Storing Breast milk

[nicoolmama]

Hi mamas!

I exclusively bf my 3 1/2 month old son, Theo. I am a stay at home mom but also am on-call at an assisted living facility. I have to work 1-2 four hour shifts a month to keep my on-call status. I would just quit except I have five years of working for this company and I would like to keep my foot in the door, especially when it comes time to apply to nursing school. Plus, I need to start having an hour away from the baby,once a week or so, for my mental sanity.

SO, I am starting to pump every night about 30 minutes after my son goes down for the night. He usually sleeps for a long stretch of 2-4 hours so I wait 30 minutes and pump. I am getting about 5-6 ounces total and now need to start storing this. If I could do this every night, I could REALLY get some stores up.

What is the best way to store the breast milk? Are the plastic bags I have seen safe? (I am trying to get away from keeping stuff in plastic.) We don't have a huge freezer but it will hold some quantity. Once I refrigerate the breast milk, how long is it good in the fridge? What about the freezer? Can I switch it from the fridge to the freezer and when do I need to do this so it doesn't go bad? Any other advice you have would help. I breastfed my 2nd son but never had extra to store so this is my first go round at having some stores.

Thanks!!!

Nicole
Mama to 3 crazy boys(5, 19 months, 3 months), 1 feisty SD(8), and 1 hilarious SS(4) and partner to My Love- Matty!

[bender]

Originally Posted by nicoolmama

Hi mamas!

What is the best way to store the breast milk?
Are the plastic bags I have seen safe?
Once I refrigerate the breast milk, how long is it good in the fridge?
What about the freezer? Can I switch it from the fridge to the freezer and when do I need to do this so it doesn't go bad?

To save space, I'd recommend using the bags. Thaw in a cup in case he bag breaks.
Keep milk for freezing no more than 24hs in the fridge. Once thawed, use the milk over a couple feedings or toss it.
Freeze in 2-3oz bags so you don't waste any.

[CheriK]

Hi Nicole,

I hear you about a little break every week. I also work part-time (about 10 hours a week) and call it my "paid vacation". Also need to keep my foot in the door, plus we get cheaper veterinary care for our too-many animals this way.

Here are the LLLI (recently updated w/ current research) guidelines:
http://www.llli.org/FAQ/milkstorage.html

I've been trying to avoid plastic myself and have been using baby food jars for milk storage. They're great - I get them free off of Freecycle, and they hold between 2-4 oz, which is the perfect amount. Only challenge is that the lids don't always seal tightly (so be careful when transporting and if defrosting in a dish of water). From what I've read (perusing research papers off Google scholar, the LLLI website, and kellymom.com), plastic is better for storing in the fridge but glass is better in the freezer. Rigid plastic is less porous and "sticky" than the bags, but the bags are supposed to be safe. It does depend somewhat on what component of the milk you're worried about, too, but for occasional use it's probably not a huge issue.

As far as going from fridge to freezer, there's not really good research on it. 8 days in the fridge, and up to a year in the freezer (depending on WHERE in the freezer - near the door has a more variable temp, the type of freezer - a stand-alone or chest freezer stays colder, and how often the freezer is opened) are "maximum" guidelines. But if the milk is in the fridge for 3 days, and then goes into the freezer, no one's really looked at these situations. One guideline I read was that you consider it in terms of storage life - so if it's in the fridge for 4 days, it's used up half its storage life, and can be in the freezer for 6 months. Personally, keeping track of this would be WAY too much work and detail - I find it easier to just store it all in the freezer.

I also read that, unless you're going to use it within a day or two, freezing is actually better than fridge. I used to keep the milk I pumped in the fridge for my next workday (usually 3-4 days apart), but since reading this and after wasting milk more than once when she didn't drink what I left, I started freezing it immediately after getting home. Works for us.

[SnglAPmama]

Hi, Nicole! 3 boys! Wow, things must be interesting at your house :-) I would like to share my experience with you, I also found the guidelines for storing breastmilk. I exclusively breastfed my daughter and I went back to work when she was 3 months old. I tried a few different storage methods and I found the Lansinoh storage bags to be fantastic! They are BPA free, they have a double zipper (I believe there was never a leak) and I used the drop-in bottles, so the breastmilk stayed in the storage bag, which fits right into the bottle, which meant there was less chance of spilling and less bottle washing to do. As far as storage goes, these are the guidelines according to Lansinoh: at room temperature: 10 hours in a refrigerator: 8 days
in a freezer compartment inside a refrigerator : 2 weeks In a freezer compartment with a seperate door: 3-4 months In a seperate deep freeze 6 months or longer.

I usually stored the breastmilk in the refrigerator if I knew she would drink it within 8 days because frozen breastmilk loses some of it's beneficial properties (not enough to really worry about, but fresher is better). I hope this information is helpful, good luck and enjoy your baby!

Ruth
Single mama to DD 01/07 love to when I have time