Hi, I froze a bag of breastmilk that I pumped yesterday and took it to my daycare for them to store as a backup. However, the milk never made it to their freezer and sat in a cooler bag all day. It is currently slushed milk. Do we have to use this milk within 24 hours or because it was just pumped yesterday, can I go by the guidelines for refrigerator storage. Thank you!
We have a crawling babe who I would guess will be walking by the time this trip rolls around. He'll be 11 months old. I almost have enough stashed for a 10 day trip and should have it by then. BUT a) I want to bring him with us and b) the amount of scheduling for pumping, refrigeration sounds horrendous (I do it for work trips but I know I'll have a hotel room with refrigerator, can pump in the car and have access to a fridge on the job as well). Looking for advice from either side, ultimately we will make the decision but hoping to hear from people who have done it.
I've found general breastmilk safety info like how long it can stay at room temp/fridge/freezer. And I know the general method is to run frozen/chilled milk under warm water to bring to room temp to feed. But what I can't find is:
Can I pull milk from the refrigerator and sit it out to take the chill off instead of applying heat? Does it still have a 4-6 hour lifespan outside the fridge if it starts cold? Does anyone do it this way?
I'm thinking I can do a feed, and prep the next bottle by taking it out of the fridge and letting it sit for 2-4 hours til the baby is ready to eat again.
Thoughts?
LO turns 2 months old today. I almost exclusively pump, but give the boob at least once a week so she doesn't forget how to use it.
I average 15 to 25 ounces stored in the refrigerator at any given time, but as soon as I feel comfortable enough to freeze some she'll have an extra hungry day or I'll have a low supply day and it'll finish our reserves. I pump and she eats about 30 ounces a day.
I'm chugging water and eating my milk makers cookies, but I can't seem to increase my supply past the 30 oz. a day mark. Any suggestions?
LO turns 2 months old today. I almost exclusively pump, but give the boob at least once a week so she doesn't forget how to use it.
I average 15 to 25 ounces stored in the refrigerator at any given time, but as soon as I feel comfortable enough to freeze some she'll have an extra hungry day or I'll have a low supply day and it'll finish our reserves. I pump and she eats about 30 ounces a day.
I'm chugging water and eating my milk makers cookies, but I can't seem to increase my supply past the 30 oz. a day mark. Any suggestions?
hi ladies!
I, too, have made the not-awesome realization that my freezer stash is tainted by high lipase issue.
since my girl isn't taking bottles so well for now, and I don't want to turn her off completely, I haven't tried offering her that milk to see if she'll take it anyway, we've only tried with fresh or scalded one.
my question is: I'll try and pump at least thrice during the first months back at work (I go back on Monday, she'll be 4 months old, I plan on leaving her dad with 4x100ml (3oz) bottles for starters and see how it goes), the first pump around 10am, and I'll be back home no later than 6pm.
the milk will be in a cooler, in a refrigerator until I go back home, do you ladies think that the first milk of the day will have already gone sour/lipased by the time I go home?
I plan on mixing all my pumped milk and scalding it at 6pm so that even if a bit of it sour, it will be diluted.
Has anyone done that? unfortunately, there is no way I'd be able to scald at work, pumping itself is already going to be a bit challenging (no dedicated room nor time alloted, I'm French).
First time parent/exclusively breastfeeding mama here, who just (barely) survived the first day back to a full time job life after a 12 week leave.
I've pumped a few times before today, but it was always at home and I had every need within arms reach. My employer does not allow for any breast milk or pumping equipment to be in any of the refrigerators on campus and I am not permitted to have a mini fridge at my desk.
So my question is.... What do I do with my pumping parts?! I rinsed them off after each use today, but the water in the building doesn't get very warm and I can't leave them out to air dry. It skeeved me out, but my only option today was to throw the parts in a gallon freezer bag (unzipped) in my breast pump bag.
Any suggestions?
I have to start rotating in some frozen milk before it expires. Is it ok to mix old, frozen milk with new, chilled milk from the refrigerator once it has thawed? Thanks in advance!
I'm preparing to go back to work in a couple of weeks and starting to make a little freezer stash. I'm planning on continuing to pump at work, and my baby will go to daycare when she is 10 weeks old. I hope to mostly pump enough at work to give her fresh milk from the refrigerator rather than the freezer most of the time, but my work schedule is very hectic and different every day. I often work more than 12 hours and occasionally do 24 hour shifts, so I know we will need the freezer stash sometimes. What is a good amount to freeze in each bag so that the least amount will get wasted? I'm thinking either 2, 3, or 4 ounces, but in not sure what's most practical.
I'm going back to work tomorrow and I'm very sad about it. DD will be going to a family friend for daycare, I already have milk pumped for the first couple of days. I have a few questions about working Moms set up and pumping supplies.
I have a Spectra 2 and I'll have access to a pumping room and refrigerator to store the milk at work.
Questions: 1. What kind of bags did you use to carry the pump to and from work? Did you get a small insulated bag for the milk bags as well?
Did you pump tandem for time issues or one at a time? If tandem, did you just hold both or take a band to hold them in place so you can still use your hands?
Did you see a decline in production right away or was it gradual, if you saw a decline at all?
Any advise would be helpful at this point because I'm sure there are going to be obvious tips that I'm missing.
I'm a SAHM breastfeeding my 6 week old. We've had our ups and downs and due to LO suddenly being very hit or miss with the boob I've started to pump once a day as a backup. I pump in the morning and get 1.5-2.5 oz. What I'm wondering about is the best way to store these small amounts. Currently I put the bottle for each day in the refrigerator. If I don't give LO the bottle in ~3 days I transfer into an ice cube tray covered with saran wrap in the freezer. Once I've frozen what I'm going to for the week the plan was to transfer the cubes to a freezer bag with the date range written on the bag. Is this the best way to store small amounts of milk? I just noticed that the tray I have in the freezer looks a little freezer burnt. Is this a problem for the quality of the milk?
Sorry, this is a bit long. Bear with me. My little girl is 10 weeks old. Breastfeeding was going well in the beginning, she was gaining plenty and I was able to pump and keep a small stash in the refrigerator for the occasional nighttime feeding with my husband. Then somewhere between the one and two month mark is where it gets a little complicated.
First of all, at her two month appointment, she had barely gained any weight. She had been kind of a fussy eater for a bit, but I assumed growth spurt or something. Then in the days following that appointment, she got EXTREMELY fussy and would scream when latching. Then I finally figured out why.
A few days after she was born, she had a hemangioma on her nose. It grew very quickly, but the pediatrician said it was fine because they go away on their own. Finally when it began to get these weird black spots, she sent us to a dermatologist, and over the course of the next week, it ulcerated badly, to the point where there's just a giant hole in her nose right now. So this was all right before that two month checkup, and I finally realized that breastfeeding was actually hurting her because her nose was slightly pressed against me. Then I began pumping, and she's a much happier eater with the bottle since it doesn't touch her nose. However, my supply is not what it used to be, and I'm not sure what exactly is affecting it.
I recently began taking birth control (with no estrogen) because my period returned. She also had not been eating much the last few weeks due to the pain. So I assume one of these things affected my supply, but which one? Should I stop taking birth control? My supply isn't horrible, but it's not what I would like it to be, and I'm trying my best to avoid formula supplementation. I pump about 25-30 ounces a day, but she always eats it all and I struggle to keep up with her demands. For the first two days, I pumped every hour and added a "power pumping" session to try and increase my supply. Now I'm pumping every two hours, for a minimum of 15 minutes (using a Medela Pump in Style Advanced, double pumping). I've been doing this for about 5 days now and my supply hasn't budged. I'm drinking mother's milk tea, eating oatmeal every morning with flax seed meal and brewer's yeast sprinkled on top, I made lactation cookies, drinking lots and lots of water (my urine is almost clear), and eating 4-5 meals a day with snacks in between. So my question is, is there something else I can do? Or is it just the birth control? I'm going to try going off of it for a bit to see. I know that I CAN produce the amount of milk needed, because I've done it before. I just don't know how many more days I can go with barely scraping by to get her what she needs. I will eventually attempt breastfeeding again, but it could take a month or so for this wound to actually heal enough to where it doesn't hurt her.
TL;DR: I have to EP but I want to increase my supply in order to meet my daughter's demands, but I'm not sure if my birth control is affecting my supply or if there's something else I should be doing besides the normal water/food/galactagogues/pumping.
Is the time that I pump off the clock? Like am I using my lunch/break time? My boss is very laid back and bad at talking about things and so we never really had a discussion about pumping or anything.
I heard you're only supposed to mix milk that is the same temperature, but I am short on bottles today that attach to my pump. Can I pump milk from my boob into a bottle that already has some refrigerated milk?
What are some good ways to store milk in the refrigerator? Does anyone go the pitcher type container route?
My work has a sink but no hot water? Is washing with dish soap ok or should I bring the sterilizer bag and steam sterilize between pumpings?
Hello!
I plan to pump+work, and was hoping to get a couple answers! Ideally I will pump 3x while at work, with the Spectra S2. Based on that -
Can I finish pumping and throw all my parts into my cooler bag or refrigerator without washing them each time?
Can I pump into bottles, then combine the milk into one large bottle, to keep in my cooler bag/refrigerator? So, 6 servings of milk in one large bottle.
When I get home at night I would wash all my pump parts and collection bottles, then divide the bottle of large milk into single serve milk storage bags for freezing.
My concern is hygiene/bacteria/nutrient loss. I'm open to any suggestions to make things more efficient!
Thank you! Wishing your families a happy, healthy week!
This is cross posted to baby bumps but nobody claimed it there so I thought I would try here! :)
My daughter is now 15 months old...crazy how fast time goes. Anyway, I have a Madela pump in style breast pump that I used maybe 10 times (I'm a work at home mom who haaaated pumping so it mostly just gathered dust) that I would love to pass on to a momma who needs one. I have the pump, the refrigerator bag, the battery pack, everything it came with (except the bottles which I gave to a friend without thinking). I also have the flanges and tubes but I'm not sure if you're just supposed to buy those new as opposed to using somebody else's? PM me if you're interested. :) Thanks guys!
I put frozen milk in the refrigerator last night for daycare on today. But this morning she woke up with a fever so we stayed home. Just took her temp again and it's still high so another day at home tomorrow. What do I do with this milk? It was still partially frozen this morning but not enough that I was comfortable putting it back in the freezer. Will it still be ok on Wednesday? She's been comfort nursing all day so I can't just feed her bottles tomorrow and pump to replace it. I'd hate to just throw it away. I have enough of a freezer stash but it's 14 oz. It takes me 3-4 pumps to get that much.
I put frozen milk in the refrigerator last night for daycare on today. But this morning she woke up with a fever so we stayed home. Just took her temp again and it's still high so another day at home tomorrow. What do I do with this milk? It was still partially frozen this morning but not enough that I was comfortable putting it back in the freezer. Will it still be ok on Wednesday? She's been comfort nursing all day so I can't just feed her bottles tomorrow and pump to replace it. I'd hate to just throw it away. I have enough of a freezer stash but it's 14 oz. It takes me 3-4 pumps to get that much.
I got invited to a meeting this week at work about "breastmilk storage concerns". I may be jumping to conclusions, but I get the impression that there may have been a complaint about somebody storing milk in a refrigerator other than the one in the lactation room. There's a mention of how to deal with storage constraints if we are "required to store milk in a designated cooler". There's simply not enough room for everyone pumping to store their milk in the lactation room, and as a matter of convenience I don't currently store mine there, and wouldn't prefer to regardless of the space available.
Some quick online research got me statements from CDC, OSHA, and Dept. of HHS that breastmilk is not considered a bodily fluid, Universal Precautions do not apply, is not considered a biohazard, and can therefore be stored alongside regular food. I plan to bring that information to the meeting, ready to pounce on anyone who says that we need to segregate our milk. (I've included the links below, sorry if there's any issues with them).
I wanted to ask here, too, whether anyone had experienced anything similar or had any resources they could share. I feel pretty good about what I have currently, and I know that at least one other woman is on board with me pushing back if needed (I haven't talked to the others yet). But I'm also this mix of excited to advocate for us and pissed off that I have to in the first place, and mostly wanted to share with people who get it.
I get why people might assume that we should store milk separately, but anyone in a place of authority should do some very basic research before trying to assert that assumption over what a pumping mother does. It took me one google search to find the first source that says it's not a bodily fluid, and not much more time to find the other resources. I've been pretty happy so far with my employer's support of my pumping, mostly based on the pretty nice lactation room we've been provided, which I know is better than what some women have. But the fact that a bunch of grown adults can get squeamish over breastmilk is really disappointing.
FTM, first time traveling. Crossposted in r/beyondthebump. Please help me see if I can avoid dumping all this milk! I pump more than LO eats to build a stash for the freezer or get a break now and then. I have 15 oz in bottles and storage bags that I have accumulated since Saturday morning. Typically I pump to empty once a day but since we are traveling it is more based on whether I could nurse. Little one usually eats 2-4 oz per feeding, and I typically pump 5 oz from one side and 3-5oz from the other.
We have the bottles in a cooler with an ice pack and they will be transferred to the refrigerator. I hesitate to freeze anything because it may thaw too much traveling home. So fridge is the only option.
I still have six days left before I go home.
I don't see any way to avoid dumping some of it. Do you?
If I have to dump I guess that's my excuse to have some holiday booze.
Alright, so I'm not even sure what I'm looking for. I guess support, mostly. My 13 weeker (8 adjusted) was admitted to the children's hospital Friday night. We have been having GI issues; mucoid stools, colic, reflux (on Zantac and it helps), and I just knew something was wrong. His PCM kept blowing me off because I'm a FTM, but at the last appointment he had gained only 4 oz in 18 days. She ran some blood tests and his liver enzymes were elevated, so they admitted us to figure it out.
So on the plus side, we are in the right place to figure out what is wrong. On the challenging side, the docs want me to exclusively pump so they can quantify how much milk he is getting. It makes sense, but I'm having a lot of trouble. My supply is down because I wasn't eating, so I started eating again but now I'm not sleeping because I have to pump or he can't eat. I broke last night and tried to breastfeed, and once was moderately successful and the second time he flipped out, refused the breast, I ended up having to pump while listening to him hungry scream, not a good situation. I power pumped last night and this morning, I'm drinking tons of water and mothers milk tea and eating oatmeal.
Also I have cut the top 8 allergens from my diet to try and fix my baby's stool issue, so eating is really hard. I can't eat any hospital food except fruit basically, I can't cook, I have no access to a refrigerator.
I'm rambling because I'm so sleep deprived. I don't know what I'm even looking for- I guess somebody to tell me I'm not damaging our breastfeeding relationship irreparably. And maybe a hug. Hugs are good. ❤️
