baby for more than a few hours at a time so I don' t need to store much milk.

I'd suggest storing milk in 2 or 3 ounce bags so you don't waste any. If you make a 5 ounce bottle you can't re-use what's left in the bottle and will have to throw it away. It's better to grab more milk from the fridge or freezer than throw it away because you heated to much. When you start school you should be feeding baby what you pumped yesterday and shouldn't have to dip into your freezer stash all that much. If you do then you need to pump more often during the day so you have enough.

Don't worry about pumping milk to save if you or baby gets sick. You should always nurse your baby. There are a few medications that you can't take when nursing, etc but otherwise it's perfectly safe. Besides, if you don't nurse your baby then you throw off the supply and demand you've worked so hard to achieve.