I put another full freezer bag of frozen breastmilk into our deep freezer today--that makes 5 bags of 24 ozs each, 120 ozs total! Woohoo.
I obviously want some saved for when James and I eventually go out alone together and we leave James David with a babysitter. Additionally, if I were to get pregnant with our next baby while I was still breastfeeding James (as I plan to be, since I hope James will nurse until he is at least two), I want some extra breastmilk saved up. Pregnancy can affect your milk supply, and some babies will even wean while their Mom is pregnant. Since we are vegan, I really want a (human) milk source for James as long as possible--so I want some extra breastmilk saved up if I need to supplement him while I'm pregnant.
Breastmilk can stay in the deep freezer for at least 6 months. I figure that when it gets close to expiring, James and I can pick a weekend day that we'll be home and James can give James David primarily bottles while I pump--therefore refreshing my stash with new breastmilk while we use up the older milk.
So this is my plan to ensure that little James can get breastmilk for as long as possible, even in the event of my getting pregnant.
(On a side note, why am I awake right now? It's one in the morning and both my husband and my baby are upstairs sleeping soundly. I will regret this in a few hours when James wakes up hungry, sigh)
3 comments:
Have you given any frozen and thawed milk to James yet? I ask because I had a lipase problem with my frozen breastmilk with my James (http://breastfeedingbasics.info/lipase-and-bad-tasting-breast-milk) and he would not drink any of the milk I froze... I would so hate for this to happen to anyone else, so I strongly recommend defrosting and tasting some if you haven't already. Yay for so much frozen milk already!
I'm jealous! I currently have 18 oz, and we're using it as supplement right now...damn this supply issue.
Anyway, just wanted to make sure you know that frozen milk is good for at least a YEAR in a deep freeze, and 6 months in the one attached to the fridge (since it gets opened more often).
Grace--That is awful, Grace, I can't imagine freezing a bunch and then finding out that I couldn't use any of it!
Liz--Yeah it sucks you are dealing with supply issues--I noticed my supply drop a lot around 6 weeks when it regulated, and I had ONE cup of Mother's Milk Tea and noticed at least a 2-3 oz difference the next day. So if you haven't tried that, you totally should!
Also, you might want to get some oat milk to use instead of Cows milk--I bet that would help a lot, too. KUP on what is going on with your supply.
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