Building and Managing your Breast Milk Stash

Every working and pumping mom needs to learn how to store expressed breast milk. This is key if you want to feed your little one with your precious liquid gold while you’re at work.

It's every working mama's dream to build up a breast milk stash that could probably last for weeks. To build that dream stash, start pumping 2 - 3 weeks before your scheduled return to work. You'll need to pump to have expressed breast milk (EBM) at this time if you'd like to teach your caregiver how to serve milk to baby.

Here are some tips on storing breast milk:

Know the time limits.

Find out  how long should breast milk should be stored at room temperature, in the refrigerator or in the freezer.

I follow La Leche League's recommendation:

• Room temperature - 4 to 8 hours*
• Refrigerator – 3 to 8 days
• Freezer - 6 to 12 months (at constant temperature)

*Because it's hotter in the Philippines, i follow the lower limit, which is 4 hours at room temperature.

Fridge vs Freezer? 

Some moms are blessed with the problem of having that much milk, they need to decide whether to refrigerate or freeze. I had a fairly abundant supply of milk, especially during the first months. I kept some in the fridge, others in the freezer.  I don't freeze EBM right away.  Since breast milk can last in the fridge up to 8 days, i only freeze EBM that i won't be using within the next week.

According to Dr. Sears, some immunological properties are lost after freezing, so i just try to serve only refrigerated milk for my baby. The frozen milk is for sharing. Frozen milk can come handy for unexpected events, like when you need to be out for longer than usual.

Having cold liquid milk in store is more convenient, since i didn't have to wait for EBM to thaw when it's baby feeding time.

Choose your EBM container.

Know which containers to use and decide which of them will fit your needs.

You can choose from plastic bottles, bags or glass jars as milk containers.

Plastic bottles

• Reusable, so it's more eco friendly
• Hard side plastics are more stable for travel
• Comes with screw caps for secure storage even in transit
• More expensive than plastic bags and glass jars
• The cheapest BPA bottles i found are from Evenflo, at P 399 for 4 pieces of 4 oz bottles

Plastic storage bags

• Cheaper than plastic bottles
• Can be bent or flexed to conform to limited freezer space
• Single use only, produces more waste
• No washing and sterilizing required
• The cheapest plastic bags are from Baby Mama, at P200 per 3o pcs with 7 oz measured capacity

Glass bottles

• Reusable and washable
• Don't contain BPA
• Cheap, i  recycle baby food glass jars as breast milk containers
• Don't use glass jars when freezing EBM, milk expands during freezing.

Store in small quantities to lessen waste. 

Store milk in single serve amounts. 2 to 4 ounces per container might be enough for newborns. For older babies follow an educated estimate, based on his daily consumption. My baby's milk intake dropped a bit when he started on solids.

Like water, breast milk expands at freezing point so do not fill the plastic bag or  bottle to its full capacity.

You can mix expressed breast milk from different days. Cool expressed breast milk so it will have the same temperature with the older breast milk.  When labeling,  follow the date of the older milk.

Label your EBM

Make it a habit to label your milk. Do this right after pumping so you won’t get confused. Use masking tape and permanent marker.

Write these information: date and time the milk was expressed and volume (if using glass or storage bags)

It's hard to write on cold wet surface so label the container first before putting in the milk.

Organize your stash.

Keep milk from the same dates in one portion of the ref so you won't have to dig out your entire stash when looking for the oldest milk.

Use the first in first out rule. Since there are limits to how long your breast milk can last, use the oldest milk first.

Double wrap your breast milk container.

Your ref can harbor a lot of odors from different food for the entire family. If you put the family's foods along with baby's breast milk in the fridge, remember to wrap your milk in plastics or food container. EBM, if stored in the ref or fridge for so long can pick up flavors and odors from other foods stored there.

Keep a small jar of baking soda in the fridge to absorb unwanted odors. Some babies are sensitive to odors. They might refuse EBM that's infused foreign odor.

Always wash your hands thoroughly before handling breast milk. Breast milk is not sterile. Like any food it requires proper hygiene to assure of its cleanliness and freshness.

Read my post on handling breast milk during brownouts.

There you go, just some tips from a working and pumping mama. Good luck building that stash!

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