freezer stash defrosted - sympathy/help needed

[mousemom]

First, if you have multiple freezers please split your freezer stash of breast milk between them. This is probably common sense, but for some reason I didn't do it. Our freezer died and all of my frozen milk thawed.

I am not quite down to nothing. Some of the milk was still slushy, so I took out two bags to use for today's bottles and put what I pumped at work yesterday in our working freezer.

So now the question is, how do I rebuild my stash? I can't get it back to the level it was at, but I'd like to have more on hand for the occasional emergency (like if the car breaks down and dh can't bring ds in for me to nurse him over my lunch break). I had planned to start using the older stuff to start mixing with baby cereal since ds will be starting solids soon, but obviously I can't do that anymore.

I built up a small stash just before I went back to work by pumping after ds went to sleep for the night, but he now does not reliably go to sleep and I usually have to nurse him multiple times until I finally manage to get to bed myself. I also added substantially to the stash in the first few weeks after I went back to work, when I was pumping more than ds would eat from a bottle. But now I generally pump just enough for the next day, with little left over. I can't pump any more often at work than I already do.

I feel like I am already pretty much at my limit physically and have no extra time or energy, so I'm just feeling kind of overwhelmed by the idea of having to add extra pumping sessions somewhere and dealing with the extra washing, getting even less sleep, etc. Any ideas on how I can do this in the most painless way possible would be appreciated!

[wendibird22]

:hug:
That stinks big time. I know I would have cried a river if that had happened to me. What about pumping one side while your LO nurses on the other? What about pumping after the morning session but before work? What about hands free pumping on your commute to/from work? What about "power pumping" so that perhaps you can pump a bit more extra than you normally do? Here's (http://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/pumping_decrease.html) a link on that (scroll down to increasing frequency).Good luck!

[stillplayswithbarbies]

What a horrible feeling to lose all that!

What worked for me is to pump in the morning before I nursed the baby. She would still get milk because the breasts keep making milk as long as there is a baby suckling. That was my most productive time and I was able to get enough to send to daycare for her first two feedings each day. If you are not already pumping in the morning, get up 20 minutes before the baby and pump. That will rebuild your stash and stimulate your supply.

[hez]

:hug: :hug: :hug: :hug: to the OP. I'm so sorry-- I had that horrible sinking feeling when our power went out, and had DH pack up all the milk in the freezer to take to a friend's house. Forget about the frozen food-- the milk is precious.

Back when I was pumping at work for DS, I took Karen's advice to pump before the morning feeding. Lately I've been pumping up a stash in anticipation of weaning DD, and used the same system for the last few months again-- it's worked out really well. I gradually built up to a decent pumping session each morning.

You can also add some oatmeal (http://www.kellymom.com/bf/supply/oatmeal.html) or other supply boosters (http://www.kellymom.com/herbal/milksupply/herbal_galactagogue.html). That could help you increase your output, too.

[mousemom]

Thanks for commiserating with me. I know there are much worse problems I could be dealing with, but it just felt like the proverbial last straw.

And thanks for all the ideas. I'm not sure yet what I'll try - leaning towards maybe doing some "power pumping" over the weekend. I like the idea of pumping on one side while ds nurses on the other, but can't quite get my mind around the logistics of holding a squirmy baby in the cradle hold on one side and a bottle on the other side.

[misshollygolightly]

Oh honey. I'm so sorry. I haven't had that happen on such a large scale, but I know how POd and frustrated I get even when I just thaw a large pouch of milk and DS decides he's not hungry or something. It's so frustrating when it feels like so much time and effort is wasted! But, first off, I just wanted to say that it isn't a total waste--all the extra pumping encouraged your breasts to make more milk than they would have otherwise, so hopefully it will be fairly easy to rebuild your stash and maintain your supply (at least to a point you can live with). Another thought: as DS has gotten older and started eating solids, I found it was too much hassle and often wasteful to thaw out breastmilk just to mix with his cereal, etc. So I decided to open up those sample cans of formula from the hospital and I now use those to mix with his solids (it adds more nutrients than just using water, he still gets breastmilk from nursing and bottles, and it's really easy to do). I usually use about half a scoop of formula when I mix up his little bowl of cereal, and it looks like the sample cans from the hospital will be more than enough to see us through (so I shouldn't have to buy any formula). Anyway, it's possible you don't want to give your child formula at all, but using it to mix with cereal has been a good compromise for us. Whatever you decide, good luck!

[hez]

I like the idea of pumping on one side while ds nurses on the other, but can't quite get my mind around the logistics of holding a squirmy baby in the cradle hold on one side and a bottle on the other side.

When I had BF'ing issues early on with DS, DH would hold the bottle/horn up to pump from one side while DS nursed on the other. It certainly was quite a bonding experience!

[mousemom]

But, first off, I just wanted to say that it isn't a total waste--all the extra pumping encouraged your breasts to make more milk than they would have otherwise

Thanks for that thought. That's true, I hadn't looked at it like that.

As far as using formula to mix with solids goes, I was thinking that I would have to start using it down the line, since the frozen stuff was not going to last forever anyway. I was hoping to use the frozen milk for at least the first couple of weeks though until he got used to the idea of solids.

I will do some extra pumping this weekend and see what, if any, I get, but I'm not going to drive myself crazy with it. I may just have to come to peace with the idea that I will need to start using the formula sooner rather than later and that it will then also be there if an extra bottle is needed for some reason.

[mousemom]

When I had BF'ing issues early on with DS, DH would hold the bottle/horn up to pump from one side while DS nursed on the other. It certainly was quite a bonding experience!

I see - that makes sense that you would need an extra set of hands to do this. I think this may be something that works better with a littler one - I think my boy would just knock the bottle out of the way. Thanks for the info. though!

[TonFirst]

Oh, I feel you. Our garage freezer didn't restart after a power surge and I didn't realize it until a few days later. I was devastated - I lost about 30 bags of milk. All you can do is keep pumping. It sucks, and I'm so sorry.

[wendibird22]

You can rig your to hold the pump hands free using rubber bands to attach the horns to the clip of your nursing bra.

Here's (http://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/hands-free-pumping.html) how.

ETA: I'd also try using the football hold so that baby's hands/body are further from being able to grab hold of the pump.

[mousemom]

Just wanted to thank everyone for the support/suggestions. I did pump a couple ounces extra over the weekend and, as a result of pumping over the weekend, I'm getting a little extra this week at work too. It's not much, but I'll have a bit more to add to the freezer anyway.