What do you do if a sudden illness or necessary absence prevents you from breastfeeding? Do you stop nursing altogether and put your baby on formula? There may be other options. In the last post, I started talking about establishing and stocking a milk bank. Now I’ll continue on this topic.
Let us talk about what to put that milk into. You can use either the breastmilk bottles or the breastmilk bags. Bottles are certainly more convenient, but they do have their downside. The bottles are more expensive to purchase, and may will take up more room in your freezer.
When you first freeze the milk in bags, you will first need to freeze them upright to ensure that the milk won’t spill out. You may have an accident here or there, but don’t get discouraged. After the milk is frozen solid, you can lay the packets down on their sides for easier stacking.
We had an upright freezer, and I found it easiest to stand the milk bags up inside a plastic shoebox. You can get these anywhere, even at craft stores. It contained the milk bags and kept them upright, so I could move them around the freezer as a whole if I wanted to rearrange things.
Freeze your milk in amounts that you baby can use at one feeding, usually three to four ounces, although this will depend upon your baby’s age. Label everything carefully, including the date. breastmilk can last quite a while in the freezer, but you want to be able to rotate your stock or replace old milk with new as your baby grows. Even if you wind up having to toss some or even all of the milk, think of it as an insurance policy.
How much milk should you bank. Well, that is really up to you, your freezer space and your risk factors for needing the milk in the future. If you know that you will have surgery or an ongoing medication coming up, for example, you’ll want to bank as much as you can. With nothing on the horizon, I suggest that you have at least a few days worth of milk in your bank.
You can read more blog posts by Mary Ann Romans here!
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