Fresh Milk vs. Frozen milk

[@llli*jhowell]

I will be returning to work on friday night. DD is 3 months old today. I will be working every friday and saturday NIGHTS. DD will likely get at least ONE bottle of milk while she is at the sitters friday morning [I will nurse her before DH takes her to sitter and she will be back around 11am] Then she will get ONE bottle of milk at bedtime for DH.

Saturday she will get at least a few bottles of milk for my mom [prob about 3 bottles give or take] as I will have to sleep saturday when I get home from work.

my question is this:

I have at least 300 ounces [likely more like 350-400] Frozen. I have been storing milk since DD was a week old.

I hear its not good for them to only get bottles of frozen milk. its better if I can provide her with fresh milk as much as possible. So, im just not sure what to do.

I pump every night before i go to bed so I could pump thurs night, and make up that bottle for the sitter for friday.

I also pump off the other breast that DD doesnt nurse off of in the morning, so I always have around 5-7 ounces everday that I pump and usually end up freezing it.

for ex: right now i have about 14 ounces in the fridge that was from pumping the past 2 nights and this morning.

is it best to just keep this milk in fridge and provide my sitter [and my mom and/or DH] with this milk?

I guess my question is, I want to be able to provide DD with fresh milk if possibe, but also want to be able to use the frozen milk too. Since I have so much of it.

ideas? suggestions? thanks

[@llli*auderey]

most people who work a regular m-f schedule seem to use fresh milk from the day before on the next day, then freeze friday's milk and use from the freezer stash for monday. that helps rotate through the freezer stash. but it sounds like you might be pumping MORE than you need right now, plus your schedule isn't the m-f days?? i would say modify to suit your needs. sounds like you might still be growing your freezer stash, which is actually great because it gets harder and harder to pump so sometime around 9-10 months you might switch to using up the stash a little at a time.

[@llli*jenna562]

I would do a combo of fresh and frozen to rotate through your stash, like 2 frozen and 1 fresh (or vice versa) per day. Also what is your schedule going to be like when you return to work? I'm thinking you could stop the night pumping and/or for sure stop pumping the non nursing side...provided that you pump for every missed feeding while at work.

[@llli*bfwmomof3]

It sounds like you have plenty of fresh milk to leave sitter/mom/DH, right? DD is getting plenty of fresh milk so I wouldn't worry about her having some frozen bottles. My personal approach is to leave freshly pumped milk (from the day before) for my baby while I'm at work. If I have extra, I freeze it. I think of my freezer stash as an emergency stash in case something happens (for example, if I get sick and I have to go on meds that are not breastfeeding-compatible - not very likely, but you never know!). Another approach, though, is to actively cycle through your frozen milk. For example, you could alternate between sitter/mom/DH giving fresh and frozen milk (using up the oldest milk first). A third approach is to only give baby frozen milk and freeze all the fresh. Sounds like you don't want to do that because you prefer to give fresh. I also find that approach takes more time because it's easier just to stick the fresh milk in the fridge than to do all the freezing. Finally, some moms working on a Monday to Friday schedule will give baby fresh Tuesday to Friday, and frozen on Monday. In your case I guess that would translate into frozen on Friday, fresh on Saturday. For example, freezing the milk that you are normally pumping each day and then thawing the older frozen milk for Friday, then on Saturday having baby drink the milk that you pump on Friday night while you're at work (assuming you are pumping at work?), then freezing the milk that you pump on Saturday night.

[@llli*jhowell]

most people who work a regular m-f schedule seem to use fresh milk from the day before on the next day, then freeze friday's milk and use from the freezer stash for monday. that helps rotate through the freezer stash. but it sounds like you might be pumping MORE than you need right now, plus your schedule isn't the m-f days?? i would say modify to suit your needs. sounds like you might still be growing your freezer stash, which is actually great because it gets harder and harder to pump so sometime around 9-10 months you might switch to using up the stash a little at a time.

right. i will be working every friday and saturday NIGHT [7p-7am] So DD will get about 4 bottles saturday, 2 on friday and maybe one or two on sunday.

thing im concerned with is that i have pumped most of my milk in august, september, october, so if I dont use it before the 3-6 month time frame, i wont be able to use it then?

[@llli*jhowell]

I would do a combo of fresh and frozen to rotate through your stash, like 2 frozen and 1 fresh (or vice versa) per day. Also what is your schedule going to be like when you return to work? I'm thinking you could stop the night pumping and/or for sure stop pumping the non nursing side...provided that you pump for every missed feeding while at work.

i will be working every friday and sat. NIGHT [7pm-7am], and even though DD STTN for 12 hrs straight, I will still be pumping those two nights im at work, at least 3 times, to make up for the milk that i wont be pumping during the day while im sleeping.

[@llli*bfwmomof3]

Depends on the storage conditions - here's the link from kellymom on storage guidelines: http://kellymom.com/bf/pumpingmoms/m...orage/#storage.

[@llli*jhowell]

It sounds like you have plenty of fresh milk to leave sitter/mom/DH, right? DD is getting plenty of fresh milk so I wouldn't worry about her having some frozen bottles. My personal approach is to leave freshly pumped milk (from the day before) for my baby while I'm at work. If I have extra, I freeze it. I think of my freezer stash as an emergency stash in case something happens (for example, if I get sick and I have to go on meds that are not breastfeeding-compatible - not very likely, but you never know!). Another approach, though, is to actively cycle through your frozen milk. For example, you could alternate between sitter/mom/DH giving fresh and frozen milk (using up the oldest milk first). A third approach is to only give baby frozen milk and freeze all the fresh. Sounds like you don't want to do that because you prefer to give fresh. I also find that approach takes more time because it's easier just to stick the fresh milk in the fridge than to do all the freezing. Finally, some moms working on a Monday to Friday schedule will give baby fresh Tuesday to Friday, and frozen on Monday. In your case I guess that would translate into frozen on Friday, fresh on Saturday. For example, freezing the milk that you are normally pumping each day and then thawing the older frozen milk for Friday, then on Saturday having baby drink the milk that you pump on Friday night while you're at work (assuming you are pumping at work?), then freezing the milk that you pump on Saturday night.

yes im going to be pumping while at work. i will also need baby to have about 2 bottles on sunday as well so i can sleep when i get off work.

i guess i just really want to be able to use that old milk [august, september, etc], before its too late to use it, so as it doesnt go to waste and i have so much of it right now i just dont know what to do lol....

[@llli*bfwmomof3]

If you're worried about the milk expiring, then I would say at the beginning you might want to use more frozen to go through the large amount you already have frozen from the past several months - again I wouldn't worry about the frozen milk being "bad" for baby, especially since she is still getting fresh most of the time.

[@llli*jhowell]

If you're worried about the milk expiring, then I would say at the beginning you might want to use more frozen to go through the large amount you already have frozen from the past several months - again I wouldn't worry about the frozen milk being "bad" for baby, especially since she is still getting fresh most of the time.

yeah that is what i thought i would do. or at least when she is with my mom [getting mostly bottles all day saturday], do one bottle fresh one frozen, etc.

if i remember correctly, i believe my son didnt drink as much of my milk that was previously frozen, as if it were fresh [thinking it tasted different/lipase, etc], meaning quanity. i would leave 5 ounce bedtime bottle and he'd maybe drink 2-3 ounces