I am not a super organized person. I have stacks. I know, in general, what stack I have items in. But my stacks look disheveled and are not run by a system. I might have a prescription, an old receipt, a thing that I have to return to a store, a skein of yarn, and sunglasses in one bag. They have nothing to do with each other, but I know they are there and that is usually all that matters.
But when I started pumping and storing breastmilk, I knew I would need a good system of organization. Breastmilk does expire. If you are storing it in a freezer that you open on a regular basis, you need to use it within 3-4 months. When I got home from the hospital, I only had a few bottles of milk to freeze. As the weeks passed, I froze more and more, and I eventually had a jumbled mess of bags and bottles of frozen milk in the bottom of the freezer. Whenever I would go to thaw a bottle or bag of milk to feed Gwen, I would dig through a large bin trying to find the oldest milk. I would usually get pretty close to the oldest bottle. But when Gwen was 3 months old I found a bottle of colostrum that she got as a special, tasty treat for dinner one night that I had somehow overlooked for over a month. The bright yellow color should have been a giveaway, but since I was constantly digging through bottles and bags, one bottle managed to slip through the cracks.
During this same time, I was babysitting a friend's baby. My friend had gone back to work and had a much bigger stash of milk to keep track of. One day, she brought what she called a "pancake" of milk to put in my freezer in case I used up all of the fresh milk she had brought for the day. The pancake was brilliant! First, you could thaw it in about 1-2 minutes in a bowl of hot water. Second, each pancake was exactly 2 ounces, so if baby is just a little hungry, just thaw one! Third, by freezing milk into flat discs, you can stack them in an orderly fashion and can clearly see how much milk you have and how old it is.
In order to freeze milk into "pancakes," you just take a breastmilk storage bag and pour 2 ounces of milk into it. Then you lay it flat so the milk spreads out as thin as possible. This allows for quick freezing, quick thawing, and easy stacking. I had been using a mixture of 2.8 ounce Medela bottles and 5 ounce Medela milk storage bags. While I initially liked the reusability of the bottles, they did not stack well. They did not thaw well. And if I froze them when they were too full, they would crack from the expanding milk, and then leak the milk upon thawing. The problem with the bags is that if you freeze 5 ounces of milk in them, they get really wide at the base and skinny at the top, resembling triangles. How the heck are you supposed to stack tons of triangles? Also, even though Gwen is 7 months old, she still doesn't eat 5 ounces at most meals. I was trying to fit as much milk as possible into the bags because I was being cheap and I didn't want to only put 2 ounces of milk into a $0.40 bag when 5 ounces would fit. After seeing the pancake trick, I realized that breastmilk is worth its weight in gold, and if my original system of freezing milk into 5 ounce bags was going to cause me to lose milk until it was no longer good, then I needed a new system.
Here is what I do:
First, I measure the milk into a 2.8 ounce medela bottle. You can pour straight from a wider bottle, but as a good little chemist, I remember that the most accurate measuring tool is the smallest, skinniest bottle that will do the job. I pour in 2 and 1/8 ounces. Why the extra 1/8th? You will lose some milk on the side of the bag and will end up with less than a 2 ounce portion if you only pour in 2 ounces. This is just me being particular. Do I really think Gwen will notice if she only gets 1 and 7/8 ounces of milk instead of 2? No. But I do like to end up with 2 ounces in the final bottle that I feed to her, thus my extra 1/8.
Next step: pour it into the bag. Don't spill. As I saw in a comic recently, those who say don't cry over spilled milk never pumped.
Make sure you label your bags! You don't want to put milk in the freezer only to discover that you don't know how old it is and that you have to throw it away! You may notice that I labeled these with the date and the number of ounces in the bag. Why would I label it when I put 2 ounces in each bag? Sometimes I have an extra half ounce or so because I don't pump exactly 2 ounces every time. Some of my bags have 1.5 ounces, others 2.5 ounces. I just aim to do 2 ounce bags.
Next I stack my bags for freezing. Make sure they are flat so they freeze into nice little pancakes.
After freezing flat, I stand the bags upright in a new bin in date order. I used to use Medela bags. When I did that I could fit 24 bags, or 48 ounces, into a bin. I can fit some more with the Lasinoh bags, but haven't completely filled a bin with them yet, so I don't know how much a bin holds. So far, 50 ounces with room to spare. This way I can just count my bins and I know how much milk I have.
Notice 2 types of bags? I used to use Medela. But last time I went to the store, they didn't have Medela, and I really needed the bags right then, so I bought Lasinoh. I will never buy medela again. The medela bags were over $20 for 50. The Lasinoh are $9 for 60. I can fit more Lasinoh bags into a bin. They are much easier to seal the double zipper, and don't leak as much. Also, you see that hole in the top of the medela bag (surrounded by yellow)? That is so you can hook the bag straight to your pump (a reason I originally got the medela bags). It's poorly designed though. If you don't hold really still while pumping, you will spill milk out of the top of the bag since it is wide open. Plus, when you pour milk into the bag or from the bag, if you pour too fast it comes out of the hole. Notice that the lasinoh bag does not have a hole. Also, the lasinoh bag has those cut-out areas on the side for easy pouring. Cheaper and more functional - I think we have a winner.
This is my freezer. The short, pink basket has my milk that is freezing into pancakes. The blue bins each have 48 ounces of milk in medela bags. The green bin has the lasinoh bags.
When I need milk now, I just go to the oldest bin, grab the bag in the front, and easily grab the oldest 2 ounces of milk in the freezer, and I don't have to sort through all 200 ounces. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.
But when I started pumping and storing breastmilk, I knew I would need a good system of organization. Breastmilk does expire. If you are storing it in a freezer that you open on a regular basis, you need to use it within 3-4 months. When I got home from the hospital, I only had a few bottles of milk to freeze. As the weeks passed, I froze more and more, and I eventually had a jumbled mess of bags and bottles of frozen milk in the bottom of the freezer. Whenever I would go to thaw a bottle or bag of milk to feed Gwen, I would dig through a large bin trying to find the oldest milk. I would usually get pretty close to the oldest bottle. But when Gwen was 3 months old I found a bottle of colostrum that she got as a special, tasty treat for dinner one night that I had somehow overlooked for over a month. The bright yellow color should have been a giveaway, but since I was constantly digging through bottles and bags, one bottle managed to slip through the cracks.
During this same time, I was babysitting a friend's baby. My friend had gone back to work and had a much bigger stash of milk to keep track of. One day, she brought what she called a "pancake" of milk to put in my freezer in case I used up all of the fresh milk she had brought for the day. The pancake was brilliant! First, you could thaw it in about 1-2 minutes in a bowl of hot water. Second, each pancake was exactly 2 ounces, so if baby is just a little hungry, just thaw one! Third, by freezing milk into flat discs, you can stack them in an orderly fashion and can clearly see how much milk you have and how old it is.
In order to freeze milk into "pancakes," you just take a breastmilk storage bag and pour 2 ounces of milk into it. Then you lay it flat so the milk spreads out as thin as possible. This allows for quick freezing, quick thawing, and easy stacking. I had been using a mixture of 2.8 ounce Medela bottles and 5 ounce Medela milk storage bags. While I initially liked the reusability of the bottles, they did not stack well. They did not thaw well. And if I froze them when they were too full, they would crack from the expanding milk, and then leak the milk upon thawing. The problem with the bags is that if you freeze 5 ounces of milk in them, they get really wide at the base and skinny at the top, resembling triangles. How the heck are you supposed to stack tons of triangles? Also, even though Gwen is 7 months old, she still doesn't eat 5 ounces at most meals. I was trying to fit as much milk as possible into the bags because I was being cheap and I didn't want to only put 2 ounces of milk into a $0.40 bag when 5 ounces would fit. After seeing the pancake trick, I realized that breastmilk is worth its weight in gold, and if my original system of freezing milk into 5 ounce bags was going to cause me to lose milk until it was no longer good, then I needed a new system.
Here is what I do:
First, I measure the milk into a 2.8 ounce medela bottle. You can pour straight from a wider bottle, but as a good little chemist, I remember that the most accurate measuring tool is the smallest, skinniest bottle that will do the job. I pour in 2 and 1/8 ounces. Why the extra 1/8th? You will lose some milk on the side of the bag and will end up with less than a 2 ounce portion if you only pour in 2 ounces. This is just me being particular. Do I really think Gwen will notice if she only gets 1 and 7/8 ounces of milk instead of 2? No. But I do like to end up with 2 ounces in the final bottle that I feed to her, thus my extra 1/8.
Next step: pour it into the bag. Don't spill. As I saw in a comic recently, those who say don't cry over spilled milk never pumped.
Make sure you label your bags! You don't want to put milk in the freezer only to discover that you don't know how old it is and that you have to throw it away! You may notice that I labeled these with the date and the number of ounces in the bag. Why would I label it when I put 2 ounces in each bag? Sometimes I have an extra half ounce or so because I don't pump exactly 2 ounces every time. Some of my bags have 1.5 ounces, others 2.5 ounces. I just aim to do 2 ounce bags.
Next I stack my bags for freezing. Make sure they are flat so they freeze into nice little pancakes.
After freezing flat, I stand the bags upright in a new bin in date order. I used to use Medela bags. When I did that I could fit 24 bags, or 48 ounces, into a bin. I can fit some more with the Lasinoh bags, but haven't completely filled a bin with them yet, so I don't know how much a bin holds. So far, 50 ounces with room to spare. This way I can just count my bins and I know how much milk I have.
Notice 2 types of bags? I used to use Medela. But last time I went to the store, they didn't have Medela, and I really needed the bags right then, so I bought Lasinoh. I will never buy medela again. The medela bags were over $20 for 50. The Lasinoh are $9 for 60. I can fit more Lasinoh bags into a bin. They are much easier to seal the double zipper, and don't leak as much. Also, you see that hole in the top of the medela bag (surrounded by yellow)? That is so you can hook the bag straight to your pump (a reason I originally got the medela bags). It's poorly designed though. If you don't hold really still while pumping, you will spill milk out of the top of the bag since it is wide open. Plus, when you pour milk into the bag or from the bag, if you pour too fast it comes out of the hole. Notice that the lasinoh bag does not have a hole. Also, the lasinoh bag has those cut-out areas on the side for easy pouring. Cheaper and more functional - I think we have a winner.
This is my freezer. The short, pink basket has my milk that is freezing into pancakes. The blue bins each have 48 ounces of milk in medela bags. The green bin has the lasinoh bags.
When I need milk now, I just go to the oldest bin, grab the bag in the front, and easily grab the oldest 2 ounces of milk in the freezer, and I don't have to sort through all 200 ounces. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.
I'm wondering what your system is for building up your stash? How often do you pump? How much do you get when you pump? I'm starting to work on building my stash and could use some pro advice!
ReplyDeleteMy strategy has changed several times. When Gwen was first born, she didn't nurse well so I brought home a hospital grade pump with me for the first week. The lactation consultants told me to pump each time after I fed her to make sure that my milk came in. I was able to store some doing that. Then I took a break from pumping until she was a month old because they suggest that you not pump for the first month unless you absolutely need to. After that, I called the LCs and they told me to pump 30 minutes after Gwen's first feeding of the morning. The reasoning was that she ate less often during the night, so I should have some extra milk in the morning to pump. They told me that if I pumped 30 minutes after her first feeding I should have enough milk in my breasts for her next feeding. Then I had a huge problem with overactive letdown. The LCs told me to pump each time before feeding her so she wouldn't choke when my milk let down. Then, she started sleeping longer at night. I would usually stay up for a couple of hours past when she went to bed and pump just before I went to bed. Now, I have to give her Zantac twice a day. I give it to her in an ounce of milk, so when I pump an ounce for her medicine I pump an extra ounce.
ReplyDeleteAs for how much I pump, it has been variable. When I had the overactive letdown, I once pumped 18 extra ounces in a day. Now that my letdown is normal, I generally try to pump 2 extra ounces a day (when I pump for her medicine) and maybe 2 more ounces before bed if I have any milk yet. For a while, I could pump a maximum of 6 ounces from each side if we fed her from bottles all day and my breasts were full. Now I have trouble pumping more than about 3 ounces at a time. I can feel more milk in there, but no more will come out. So it has been ever evolving. I just try to figure out when I have extra milk and take advantage of it. Also, Gwen eats solids 4 times a day now. I wasn't making enough milk for a while (stress and illness), so when I added more solid meals in to her day I made sure to keep up with the pumping so I now pump the milk that she has replaced with solids. Hope that helps!