Storing pumped milk

[megaroo64]

I have an oversupply with N; every day I have to pump before she gets up in the morning. This has been going on for awhile so I have developed quite the stash- I have a little more than 500 oz in my freezer right now and that number is growing by 10 oz everyday (even the days I work, I pump about 10 more ounces than she takes at the babysitter).

Anyway, I'm starting to run out of room in my freezer! I currently have it stored in gift bags so I could make pretty high stacks- but even with that method, I'm taking up an entire shelf and a half. Any thoughts??

[LaBellaVida]

Are you using any of the stored milk?
Would you consider selling/donating any?
Is buying a deep freezer an option?

[musicalsilver]

Not much you can do about it unless you want to buy a dedicated deep freezer ;-)

DH was so happy when I finally went through all my freezer milk and we had room in the freezer again!

Thinking for the future: just be sure to rotate your frozen milk so it doesn't get older than ~6 months. I had a huge glut from right when I went back to work, and had to scramble about 5 months later to use it all up (wound up sending one frozen bottle a day).

[kames12]

I would add some of my frozen milk to the rotation of fresh milk. I also bought an additional little freezer and donated.

If you decide to go the donated route, it took about a month to get cleared by the milk bank before they would take any of my frozen stash

[hellooldfriend]

What kind of bags are you using? The Lansinoh bags lay very nice and flat. I organized mine just the way you are describing and then in a bigger box in a deep freezer.

[momofcatan]

I think your only options are buy a freezer or donate.

Definitely try using some of it now, also to make sure there isn't a taste difference that could cause a problem. I think some ladies put Friday's milk in the freezer and used the oldest freezer milk on Mondays as an easy way to continually rotate through it.

[islandgirl14]

All of these ladies have really good suggestions, and are exactly what I would have said. Side note... way to go for having so much extra! That's awesome! I was fortunate enough to have an over-stash as well, and we ended up buying a stand alone deep freezer. It was an investment, but well worth it to be able to store the milk. Plus I knew we'd wind up using it down the road anyways as we often buy frozen meat in bulk.

If you don't think you'll use it all, you can certainly look into donating it like other's mentioned. Also yes, rotating some of the older frozen milk into your fresh stash just to keep using it!

[momofcatan]

Feb 2, 2015 11:53:21 GMT -5 islandgirl14 said:

All of these ladies have really good suggestions, and are exactly what I would have said. Side note... way to go for having so much extra! That's awesome! I was fortunate enough to have an over-stash as well, and we ended up buying a stand alone deep freezer. It was an investment, but well worth it to be able to store the milk. Plus I knew we'd wind up using it down the road anyways as we often buy frozen meat in bulk.

If you don't think you'll use it all, you can certainly look into donating it like other's mentioned. Also yes, rotating some of the older frozen milk into your fresh stash just to keep using it!

I will say I LOVE my stand alone freezer in the basement. I make soups in bulk, and stock up on meat when its on sale. I love not needing to worry about freezer space.

[megaroo64]

I have been telling my H that we probably should just invest in another freezer- even when this milk situation has resolved itself, we would still use it. I hadnt even thought about donating - off to Google to see what is available around me.

And we do rotate it around. I have the dates of the oldest small bag in each larger bag printed on the outside, and the oldest goes to the babysitter first. She rarely gets milk that I just pumped - that goes almost directly to the freezer and she gets thawed milk when she does take a bottle.

Thanks so much ladies!!

[hellooldfriend]

Feb 2, 2015 13:21:42 GMT -5 megaroo64 said:

I have been telling my H that we probably should just invest in another freezer- even when this milk situation has resolved itself, we would still use it. I hadnt even thought about donating - off to Google to see what is available around me.

And we do rotate it around. I have the dates of the oldest small bag in each larger bag printed on the outside, and the oldest goes to the babysitter first. She rarely gets milk that I just pumped - that goes almost directly to the freezer and she gets thawed milk when she does take a bottle.

Thanks so much ladies!!

I did human milk for human babies. It is a facebook page and you hook up on your own like a swap site.

[megaroo64]

Feb 2, 2015 20:43:03 GMT -5 violet said:

We ended up with a deep freezer. It was surprisingly inexpensive and gets tons of great use now. My favorite bags were the Up and Up brand - they never leaked.

I like Up and UP brand too - They freeze pretty flat and I have never had a leak with those.  The Lansinoh ones have leaked for me before (and that was with B, when I didn't have an oversupply and I cried). 

[workinit]

Another vote for a deep freezer! We have a pretty big one and it's quite full! The milk lasts longer in it too!

[vasc]

I also used Human Milk 4 Human Babies to find a recipient....and then nine months later to find a donor, as my supply tanked and I couldn't keep up! We didn't have space for a deep freezer, otherwise I would have gone that route.

[PSNLS]

I stored some of my milk in my parent's chest freezer. Maybe you have family or friends who have spare freezer space?