Huge breast milk stash - why?!

[Newusername5678]

I'm currently pregnant and planning on breastfeeding. I have what feels like a really silly question (hence the name change!) Why do some mum's (ones on social media for example) build up huge stashes of frozen breast milk? Like dozens of bags filling freezer drawers?

I get having a couple of extra ones around is probably handy, but why would you need dozens of them?

Thanks - too embarrassed to ask this in real life!

Probably they are exclusively pumping and simply produce more than they need. Or they have oversupply and pump it off for comfort. Or they are building a stash ahead of going back to work. Or they just feel better knowing they have plenty stored for "emergencies". Does it matter?

Or perhaps they feel strongly about donating, and are pumping for that purpose. Lots of reasons.

In case they have a very hungry baby and their supply doesn't match up, or in case they find breastfeeding too physically tough but want the baby to have the breast milk itself, or because they're going back to work soonish... Lots of potential reasons I think.

Side business selling it to dirty men

I had a premature baby and pumped way way way more than he ever needed. Had to buy an extra freezer in the end. I have a very good supply so even when he was fully breastfeeding (and gaining weight) I could easily pump another 600-700 ml of milk a day.

😱

I built a huge stash because i went back to work when baby was 5 months old and you need "back up" milk

It doesn't really matter, just wondered if it was something I was supposed to do, but had no idea why I would! Surely if you're supply is big enough to build up extra whilst feeding the baby then presumably you've not got a supply issue.

I guess the work thing makes sense, but some seem to do it as soon as they have the baby basically, and not when the baby is several months and they're going back to work?

😱 surely not?!

I had a stash like that when I was pumping but having to supplement breast milk with formula on the dietitian’s advice. I was pumping more than he needed as he was on half formula but didn’t want to pump less as my supply would drop. Once I gave up pumping I slowly wound down the stock.

If there's a local breast milk 'bank' some will do it for them if they have over supply.

So did you give the frozen milk to the nursery each day for them to feed your baby?

I did this with second DD but I was exclusively pumping and had awful oversupply ... it came in handy though as I stopped pumping at 6 months and made the transition to formula but was still able to offer DD breastmilk for a good while after I'd stopped pumping everyday so she was sort mixed fed for a while ... sometimes it's necessary and sometimes it just happens like in my case

Well, that's how you get a stash. Over time. And your supply gets established primarily in the first six weeks. There's also much more of a culture of pumping, especially exclusively pumping, in the US, where women are often going back to work within a few weeks or three months max. And having a lot stored means you can stop pumping weeks or months before the baby is one and still feed your baby breast milk.

Of course you don't have to do it, or how would humans have ever raised babies without freezers and dual electric pumps. You can EBF your baby without ever possessing a pump.

Yes, i was bringing both "freshly" pumped and frozen milk. Unfortunately i do not produce well with a pump so i had to built a stash to have enough

Unlikely. Very niche area. You can sell your blood, though, and breast milk is basically 'white blood', so why not.

My supply dried up quite quickly when it decided to, and none of the strategies/tips people suggested helped get it back. I had a bit of freezer milk but not much. I should have tried to save more of a stash!

It can take time to build up, so the sooner you start saving any extra, the longer you can continue to give breast milk when you do go back to work.

Sometimes you just have to feed/pump as well though, as it's too uncomfortable if you don't.

I've got a stash of about 10 packets 90-120ml currently in my freezer and my DS is 7m old. I found when he was between 3-5 months post partum I was easily able to pump an extra 100ml-120ml every other day which I did to create a stash of about 25 pouches. I find now I can't seem to pump as much. If we have a bottle feed now I pump to replace and that goes in the fridge to be used. I was worried about being poorly and being unable to feed my baby so tried to get a decent stash. I guess some people would pump and store a lot more than what I have

@Newusername5678 I just wanted to reassure you that some people can breastfeed and find pumping really hard (I was one) . I really couldn't get much (anything out) and found it uncomfy. So if you can pump then great, if not don't worry.

And if you can't breastfeed then that is fine too! DS1 was bottle fed,DD1 mixed fed till 1 and still on the boob at over 2 and I honestly sayno one asks or cares how they were fed 😀

I had a crazy amount of expressed breast milk when DS1 was in ICU. He was only allowed 2 ml down his tube an hour, and I was producing three litres a day. Expressing was one of the few things I could do for my baby, so I did it far too much. It all went down the sink because I was not allowed to donate it.

I had an oversupply for the first 3 months. I was able to store a litre a day! I stopped feeding at 6 months, but as PP, I used the milk to slowly transition to formula by messing around with ratios of BM to formula. As neither of my DCs initially liked the taste of formula on its own.

Having previously had a baby fed by exclusive pumping, pumping takes a huge amount of effort and it feels horrible to throw milk away when you worked so hard for it. I had way more supply than I needed though and ended up just sucking it up and binning a lot because the freezer was full.

As PP said, if they are in the US, there is more of an exclusive pumping community plus most go back to work at 3-4 months postpartum.

I donated to local NICUs so had 1-3 litres at any given time in the freezer.

I'd have loved to donate but unfortunately doing so is not straightforward.

I had to build a stash when my dc was born as she couldn't latch well, so was mainly bottle feeding expressed milk, so I just pumped more than she needed every day to ensure I didn't run out, and ended up with huge amounts! I understand alot of mums do it in prep for going back to work. It can be harder to pump as effectively once baby gets older, so I guess alot pump extra while the going is good!