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!

In order to have possible expressed feeds ready it's easier to make a regular express time or pattern. Because of supply and demand you will then make this "surplus" readily after a few days. So you freeze it, it might not get used. I used to donate, expressing probably an extra two feeds every day.

apparently woman have a larger supply of breast milk at 2am in the morning - this was pre historically to keep babies quiet at night for safety. So using a hacker might produce much more milk at this time for freezing

@Mrsjayy pumping takes a lot more time that breastfeeding, it’s definitely not an option for women short on time. To keep up your supply you have to pump every three hours, day and night and then after that minimum of four times a day. Each pumping session can take about 20-30 minutes to empty. You can’t really move or hold your baby during this. Then you have to sterilise, make bottles etc… and feed the baby.

Some mums can lose their supply overnight- meds, illness , emergencies so often a back up while they are re establishing.

But mostly so they can carry on when go back to work.

Agree. I breastfed two and pumped for the third and omg pumping was hard work in comparison. I wouldn’t recommend pumping over formula. (Only reason I did it was because I had a baby in NICU so I couldn’t do much else for him so pumping felt like the only useful thing I could do ☹️)

Because you may

Because you may have a greater supply that you need at some points but as baby bigger and you get busier supply can get less and actually that stockpile goes very quickly.

Personally I had a large supply as my daughter was tube fed and took far less than I produced. I couldn't store it all so donated to the milk bank. The milk bank is another could reason for building up a supply.

Sometimes baby might not take from boob for various reasons - cranial osteopathy at birth which goes unnoticed/tongue tie etc. So mum may want to give baby BM rather than formula so pumps. Baby could just simply prefer the bottle.

Handy for if mum goes back to work/goes out for the night and leaves baby with OH.

If baby misses a feed so mum may need to pump to avoid blockage/mastitis and rather than dump it (it can take forever to pump!) then stores it in freezer.

Might be at weaning stage and want to use some BM for breakfast/in sauces etc.

Why, when someone asks a question, is there always some superior person who comes along to ask, 'Why does it matter to you?' There are some really interesting answers here, about cultural factors, medical issues etc so I'm glad OP asked.

I found it useful to have some in case you or baby get separated due to illness/admission, work, exhaustion etc and can last six months so great for cooking, bathing and treating common skin or eye issues (baby) and nipple issues for mum.

Since baby turned 8 months whilst my boob supply continued to be plentiful, my pumping output has reduced massively so my stash has come into its own.

Yes seconding harvesting your colostrum! I had no idea until I spoke to a friend because my boobs were leaking during pregnancy and she kept referring to it as 'liquid gold' 😂 - not sure where you're based but the hospitals/midwife centres in my area hand out free packages with those little colostrum harvesting syringe type things.

I luckily didn't need to use it in ways that some others need (especially prem babies or if you're away from baby after the birth for whatever reason) as my baby was full term.

I did in fact use mine day 2 when my baby was cluster feeding (also had no idea about that!) and so was freaking that I had an under supply and gave baby the colostrum. It did allow me to sleep for a couple of hours as baby settled. But it's packed full of the best stuff for babe so if you can collect, definitely do! It can be a bit of a slog and getting into the groove of how to do it - I would do it on the sofa at night watching tele so didn't feel like too much effort. But also at the same time don't put pressure on yourself. Like I said - my boobs were actually leaking in the eve!

Its worth pointing out OP that pump output isn't a indicator of milk supply. For some women their boobs just don't respond to it and don't let go of the milk unless a baby is latched.

I have friends who's exclusive bf babies have multiple leg and arm rolls but with a pump would get less then 10ml in 30 mins. So when baby arrives if you do decide to pump then don't worry if your boobs don't release it.

Definitely agree with other PP about trying to harvest colustrum though made a huge difference for me second time around.

Oh yes absolutely! Neither of my boys would/could breastfeed at first, so I was so glad I'd saved loads of syringes full of colostrum and had them with me! I bought a big box of syringes on amazon or ebay (new obviously) and popped each one in the freezer once full. It was really hard at first but then I got the hang of it.

So when you feel well enough to go out on the lash again there’s no need to worry about baby being fed also some people go back to work soon, or want to wean baby onto the bottle and it’s wise to have a stash to help with that. Expressing is tedious and takes ages though I’d never had had the energy to spend my limited spare time pumping

I did this with my first thinking I should - ended up throwing so much away! Never pumped with my second!!

Another NICU baby here. I couldn't be with her as much as wanted due to ds and his SEN needs, so needed there to be loads at the hospital ready for her if I wasn't there. We also ended up buying a small freezer purely for milk - still known as "the milk freezer."

Sadly wasn't able to donate the excess due to distance of nearest milk bank- with two ch, one a prem baby on 24 hrs oxygen involving carting o2 cylinders everywhere, it was impossible to travel a 100 mile round trip for blood screening etc, and they wouldn't/couldn't do them at the local hospital. So litres ended up going down the drain.

For emergencies as well the other suggestions. When BFing I always meant to make a stash but never got round to it and then I ended up in hospital, needing surgery and had to put out a fb post asking if any of my friends could donate their breast milk.
Thankfully I had 3 people come forward and my DH was able to keep my DD going on that supply for a few days until I came home.

Haven't read the whole thread so apols if I am repeating things.
You don't necessarily "need" a huge stash. I bf for over a decade in total, working full time for most of that time and I never had more than half a dozen bags of milk in the freezer at any one time.
In fact I would advise against stockpiling a large amount until you are certain that baby will take it.One thing that can be an issue is high lipase levels. Breastmilk contains an enzyme called lipase which digests fat - the amount varies considerably from woman to woman. If your breastmilk contains a lot of lipase the fat starts to break down whilst it's stored. It's not "gone off" and is perfectly safe for baby to drink but it gives the milk a strange sour or soapy taste and smell and lots of babies reject it. It happens more often with frozen milk but some women, me included, find their milk is affected even after a night in the fridge. You can get round this by scalding your milk but it has to be done when the milk is fresh, you can't reverse the process after frozen milk is defrosted. So if you store a large quantity of milk and then discover you have this problem when it's thawed, you've wasted a lot of effort. It's not what I'd call common, but I do know of several Mums who ended up having to throw a lot of frozen milk out for this reason so it's definitely worth checking before you end up with a freezer full.
Useful article here on lipase effects plus other potential problems with stored breastmilk: www.llli.org/breastfeeding-info/milk-issues/

Surely yes!! Do you not know by now that men can fetishism absolutely everything. Especially when it's something they don't have the ability to do themselves and only women can do.

Thanks for all the advice! I feel so much more informed now, and am glad I asked what felt like a silly question beforehand 😊

I created a little stash so my partner could feed the baby occasionally and I could sleep. However I had that high lipase thing where the milk tasted awful so ended up binning it all, glad it wasn't much!

I created a little stash so my partner could feed the baby occasionally and I could sleep. However I had that high lipase thing where the milk tasted awful so ended up binning it all, glad it wasn't much!

^ so a top tip. Freeze then defrost a small amount to see if your baby likes it or refuses it. If you have high lipase milk (causing unpleasant smell/taste) you can scald it to deactivate the lipase, and when frozen and defrosted baby will enjoy the taste and smell as usual.