Question about storage/combining frozen pumped milk

[bleuelephante]

Questions about pumped milk. I've been pumping 1 or 2 ozs a day. Then I put it in the fridge to get cold, then xfr to a breastmilk bag for the freezer. If I pump again the next day, can I add this to the same freezer bag? I'm afraid that opening the freezer bag might rip it, since it is frozen solid by the next day. Also, does adding the cold milk (I'll put it in the fridge first) to the frozen milk shock it in some way? I was thinking it was better to gradually freeze it, that's why I put it in the fridge first, then xfr to freezer bag.

I was thinking I could just keep a freezer bag in the fridge and adds my 1 or 2 ozs per day, then when I have 4 ozs, transfer to the freezer, but then the breast milk could be up to 4 days old before freezing, is this bad? I don't want to waste freezer bags and only put 1 oz per bag, but also don't want to rip/damage bag by trying to open frozen solid to add more milk.

[TenzinsMama]

I believe you can buy trays that are specifically meant to hold small amounts of breast milk-- like ice cube trays almost... I didn't look too closely at them when I was at the store where I saw them, so I don't know how they work exactly.  But it seems to me that it would be easier/more economical to use them instead of the bags.  I wish I knew what the product name was... maybe somebody on here can say?

[JudiAU]

You are supposed to mix hot and warm bm but with qualities in question, I would. Assuming you are freezing in bottle size portions of say, 4 oz, then you are probably just mixing two small amounts. I would refrigerate until you have the right amount and then place into a freezer bag. I would not try and reopen a freezer bag.

[Quinalla]

I kind of liked having a variety of oz amounts in my frozen stash for when the 4oz bottle just wasn't quite enough, but you don't want to waste 3oz to give them one more oz. I would say maybe put 2-3 days worth into each bag and then freeze, then you should have 2-4oz bags which won't waste as many bags, but will still give you some flexibility. And definitely don't try to open a freezer bag that is frozen! And you can put fresh pumped milk directly in the freezer, just don't put it right next to your other milk until it is frozen as it will locally warm up whatever is right next to it.