When to start using frozen milk...

[Andi98989]

I exclusively pump and have had a very good supply since DS was born; right now I have over 400 oz. in the freezer. My current system is that on Monday I pump all day; that night I make up his bottles for Tuesday and I freeze the excess. So, on Tuesday he's eating Monday's milk while I pump.

I've read/heard somewhere that the nutritional make-up of breastmilk changes as baby grows to meet his needs. Is there a point where I should be starting to feed DS the frozen milk and freezing all the fresh milk? Or can I keep on going as I currently am and start using the frozen milk as I wean myself from pumping (which will probably be when I start going back to work, but could be longer)?

[Momof3Labs]

I need to decide how to handle this, too. I have a crazy amount of milk in the freezer, too, and need to use it before it expires (not an issue yet, but time passes quickly). BTW, frozen milk lasts 6-12 months in a deep freeze. My plan is to eventually use a mixture of fresh and frozen - e.g. each day, give them 75% of their bottles in fresh milk and 25% of the bottles in frozen milk (freezing any excess fresh pumped that day). Don't mix fresh and frozen within a bottle because frozen has a very short shelf life compared to fresh.

[truly scrumptious]

My system was to use the fresh milk as much as possible, because I believe freezing does affect the nutritional value of the milk a *little* at least. Also, DS seemed to like the taste of the fresh milk more.
However, in a regular freezer (not a deep freeze) frozen milk only lasts up to three months, so about two or three weeks before the 3 month expiration date I would start using the frozen milk, and freezing some of the fresh milk.

You'll probably find that in 3 months your DC's appetite will also have increased so you can use a combo of frozen and fresh milk (while still freezing some fresh milk everyday, to keep your supply in tune with DC.) In my case, when I finally stopped nursing, I first used all the frozen milk before moving to formula.

[jennilynn]

Your current method is the best. You want baby to drink the freshest milk possible, so drinking Monday's on Tuesday is awesome. That freezer stash is really more for your peace of mind and probably won't get used. It pained me but I've thrown many bags away.

[wimama]

I used to rotate my freezser stash. I would freeze the BM I pumped at work on Friday and send the oldest BM in the Freezer on Monday. That way my freezer stash never got very old. But, Monday - Thursday I would send the milk I pumped the day before to daycare the next day. I figured DS was getting the freshest milk on everyday except Monday.

When I finally did stop pumping I had enough of a freezer stash to send milk to daycare for over a month.

[stillplayswithbarbies]

I would start rotating through it now. For one thing, you need to find out if baby will drink the frozen milk. It would be a shame to find out you have an excess lipase issue after you have a huge freezer stash.

I like the idea of 25% frozen, 75% fresh each day. I did something similar with my first two babies.

[Snow mom]

I agree with Karen that you should start rotating it asap. The composition of your bm changes as your baby gets older so I'd try to start moving through the oldest milk and putting new milk in the freezer. I'd keep his at least 50% fresh milk, if possible. I wouldn't count on milk lasting more than 3 months in a normal freezer. I know the guidelines say 3-6 months, but I found that by four months it was pretty choppy whether it seemed okay. If your supply is extremely good you might want to consider donating some milk to a milk bank (if you have one locally.) It's really silly to dump perfectly good milk because you are over-producing when there are so many babies in NICUs that could use that milk to help them thrive.

ETA: even if you don't have a formal milk bank available, there are online resources to connect people with freezer stashes they aren't going to get around to using with babies that need bm. Can you tell I'm really against dumping milk ;)

[jackmood]

I'm hoping to pump feed more than latch feed. When you freeze breastmilk, I know freezing it flat lets your store more bags and prevents air bubbles from getting trapped. But, when it comes time to heat the frozen breastmilk, how do you get it from a flat, frozen bag into a bottle?

[truly scrumptious]

I'm hoping to pump feed more than latch feed. When you freeze breastmilk, I know freezing it flat lets your store more bags and prevents air bubbles from getting trapped. But, when it comes time to heat the frozen breastmilk, how do you get it from a flat, frozen bag into a bottle?

I would stick the bag in a warm bowl of water until it thawed, if I was in a hurry. If I remembered beforehand, I would take the bag out of the freezer and leave it overnight in a bowl in the fridge. This is the best option, and the bowl is good in case the bag springs a leak!