Quantity of milk to freeze

[peartree]

For those of you with freezer stashes, how much do you store in each bag?

* Full bags (think mine goes to 9oz )

* A set quantity (say, 5oz, and if you don't get that amount in one express, keep in fridge to add up to that amount before freezing)

* Whatever amount you express in one sitting

 

[kmac625]

My bags only hold 5oz and that's what I put in them. I pump a couple times a day and store it in the fridge until I get 5oz (can usually do this with the two pumping sessions). As long as it's within 24 hours you can mix it together to freeze.

 

[kerrie24]

In my opinion its easier to store them in lots of 2 ounces then the defrost a lot quicker than a large amount does,incase an emergency bottle is needed!

 

[JaniceT]

LO is 2 months and I've been pumping like a cow since Day 4. It's paying off. At the moment, I've got about 60 bags X 7oz in the freezer.

* my milk freezer bags have lines measuring up to 7oz. I store only up to 7oz and leave some space for expansion during freezing.

* normally i'd pump enough to fill 2 bags. If I do pump more, I just keep the bag in the fridge and top up later in the day then freeze. I don't leave it in the refrigerator overnight if I plan to freeze.

 

[punk_pig]

In a related question, I've heard that BM changes in quality over the baby's life to produce the nutritional mix needed at different stages of development so that it isn't always recommended to use frozen milk that was pumped out too far back in the baby's development. Does anyone know if this is true and if so what kind of timescale are we looking at?

 

[Flower_Girl]

I'm not 100% sure about the development timescale but I was told only to keep breastmilk frozen for 1 month... xxx

 

[lynnikins]

for the first 6 months you want to only really keep it about a month in the freezer after that up to 3 months is fine so long as your freezer is cold enough and doesnt get opened too frequently. once they are taking solids as well then it isnt so important that the milk is targeted towards their stage, what i did was freeze everything i expressed and when i needed to use milk take the oldest bags and defrost them so i was always adding to the end of my stash and using up the other end that ment it was never in the freezer too long

 

[lynnikins]

Oh and currently im freezing in 8 /9oz lots as I know this is how much ( at a minimum ) he will drink for one sitting lol, i was freezing in 5oz bags for donating and found anything more than 5 oz isnt so quick to defrost lol as 5oz can be defrosted under a warm running tap easily enough

 

[popat]

I've been doing amounts of 2 or 3 oz. These will be used for topping up whatever I express at work everyday.

Good to know that this will defrost easily!

 

[JaniceT]

In a related question, I've heard that BM changes in quality over the baby's life to produce the nutritional mix needed at different stages of development so that it isn't always recommended to use frozen milk that was pumped out too far back in the baby's development. Does anyone know if this is true and if so what kind of timescale are we looking at?

Yes it is true. The oldest frozen BM I have at the moment is 1 month . I defrost 1 pack (7oz) and feed by bottle every morning. Hence that's why I would express 7oz to replace that pack plus additional 7 to 14 Oz to be frozen.