Expressing and storing milk

[LuckyLisa]

Hi
I'm new to Mumsnet. I'm Lisa. I'm a bit confused about expressing and storing milk. On a good session I can express around 60 to 80 mls and on a bad session about 10 to 20mls. I am soon to put my daughter into nursery so I can go back to work so I need to express enough to keep her going as she feeds a lot. I know that once I express milk I have to refrigerate asap. I need to express quite a lot but can't get it all in one go (even in the mornings). My health visitor told me that I can express a few times during the day and keep adding to the milk in the fridge. Does anyone know if this is ok? Also do I have to freeze milk straight from expressing or can it go in the fridge first for me to add more milk during the day first.
THANKS!Lisa

[WigWamBam]

It's fine to keep adding to the milk in the fridge. You don't have to freeze it straight from expressing, you can collect throughout the day and then freeze it altogether.

That's what my bf counsellor recommended anyway, and dd is still here to tell the tale ...

[wilbur]

hi lisa, welcome to mumsnet. What I do when I am adding expresses together to make up one feed is refrigerate each express and then add the milk together once it's all at fridge temp - I worried about adding warm milk to cold (although I was never told that I shoudn't do that, just didn't like the thought of it). I seem to remember getting a factsheet from somewhere like la leche league that said that milk should be frozen within 24hrs of expressing, so you have some time for it to sit safely in the fridge until you have to freeze it. I'm off now to see if I can find that factsheet for you as it was v useful.

[snowgirl]

I did the same. Didn't seem right mixing warm and cold milk!
You can also mix freshly defrosted and fresh milk, I think.
When I had questions like this I rang the NCT helpline--quite helpful.

[wilbur]

Found it - v useful page on storing expressed milk here . Hope this helps.

[Kelly1978]

I followed the laleche guidelines. ebm is surprisingly hardy, so don't worry too much.

[LuckyLisa]

Hi everyone
Thanks so much for your advice, and thanks to Wilbur and Kelly1978 for the attachments.

Have a good weekend. Lisa

[mads1]

Hi Lisa
Just a quick tip - Let the EBM chill in the fridge for a bit before you freeze. I use to put it straight into the freezer and this made all my milk go off - all 30 oz of it!!!!

[alux]

apparently if ebm is cooled rapidly something calls saponificaion happens - it tastes like soap but it is still perfectly drinkable.

[MissChief]

must share my exciting find - have just now discovered lansinoh freezer bags - so SO much easier than faffing around with the Avent/Boots ones with tags, ties etc! can't believe didn't discover when was expressing f/t for ds1 - the hrs of my life I could have saved!
The lansinoh ones have double-seal as part of bag, so much easier -only thing I hate is
that they're emblazoned with slogan "my mommy's milk"...urrgh...

[alux]

LL I express at work. the best advice I can give is to get a good pump and don't stress out about it. there is an 'expressing clique' here if you want to read and/or join.
here

[LuckyLisa]

Alux

I'll check out the 'expressing clique'. Thanks. LL