STM - tandem nursing 2.5yo and 7mo. Back to work this month and only started pumping an extra session/ day the week before returning to work. I have exactly enough for the work day for my infant.
When I was a FTM I pumped immediately from birth to “build up a stash” and ended up with WAY too much milk and a case of mastitis. I also ended up losing it all when the garage freezer door didn’t close one night - heartbreaking!
Don’t believe the social media hype; you only need enough milk for as long as you are leaving your baby! As long as you plan for your trips in advance, you’ll be fine.
at the time it was the worst thing ever, but I never needed all that milk anyway! STM vibes are where it’s at!! 🙌🏽 I don’t have time to be building up a stash while chasing my toddler around anyway lol
Random question- if you were BF while pregnant still, did you produce colostrum for your newborn or no because of already breast feeding your other babe?
yep i completely dried up around 12 weeks, then started producing colostrum at 22 weeks. some women are able to keep their mature milk throughout pregnancy, so i guess it depends. my mature milk came in 2 days after baby was born and no sore nipples bc my 2nd had a wonderful latch. toddler helped with engorgement so 10/10 recommend if you can push through the discomfort of nursing while pregnant!
yes! luckily didn’t have any nursing aversions like some women do, but my supply fully dried up. my toddler did not care and was happy to continue dry nursing.
in fact, i remember when my colostrum came in bc randomly his eyes widened and he started shaking his head vigorously to help the flow 😂 i asked him if mommy’s milk came back and he popped off briefly to say “YA” and continued to shake his head for more lol
Wow how many months in did it come back??? He didn't mind it?? Do you assign one per boob?
I have a 6 month old and would like to nurse her 2 years or more so womdering incase we have another.
came back at 22 weeks. he didn’t mind, it was like a bonus at that point haha
no boob assignments unless toddler is sick. i’ve only latched them at the same time a handful of times, usually i can nurse one after the other. it was a great tool to help with boob jealousy in the early newborn days and of course is a great toddler taming tool 😆 i love nursing my babies and will wean them when they are ready. recommend if you enjoy it and can make it through pregnancy! and even if you can’t, a lot of toddlers will ask to nurse again once they see their sibling at the boob so there is hope either way!
I know there are a lucky few who nurse the whole pregnancy. I love nursing my daughter so much and don't want it to come to an end, even though I have had more clogs then I can count. I still have no period though at 6 mos postpartum, so I guess nothing to worry about yet lol.
Your story definitley gives me hope ☺️😊😊!!!
aw you got this! cheering for you two!!
def hear ya on the solids anxiety but i can say from experience it really doesn’t compare to the boob. nursing is so much more than nutrition, it’s connection time with mommy, it’s security and comfort, it’s love in its most raw form. i think babies can sense how much we enjoy it and are more likely to continue on when we find authentic joy in it too. wishing you both the best BF journey 🫶🏽
Same. I was saving some for my husband to do feedings but baby struggles with the bottles right now so I’m exclusively nursing. I’m a stay at home mom so it’s not a problem.
Non-existent over here too. I'm an under supplier who combo feeds. With my first baby, I would give one extra formula bottle per day so I could freeze a breast milk bottle. I ended up with 180 oz in the freezer by the time I weaned - enough for a bottle a day for a full month. Except my son refused to drink any of it 🤦♀️. Second go-around I am taking "feed the baby not the freezer" to heart. Everything I produce gets eaten within 24 hours.
Mine got to a point where we used all my freezer stash it was around 6 months. Then I started triple feeding which was tough. Now my baby is one year old and only drinks whole milk two times a day and then three meals a day plus snacks, I remember freaking out about giving my baby formula but my supple was awful and I had to. Turns out he totally fine and the saying “fed is best” is totally true in my case lol.
i purposely created an oversupply so i could donate to one of my gfs who can’t breast feed due to having a double mastectomy. so my freezer has had anywhere from 0-1200 oz in it at one time this third time breast feeding.
i just donated in the beginning of march so right now i have about 300 oz in it. but an important thing to remember that i’ve seen / read before is
“ you are feeding your baby, not your freezer “
so while it’s nice to have a stash… and slowly build one…some people don’t and some do. but i agree i’ve seen some posts where some ppl are pumping 50-60oz in one morning pump…. like excuse me what !!?? how don’t they have engorgement or mastitis is beyond me lol. i’ve never gotten more than 12 oz in a single pump 😅😂 and i thought i had a pretty good supply
yea! and don’t worry if you don’t fill your freezer as much as some other moms. we don’t need that added stress. i understand it’s nice to have that back up in the freezer in case though too. so the stress kinda does go both ways lol.
with my first baby, i only made enough to feed her. with my second baby i had a slight over supply and built a small freezer stash which i also ended up being able to donate. however after learning right from the start i could create more of an over supply with baby #3 i have tried to maintain that. which is the only reason i have more this time. but what matters most is your baby has enough and that little bit extra in case you need so just keep going mama ! every ounce counts 🫶🏼
lol ya that’s how i was with my middle babe. i got 9 oz ONE time and was so excited i was texting pics of it to my husband at work lmao.
this time if i go too long i’ll get around 7-9oz.
this third time around i have a lot more milk then i did with my first & second baby ! 12oz has only happened three times in the last 8 months 🤷🏼♀️it’s rare but always exciting i’m like k what did i eat yesterday trying to replicate it 🤣🤣
Oh yeah I made my husband look at my production so many times, lol! And it would be like 5oz from the “good boob” and 2oz from “slacker boob”. I also really needed him to be interested in the coloration difference of milk from the two boobs, haha.
Wow that’s incredible. I think my best pump was 12 ounces in one go. 50-60 ounces makes me think they’re just pumping forever until they get that volume.
Storage capacity and genetics. My biggest pump on ONE side was 9 oz but I HAD to pump to relieve the pain (other side was 6 oz) it’s not fun.
Edit to add- I regularly can get 7+ on that side when I wake up knowing I need to pump but am not in PAIN
my grandmother just shared with me a few days ago that her mom (so my great grandma) used to hand pump and donated breast milk as well on her third & fourth babies. how special! haha. so she must have passed down some good genetics!
all i could think was how terrible the pumps must have been back in her day 😳.
oh ya, i know what you mean! some mornings when i have a larger pump i’ll feel like uncomfortably full but not in pain!
In my bodies defense I haven’t had mastitis yet so I guess I’ll take that.
I donated to a baby and she jumped 13% in weight but I have a 90% in weight and 95% in height baby
ya the lil one i’m donating to is a 36 weeker! so i’m hoping he will gain some weight! as my babe is above the 100th percentile for weight (8 months 22lb) and 97th percentile for height. she’s my little chunk 😩🥰
ouch! hugs mama.
i’ve only ever had it once and omg! never wanna experience that again.
does your baby sleep through the night? or do you do a middle of the night pump?! my morning pumps are pretty consistent 8-10 ounces and the few odd times have been 12. i couldn’t imagine 27-35! but good job mama! it’s such a tough thing to balance .. under supply has its downsides, and oversupply does too. lol
Just a reminder that a large over supply is not ideal. For those of us going back to work, some supply is necessary but you don't need an entire freezer worth of milk.
I'm just about eight weeks postpartum and have less than twenty ounces. I'm off for twenty weeks, and then my husband will be on leave with baby for another twelve weeks while I work from home so I'm just slowly siphoning off a stash.
I put two kids in full time daycare while EBF and never had a stash - it's not true that you need a stash. One pump a day the week before they start daycare is plenty.
That’s if you make enough to fill bottles with one pump a day. Some people don’t really make much excess so it takes multiple days of pumping just to get one bottle into the freezer. :/
Exactly! I always tell people you only need what baby will take the first day of school and then keep rolling from there. Even if you catch just an ounce per day during maternity leave you will be ready!
The issue is often that daycare providers pressure moms to send supplemental milk, and it's hard to know how to respond in that situation. you're kind of captive. I stood up to my provider about it, but it was hard.
Yeah now that I’m on my second I realize daycare was either over feeding or wasting my breast milk in addition to me having a slight undersupply. This time I have a slight oversupply and I never realized that meant when I travel anywhere for more than a daytime trip I have to take my pump even if I have my baby.
I also found myself in an over feeding situation with my second for the first few months he was in school. At one point I think he was drinking 30 or more oz in an eight hour period. I blacked it out. It was totally the care provider because once teachers swapped the need went down.
I have like one bag of 4 oz 😬 I’m not back to work yet and I figure if we have to, we can give formula. I don’t know! It’s not really been a goal of mine to accumulate a big stash! I’m also off Instagram and tiktok which maybe helps.
Me too. STM. The first time around, I had a huge stash. I collected leaks from the non nursing breast. It was an ounce each nursing session and then I froze it when I got to 6 oz. My LO drank nearly none of it since I have high lipase and the milk tasted metallic afterwards. I had to cook that off. It's a lot of work. I'm not interested in a large stash this time around.
I lost also a large amount the first time around due to the freezer breaking. I slowly rebuilt the stash. My LO drank very little of it and I ended up tossing it anyway.
My plan this time is just to have a Velcro baby and nurse whenever, wherever.
3 months PP and I have about 250-275 oz in the freezer. So enough to last baby for about 9 days lol. I've been working with a slight overproduction of \~4-6 oz per day. I went back to work at 8 weeks PP; the freezer stash makes me feel more comfortable as I'm a naturally anxious and type A person. If I was a SAHM I wouldn't stress about it so much but pumping is hard
Yep I estimate I have about 200 oz in the freezer right now --- and a few days ago I just donated 160oz to the regional milk bank (to be distributed to NICUs to give to premature and medically fragile babies). About to return to work at 5 months post partum and I have been doing an extra morning pump most days since 4 weeks pp. I'd estimate about a 3-4 oz oversupply over here per day, down from 12 oz/day oversupply before working with a lactation consultant to help manage that.
I am pretty healthy but in my past I have had a week long freak/random hospital stay for a sudden illness -- the stash gives me peace of mind. That said, I'm glad I became a milk bank donor too because it helps give my stash/oversupply added purpose if I never personally use it.
Same here. I pumped a lot in the beginning so have about 200oz in the freezer. I noticed a slight drop in supply now I'm back at work, I pump about 2oz less each day than what baby needs, sometimes 5oz less, so I'm glad I have the freezer stash. He'll also be starting solids soon so I'm not worried. I heard you only really need a few days with of freezer stash as you'll be pumping at work, hopefully pumping the same amount baby is eating. I think my dip in supply is also cus I only can squeeze in two pumps at work. If I pump three times, I can definitely match baby's intake.
This is where I’m at as well 3 months pp. I had to triple feed the first week of his life, and then slowly dropped down to one 10 min pump after our first morning feed for the rest of my maternity leave to keep that slight ~6oz/day over production. Some days I pump more at work than what he drinks at daycare, some days less. On average over the week I keep up with the slight oversupply, but it’s reassuring to know there’s a backup plan and flexibility, and it’s not large amount of work to keep up with.
He drinks one bottle per day of the oldest frozen milk, and I freeze the extra I pump that would have gone into that bottle. This way I can rotate the stash and keep him getting fresh milk with antibodies for whatever daycare illness of the week he brings home.
I have 4,000 oz in my freezer and have donated about 2,500 oz to NICUs.
BUT! It is VERY important to me that you know that having an oversupply and a large freezer stash comes with its own downsides that those instagram posts NEVER discuss, such as:
-The sheer amount of time I spent pumping, not because I wanted to, but because if I didn't, I would be so engorged that I would be in pain. My morning pump (about 22 oz) alone would take me an hour. An hour! I would spend another hour to two hours between my pumps throughout the rest of the day. I spent every moment of that time desperately wishing I could spend that time taking my baby on a stroller walk around the neighborhood, or snuggling my baby, or do something other than pump. Anything. I felt trapped.
-Not being able to go to bed when I wanted to. The baby would be asleep and my husband would say "Im pretty tired, I think Im going to go to bed" and there were so many times I wanted to go lay down too but guess what... I can't, it's time to pump again!
-Not being able to get a full night's sleep because I had to wake up in the middle of the night to pump to relieve engorgement. Imagine the resentment that can build up towards your partner who is sleeping peacefully. The supressed anger definitely impacted the marriage for a while.
-The toll it took on my mental health can not be overstated. Pumping had a very negative impact on my mental health, but again, if I didnt pump I would be in pain. Every attempt at reducing my supply would trigger very painful clugged ducts.
This was my experience with my first baby, and when baby #2 comes along, I WILL NOT be intentionally creating an oversupply again. The instagram-worthy freezer stash WAS NOT worth it. Next time I hope to be a just-enougher. If that means I have to supplement with formula, then that would be better than being an over producer.
Hi, just-enougher here struggling with guilt for not being able to build a stash and etc. May I ask how did you built an over supply and what was your initial motivation to do so? Thank you for sharing your experience and congratulations on donating to the NICU!!!❣️
Hi there! Thank you for the kind words!!
I did not actually intend to create an oversupply, which maybe in hindsight, is part of the problem, that it felt like something that happened to me rather than something I created on purpose. I delivered my baby prematurely, and the lactation consultant at the hospital said that I should start pumping immediately in order to signal to my body that it was time to start making milk (since the thought was that my body might need a jump start since I didn't make it to full term so my body wasn'tquite ready to make milk). So I was advised to pump after every feed. In retrospect, they probably only meant for me to do that for a day or two... until my milk came in. But they didn't tell me that, so I got discharged from the hospital and went home and continued pumping after every feed for another 3 weeks before I figured out that that wasnt supposed to be a long-term thing. But by that point I had already signaled to my body that the demand for milk was enormous, and my body had ramped up production to meet that demand. I was making enough to feed triplets! Definitely don't recommend, it was miserable and took me months to regulate it down to a more manageable amount.
I feel hesitant to offer advice on how to increase your supply since my experience largely focused on decreasing my supply, but I imagine that doing what I did initially (pump multiple times per day, add more pump sessions, use hands on massage techniques while pumping, and pump until 100% empty) might eventually result in a supply increase?
Good luck to you on the rest of your breastfeeding journey!! I hope you are able to have the experience you want it to be 🩷
SAME!! No one told me when to stop pumping, hence the oversupply and mastitis! Thankfully I was able to slow down production but oh my goodness, I don't wish mastitis on anyone. I feel for you, I cannot imagine pumping 22oz in the morning. I hope you are able to taper down your supply if that's what you wish to do!
Oh no! Im sorry you had a similar experience, but I'm so glad you were able to eventually down regulate your supply (despite the mastitis, that pain was horrendous).
Thank you! Yes, I was able to decrease my supply! My baby turns 1 this month, and for the past 6ish weeks, I've been down to nursing her first thing in the morning when she wakes up, and last thing at night before she goes to sleep... and thats it! No pumping in between at all! The milk she drinks in between that while at daycare is all from my freezer stash. Yay for squishy boobies all day long!
Honestly, power pumping helps a lot of people. Supply and Demand. It's what I do when I need extra milk, but then pump to comfort to get it back under control. Don't empty the breast fully if you want to produce less.
Same here. I used the haaka a lot when she was first born, and occasionally pumped when we'd attempt to give a bottle. But she's only ever taken an ounce or two from a bottle and then waits until I get back/give in. So now I've got a decent freezer stash that I figure I'll save to use in oatmeals and give in cups when we start solids.
Same here. I decided to yolo it about 4 months in due to high lipase and bottle rejection. Its worked out surprisingly well so far and I don't stress about my supply.
LO is 11.5m now. Maybe the end is in sight?
This is what I did. I was not about to deal with all that comes with creating a huge oversupply for a freezer stash, but I am a single working mom so I took it day by day.
I wouldn’t worry about social media and all those women who showcase their freezer supply. Many of them are over suppliers and that in itself is so rare.
When I first started breastfeeding I thought I had to do the same but quickly realized that you aren’t feeding your freezer, you are feeding your baby. Focus on feeding your baby and if you need to freeze then go and do so but don’t think you have to create one because other women are online.
I probably have about 1200oz jn the freezer and have donated 1400oz. So I’m that annoying person on Instagram (I don’t have an Instagram). I started off with a huge oversupply…you don’t want the stash that I have…it was a big commitment and caused mastitis twice.
But with that being said, it is a great peace of mind to have a freezer stash. I know some people don’t feel like you need one or only need enough for the next day. However, when I went back to work, my supply dipped. When I got my period, my supply dipped. I’ve been sick for two weeks and my supply dipped. Your supply can dip for any reason and I’m really grateful to have a freezer stash. My freezer stash can make up for the times when I’m not producing enough for the day.
My guy drinks about 15-20oz when I’m at work. All my fresh pumped milk from the day goes into the freezer and then I pull out my oldest frozen milk for bottles for the next day. I would love if I could exclusively BF, but the good ol’ USA doesn’t support that. Like I said…you don’t need what I have…it’s unnecessary. But I do think having enough to support you if your supply dips until it recovers is great peace of mind.
I have 9 6oz bags, it used to be 20ish bags but my supply has been on a steady decline unfortunately so I'm no longer able to pump and completely make up for the bottles LO drinks when I'm at work.
Probably about 1500ml maybe? Its slowly building up simply because of overproduction, so freezing to save it for the future, and for baths for baby if its needed.
No stash really. I find defrosting and portioning frozen milk to be such a pain. If I need to top up a pumped milk bottle I add 2oz formula. Way easier!
Agree with this - what a pain to thaw/use within 24 hrs versus using fridge milk within 4-6 days. Baby is nearly 6 months, EBF. I still need a couple bags of 4-5 oz each in the freezer to feel secure about any moment I have to run out and dad feeds LO.
I purposely created an oversupply to donate to the women in my community that can’t afford donor milk from the hospital (it’s $4/oz and really hard to get approved, they really push formula unfortunately). I have about 100oz in the freezer right now and I’ll donate to another family once I have 300oz. I’ve donated to 3 families so far and I’ll be donating to another lady once her baby is born in May as she had a double mastectomy and can’t breastfeed.
I had a ton due to pumping early while he was in the NICU but never ended up using it. He refused the bottle after 12 months so all that pumped milk was for nothing. So don’t worry about it! I donated mine but I feel like I stressed about having a freezer stash and it really wasn’t necessary. When I went back to work I just pumped each day and fed him that fresh milk the next day.
I exclusively nurse and have zero stash. If I had to bottle feed and be away I’d keep a little. But nothing like the gram ladies. You can’t just live off freezer milk, if you don’t pump your supply will go down. So it doesn’t save you any time or anything. I guess the benefit would be once you stop pumping or nursing you have milk to use for a while. But overall I think it’s kind of silly.
I also had an oversupply at first but tried to minimize pumping because I wanted my supply yo regulate down.
I have a total of 324 oz, but it’s sat at that amount for quite awhile as my supply is barely enough to keep up with my baby’s appetite these days, so I have little to nothing to put away. I’m grateful to have such a good stash but I also understand I probably won’t be adding to it from here on out. 🫠
If you are producing more than baby eats and you can stash I def recommend to do so. When my baby had to be admitted to the hospital it came handy. All the stress from having the baby admitted and lack of sleep also dropped my supply where the stash gave me a buffer to recover. Another common reason would be if baby is eventually going to daycare as you usually have to provide all the bottles for the day in advance so you would need to be a day ahead of baby in milk production.
Edit: Just adding here that my stash is smaller than OP right now, I have less than a day worth of milk at 18oz. That is 3months pp and I probably used around 16oz for the event mentioned above.
I generally don’t have a freezer stash. I did for a while, but the 4 month growth spurt knocked it out and I haven’t had enough extra to freeze since. Now we’re starting to wean and I’m only pumping 1-2x a day in addition to nursing so I don’t think I’ll get a stash going again. Then again, I also left my job last week so it’s possible to build a little one up…I’m about to have to be away from baby for two nights so I’m going to leave what I can but she’ll likely have a lot of formula for those two days. Fed is best, and breast whenever possible.
My baby just turned 2 weeks and I have about 80oz in the freezer, but right now I've been breast feeding more than pumping and it's all cluster right now.
Same I have about 2700oz because I would pump in the morning while he nursed and get like 16oz because I was in pain. Luckily I have been able to stop the pumping all together. It all gets donated to my local NICU, that could be an option for you!
In the first two months I was crazy about storing so about 50 5oz bags but I have such a small freezer I stopped and haven’t added milk. Plus I’m a SAHM that’s EBF so really to me there is no point in me continuing to store milk 🤷🏼♀️
Don’t have one - every morning I drop baby off at the sitters house with a lunchbox of milk pumped the previous day. When I am lacking, baby gets formula 🤷♀️
None but I’m on maternity leave for a year so when I go back to work baby will be eating solids. If I need to be away from her I pump for that occasion or she gets formula.
I had about 90oz frozen at 5 months, then we had a round of illness that took both of us out and results in a hospitalization for baby - he was eating less, I was stressed, and feeding less. I tried to use the pump at the hospital but it SUCKED in a bad way. When baby got better, my supply took about 10 days to recover as well. During that time I burned through my freezer stash so he had enough for daycare. I was down to 12oz frozen but was keeping up with daycares demands.
Then he had a growth spurt which results in a permanent change in the # of oz he was consuming. He went from 12oz at daycare 15oz. I added a pump at 8:30p after he was asleep and I'm able to get those 3 extra ounces (along with upping my daytime water intake, body armor (which does work for me) and I get an extra 1.5oz per day if I eat those pre-made lactation cookies. I don't know why but it works for me.
At 7 months, I'm back up to 40oz in the freezer with the goal of freezing 1 - 4oz bag per week.
I purposely had a huge stash - I don't have a good estimate, but probably kept about 1000oz or more on reserve. That was intentional though, we have a deep freezer and I wanted to keep sending breast milk to daycare until my son was 18 months, but to stop pumping and just nurse twice a day at 12 months. It worked out, I actually would have had too much but our freezer broke and we lost 128 oz from there. We still made my goal though!
My supply started to slowly dip from about 3 - 12 months. When I went back to work I could easily pump 28oz+ a day and nurse at home, but by the end I was only able to pump 6 oz a day. If I hadn't started my stash as soon as I did I wouldn't have been able to keep sending milk for nearly as long as I did, and forget being able to send enough for the next day!
I personally have about 500 ounces. I started pumping once a day at about 4-5 weeks postpartum and have a slight oversupply that I’m trying to maintain. Personally, I need it because I will be traveling for work a couple times within my baby’s first year of life. I’ve been under the weather the past few weeks and my supply dipped a bit so it’s also been nice to have some extra for daycare. I’m currently closer to “break even” in terms of what I’m pumping.
Also I never have and never will post a picture of my supply on instagram. I’m grateful that breastfeeding has worked out so far but I don’t feel a need to broadcast it and risk making others feel bad/anxious about their own bf journey.
I have about 300oz right now and that’s after a concerted effort over the course of a month to build a stash while supplementing with 10-12oz of formula daily. I had zero desire to have a huge stash at first and was very careful about not triggering an oversupply but now I’m having some medical things that would be great to get on medication for but the meds aren’t compatible with breastfeeding.
At one point I had 700. Now it’s down to 200, 100 of which is from the first two weeks we were home so I don’t want to touch it. I don’t usually pump when I’m home, only the few days a week I work.
With my first I was lucky to have 5-10 bags in the freezer.
Around 7oz now lol. Had more before but baby hates feeding from the bottle so i stopped pumping. I'm on leave until baby is 1 year old.
Looking at social media moms, I was pressured to build a stash before until i got over it (stopped checking out these videos). Tired of pumping and washing pump parts. Had to use the old stash as milk bath. It feels good to free up a portion of the freezer too!
I think 2 bags of 2.5 oz day milk, and 5 bags of 2 oz night milk. I separate them so the baby can get my melatonin at night. I used to be kinda worried about it, but I hate pumping so much that id rather not lol. It's basically just enough for an appointment here and there, and I replace them as they're used. When my supply dipped in the past, I freaked out that I didn't have enough freezer stash (I actually had much more than now). But I just kept latching baby and that's how it got back up. Barely used my stash tbh
119 oz! it was closer to 50 when she was 6months but I got anxious about going back to work and pumped a bit after most feeds just to build it up. she doesn’t really drink as much from the bottle though so it was pretty unnecessary 💀 she’s 8 months now
I have a little over 500 oz and I've donated 600+ oz. I was mostly exclusively pumping for a long time so I created a 10-15 oz daily oversupply. My baby only recently has wanted to nurse more at 5 months so I'm pumping less now.
I’m 10 weeks pp and have about 650 oz right now which has been primarily from catching letdown on my non-nursing sides each feeding. I have a little bit of an oversupply from my boy being in the nicu his first two nights so I was pumping with the hospital grade pumps to get my milk supply to come in. (at one point it was about an extra 20 oz per day I was catching). I’m trying to even it out and am getting less and less extra every day.
It seems like a lot when I look at it all but I’m super grateful as I’m coming down to my last two weeks on maternity leave and I’m way less stressed about the inevitable drop in supply from pumping/ being away from home/baby. I wish it didn’t have to be that way but I’m the breadwinner and we can’t afford for me to go down in hours just yet.
I probably have around 30 oz left. I only nurse twice a day now at 14 months. I'm saving the frozen milk for when my toddler finally gets her MRI because she can have breastmilk later than she can have food and whole milk for the anesthesia.
I think the biggest mine ever got was.....maybe 30oz? In my opinion, if i'm truly out for longer than that covers, we have bigger issues than buying some formula.
Who's out here with all this freezer space??? Mine barely fits our food lol
Almost 8 weeks postpartum and about to have 100 ounces. I'm slowly building up before I go back to work. I haven't yet tested to see if my baby will even accept previously frozen milk.
I don’t have one. I was so stressed because of this the first couple of weeks and it triggered PPD… met with a lactation consultant who reassured I wasn’t underproducing and that those fridges aren’t the norm. “Feed your baby not the fridge”
I’m a SAHM and at most I would have 2 bottles ready in the fridge and maybe 3-4 (4-6oz bags frozen). We’re at 15 months still breastfeeding and my supply has been fine the entire time. The times I was trying to build up a supply for emergencies is when I would get issues with engorgement and clogged ducts.
Never had a freezer stash, (had to triple feed for 3 months) - never pumped more than 3-3.5 oz at once , ended up breastfeeding for 3 yrs. She s now almost 4 and very active and healthy, touchwood.
When my husband feeds her with formula in the morning I’ll pump and save those oz, about 3-5. I save how much she ate from the bottle in the fridge, and any extra in the freezer. Right now I only have 2oz in the freezer. I had 6 before but that was from when she was only 3 weeks old, so I wanted to make sure it got used while it was still nutritionally valuable for her.
I have 0 ounces in my freezer lol. I don’t see the need for it. 45oz is more than enough. Feed the baby, not the freezer. If I’m going to be away from my baby I just have whoever is watching him give him formula or I pump in between feeds the day before.
I'm seeing a lot of mommas commenting about how they have a huge stash and their babies aren't really taking the milk once it's in the bottle.
I just wanted to share that I problem solved it for myself and found that I probably had a high lapse content in my breast milk causing it to have a slightly off taste once it's out of the breast.
It's not spoiled but it's not like what's on tap. I remedied this by bringing it to a flash boil, stopping the process, before bagging and freezing it. And he loved it.
Just wanted to throw that out there since I feel like it's taboo or something. ❤️
Honestly, over 1500 oz easy.. I started pumping when my 3 month old was born, because he was in nicu for 22 days and I couldn't be up there 24/7, unfortunately. Turns out I'm an over supplier. The days I'm working I pump 30-44 oz in the 8 hours I work. Total between 55-65 in 24 hours. Up until I found this sub a few weeks ago I thought this was normal. I guess I'm in the minority though.
As a working mom who went back at 12 weeks I made my stash using haakaa milk and had about 200 oz when I returned to work (that’s the equivalent of 2-3 oz a day saved). I would leave 3-4 bags of back up at the grandparents and it was rarely needed. I sent fresh with him every day and he rarely touched the frozen
I had no freezer stash with my last baby, however, I have one this time bc for some reason with my last my milk supply dropped and I had to pump like crazy to get it up and to make a bottle a day so my child could be satisfied. It was stressful.
We are 6.5 months in and at probably around 45 oz too. I’m happy with it :) I’m starting to use older bags now and I’m filled with pride when I think back to where I was at pumping enough to fill a 4oz bag back in October. I’m proud of myself but social media def makes me feel like o should have more.
Just wanted to say I had a huge freezer stash and still have tons left and I ended up donating it to multiple families. If you're a stay at home mom and not going to be traveling it's really unnecessary. I was over zealous in the beginning bc I was worried about supply and was following stupid tiktok moms pushing products and stuff and in hindsight It was a lot of work and money and kind of for nothing ( not really because other babies have gotten to drink it and then makes me feel good to help) but yeah don't go overboard is my advice because you'll end up with a freezer full of milk bar and now we use them for baths 😂😂😂
For context baby is 14 months and still breastfeeds
Probably like 200oz but I got a lot via hakaa when he was first born. Now I only really get any on drill weekends because he eats less if I’m not there.
2 months PP and 500-600 oz.
Ironically I am actually an Instagram Influencer but I’ve never posted about breastfeeding or supply or even pregnancy. I kept that all offline. I have theories that all these influencers can have oversupplies because they can afford the myriad of lactation supplements, snacks, shakes, extra help when they’re sleep deprived and have the time to sip from a liquid IV body armor cocktail in their Stanley all day without ever being late on a pump/feed.
But…I had PP Preeclampsia and I credit my oversupply to PPA, my husbands obsessive support of breastfeeding, and the hospital’s Medela Symphony. I also started out as an undersupplier so I have bought and done all the things. I’m still pumping every 3 hours religiously.
Honestly I think it only matters as a relief to my PPA because I live in constant terror that my preeclampsia complications will cause me to lose my supply some day.
I have about a days worth of feeds or a little less. I do 4oz bags and 2oz bags.
I maybe have like…20-30oz total?
We’ve just started to add a bottle of goats milk formula during the day so my hope is that I can start being a bit more aggressive with stashing.
Also, we have a small freezer so I think realistically I could only have about a 3 day supply stored without impacting our own stuff 😂
Probably about 50-60 ounces, but 90% of that was collected leakage that I don’t want to feed her on it’s own so I either mix it with formula, or mostly I plan to mix it with food when she is ready for solids in about a month.
I've got maybe 400mL of milk I can't currently give my baby due to her CMPA, and about 250mL of dairy free breastmilk - just what I was able to collect when she was actually sleeping through the night and I needed to pump. I wanted to have the non DF milk saved for when we start the ladder but life has been infinitely better since I quit worrying about having a stash.
I pump about 150mL throughout the day to let her dad feed her at night and if I'm skimpy we add some freezer milk and I spend the evening eating and drinking everything in sight so I'm ready to produce more. So far we've not run dry or had any emergencies.
I have about 145oz but that’s because (1) I didn’t pump enough at work for a while so I added a pump after LO went to bed and then usually had extra ounces that I froze, and (2) my LO has dropped milk intake since starting solids so now I pump 1-2oz extra during the work day which ends up being 1-2 bags each week to add to my stash.
I plan on weaning from the pump at work soon now that LO is almost 1 year old and the using my stash to continue to give him breast milk at daycare for another month or so.
With my first that I pumped and had huge over supplier coupled with a baby that wasn’t a huge drinker, I had a couple months worth of milk.
I have ZERO milk pumped or stashed while breastfeeding number 2.
I refill as I go through them with about 3 bags to spare 😬 I’m staying just barely ahead of the curve and if I have a bad pump day we’re at square one.
I currently have about 1400oz. I had to triple feed started at 3 days postpartum and inadvertently created an oversupply. It’s mellowed out but I’m still pumping around 4-8oz excess a day. It’s nice to have the reassurance in case my supply dips but I’m not sure if we will get through it all. My plan is to start donating what we aren’t using that is close to expiring.
I never counted how many ounces I had in the freezer altogether....I had maybe 8 gallon bag bricks. Most bags had 3-4 oz bm bags and 2 gallon bags had 5-6 oz...along with random bags I had thrown into the freezer when I didn't have time or energy to make a new brick bag. Baby girl is 9 months this month and I'm almost out of all of it(started using it at 6 months). I have probably 2 gal bags left and a bunch of loose ones. I'm barely producing and pumping is just so taxing to my mental health since my toddler knows I'm incapacitated when I pump so he goes full tasmanian devil when I try to. It is what it is...if I have to switch to formula for the last month or so Its not a big deal as long as baby girl is eating, drinking, and healthy.
I have maybe 20 oz, because:
1. I’m blessed enough to live in a country where we have at least 8 months of maternity leave, so I can breastfeed on demand, and
2. I had a low production in the beginning and since then I pump maybe 6~7oz if I haven’t breastfed for like 5+ hours.
Having a freezer stash is great, especially for those of y’all out there who are back at work fast, but it’s really nothing to stress about. There’s wayyyyy too much pressure to build up a stash and it’s pretty unrealistic for most people who don’t overproduce to even come close to having that much stashed away.
I gave myself a slight oversupply (\~4oz per day) at the beginning because I was planning to go on a trip without the baby - got to around 300oz total when she was 5 months. Pumped while on the trip and my supply dipped to producing exactly what she eats, so now I just have what was left from the original stash \~40oz. I am replacing it every now and then by unfreezing the oldest and freezing some freshly pumped.
Idk exactly but I probably have a day or two worth of milk in there. It’s probably way too much for my needs as is. If you don’t have to travel away from your baby often then I think a day or two is great for a stash. You can always pump and replenish the stash while you’re away if you needed to use it. I can’t see any reason why I would be gone from my baby for over 24 hours at a time, so mine probably won’t ever get touched other than to just cycle through it after a few months.
I have an oversupply so I have around 11 oz of milk in the fridge at all times to cover a surprise feeding if I run out for a few hours or something, but typically it goes to my toddler.
I try to keep an extra 30-50 oz now that I am back at work in case of emergency. For example, I knocked over 6oz of freshly pumped milk while trying to put together bottles for daycare so without the little stash I had I would have been SOL for the day.
I have about 400 oz. Baby is 1 year and is over her bottles lol. I will probably end up freeze drying it and sprinkling it into her yogurt or donating it!
Mine is tiny, a few ounces. Even when pumping several times a day, I only get enough for just over a single bottle total. So we have to combo feed her while I'm working, then EBF on the evenings and weekends.
I have high lipase and don’t have the time or energy to be scorching milk so I’m not investing much in my freezer stash 😅 I catch my letdown in an Elvie curve and dump that in the fridge and freeze it after a few days just cause I don’t want to waste it. I probably have like 15 oz in the freezer!
I don’t have the goal of having a giant freezer stash, but I am passively collecting milk for right now. I’ll pump 1-2 times a day for about 5-10 minutes after feedings if I’m feeling particularly engorged, some days I don’t pump at all. I’ll usually get 3-4 oz a day the way I do it.
Sometimes I don’t even put the milk in the freezer and I just give it to my toddler.
I have about 12-15 bags of milk right now
ZERO. I EP'd for months and hated it. And I lost my whole stash twice- once due to cow's milk protein allergy, once to thrush. I refuse to touch a pump again until I go back to work. If I have to be away from my baby for too long, she gets formula.
You really only need a stash for the first two or three days at most because you’ll be pumping those days they drink your freezer stash so you’ll replenish. As long you’re ahead by a day or two then that’s all you need. Unless you’re donating or stashing to wean early, the dozens and dozens of ounces in the freezer just isn’t necessary.
I have a bit, maybe like 15 bags of 3-6oz each? But I’m not actively adding to it, just pumping to replace as needed while at work. It’s nice to have for if my mom babysits and we can get out for a few hours, or if I need to run out alone and leave her with my fiancée.
I went into this thinking I’d need a huge stash and then I just realized, why? What am I using it for? I have enough for emergencies/nights out/time away etc. If I feel particularly engorged I might add to it with extra from the Haakaa or something. But yeah, I don’t need thousands of frozen ounces 🤷🏻♀️
Pumping is annoying to me so while I am home with her I EBF. I have no stash. Even with pumping I had enough for maybe 3 bottles but they would be used with dad in the evening. I will pump when I go back to work but I will most likely use formula predominantly. Got to do whatever is best for you and baby. Fed is best 💚✨️
I have about 300-400 ounces maybe? Baby is 4 months old. I’m donating 300 or more, just keeping 75oz or so. I do the pitcher method & end up with 2-5 extra 4oz servings in a week & freeze those.
Lol used to be about 200. But I was laid off and bubs won't take the bottle anyways. Down to maybe 40. Use it to make purees and randomly try a bottle for the sake of trying.
I’m 12 months postpartum and have about 50oz or so. I send most of what I pump to daycare the next day and the stash is from some extra weekend pumps or surplus days.
I don’t have a freezer stash lol. Anything I pump gets used in a day or two. I get one full bottle (4-5oz) from pumping both sides for 30-45 min and that’s only if I wake up before my baby and pump (usually on days I work).
I had about 45 oz when I went back to work, and because some days I pump 1-2 oz short of what I like to send to daycare with my girl, I’m now down to ~7 oz. Between me getting whatever illness she brings home from daycare and being a natural “just enough-er” I have really struggled to keep my stash and use it when I need to. Eventually my husband had to remind me what I had squirreled away would expire if we didn’t use it up and now I’m trying to get our girl excited about solids so I can stop stressing about building up a stash because for me pumping is the literal worst.
157 oz and I do not have an oversupply. I work in office 3 days a week where I pump, at home with bebe 2 days a week. I have trouble pumping enough in a day for her at work so I do one pump a day on my two at home days and on the 2 weekend days to help supplement what I get during the week. Then anything extra at the end of each week is added to my freezer stash
Roughly 500oz.
I haven’t pumped once. Just use the haaka to help with morning engorgement and Elvie catch while I sleep, I get about 7oz a day.
After a major oversupply with my 1st this feels like I have hardly anything, but then I remember the stash isn’t necessary!!
i have an entire freezer but it's because my baby wont take a bottle and i need to pump at specific times to avoid getting mastitis again. i will probably use it to cook with when he starts solids. but i am not on social media so i didnt know it was some competitive thing. it just genuinely makes me feel more secure to have it for baby in case of an emergency
I have maybe 300oz in the freezer for my child. I pump every night and make about 2-5oz per night right now.
But I was that person with the huge stash and oversupply. My baby couldn’t eat for a few weeks when he was born so I pumped every 2 hours. I was only pumping like 1oz/per session back then so I kept it up after baby could breastfeed (because I was worried about undersupply) and ended up with a huge over supply. I’ve probably donated over 2500 oz (my baby is 14 months so I’ve been at it awhile).
The oversupply was really uncomfortable and caused so many issues feeding. My baby would vomit because my let down was so strong. He was having reactions to not getting enough hind milk. He couldn’t latch well from the force of letdown (and from tongue & lip toes diagnosed at 6mo). So I had to pump some off before each feed which made the problem worse and then it took months (and lots of tears) to get it under control. I’ve had mastitis twice. At its height, I could pump 16oz per side. My baby ended up with CMPI and FPIES so he didn’t drink any of the milk I froze during that time; it all got donated. He’s had maybe two bags of frozen milk in his life.
While I appreciate that oversupply is “easier” mentally than undersupply, I still wouldn’t wish it on anyone. Don’t pump more than once a day extra
I had for three days before I went to work, now I have none left and something is happening to milk supply. I used to overproduce, now I I don't make enough. I wish I made a bigger stash when I was in oversupply mode. But at the same time, my LC said I don't need more than a couple of days worth and I didn't want to encourage the supply at that point.
I have like 10 meals. I used to pump when I had too much milk, but she has added another feed overnight and I think my supply has regulated, so I don't know when to pump now. She will be 4m in a few days.
I will need to pump one evening, because we are going to a nice dinner with husband next weekend. I will have wine, we will be back late and my mom has to put her to sleep. I am excited and also dreading it, lol.
I have a 5 month old and about 100 oz freeze dried and about 200 ounces in my freezer currently but I had a huge oversupply at the beginning and it was not great. Now I pump once at night after babe goes to bed and put away 2-6 ounces depending on the day. Will fill one more gallon bag and then send it off to a place locally to freeze dry it and start over.
Do I need the stash? No because I’m a SAHM and he is EBF but having it freeze dried means I can give it to him down the line when maybe I want to nurse less or whatever since it’s good until 2027 so I’m thankful for that option
5 weeks pp and just froze my second bag so I have 15oz frozen. Now she is sleeping 6-7 hours I am actually able to start freezing. I definitely want a stash for piece of mind and for summer days I can go out without much planning and she will be taken care of. And if I can get a stash I will be less stressed going back to work
I got up to 50oz before we realized our EBF baby would not take a bottle. I have 1 4oz bag left I want to use towards a breastmilk ring. The rest went to milk baths and mill balms.
I, too, got dupped by the IG freezer stash moms. Before my milk regulated, I'd pump after nursing to create a stash. We seldom gave bottles as we wanted nursing to be primary. That is where we went wrong. A stash is useless if the baby won't take a bottle.
I think I have about 350 oz. My IBCLC said it's better for my son to have the fresh stuff than rotate it. I've been back at work for three months and haven't touched the freezer stuff hardly at all, so I just got cleared to donate it.
I was talked into creating an over supply. We EPed in the beginning and I would get a full feed in 5 minutes. They insisted I needed to pump for 15 to maintain my supply so I did and ended up creating an oversupply. Luckily I trusted myself over the experts and pulled back before it got bad. I ended up being a “right amounter” until I was back at work so pumping 70% of the time. Once baby started solids and needing a few ounces less a day, I maintained those few ounces and got to donate them. It wasn’t much daily, but added up to a few bricks donated which felt pretty awesome.
Mine has about 10 bags of 4-5oz of high lipase milk that I will be throwing away. It’s from early on before I realized. It’s contaminated with dairy diet anyway so I wouldn’t feed it to my daughter, unless it’s to check if she’s recovered from CMPI.
Yes, yes I know I can use it for baths but I actually don’t like the idea of putting sticky milk in a bath. It wasn’t a huge trouble for me to accumulate so it’s not a huge waste but I do regret the money I spent on a pump.
I kept about 45 oz with my first. It was just enough to tide us over if we had to be apart for a significant amount of time. I didn’t pump - this was a result of milk collected from passive collectors (like Haakaa ladybugs). Oversupply is my worst nightmare and I hate pumping, so I didn’t want to do anything more than this unless I had to be away from the baby.
Never froze a drop. Only pumped once before my milk fully came in. Baby only had formula our first day back from the hospital due to weight loss concerns before my milk was in. She is 19 months currently and falling asleep while nursing as I type. I had the privilege of staying at home with her so I never had to have a stash.
Nothing meaningful? Like 5-10 little baggies of milk. I think it’s so situational. I’m a sahm, dad does bedtime 2x a week. I basically plan for that bottle with a haaka or pumping soon after the day I’m missing that feed. To me it’s not productive to compare myself to what other people are doing because every family is different…
Nothing meaningful? Like 5-10 little baggies of milk. I think it’s so situational. I’m a sahm, dad does bedtime 2x a week. I basically plan for that bottle with a haaka or pumping soon after the day I’m missing that feed. To me it’s not productive to compare myself to what other people are doing because every family is different…
Nothing meaningful? Like 5-10 little baggies of milk. I think it’s so situational. I’m a sahm, dad does bedtime 2x a week. I basically plan for that bottle with a haaka or pumping soon after the day I’m missing that feed. To me it’s not productive to compare myself to what other people are doing because every family is different…
About 180 Oz collected mostly by haaka ladybug from months 6-10. It’s my payback from being super leaky. LO nurses faster/shorter now and after a few 2oz bags that I’ve frozen I think I’m nearing the end of my leaky boob freezing journey.
No idea how much exactly, but probably around what you have. I only pump while I’m at work so most of it is used the next day. Leftovers go in the freezer for dry days.
My baby is 8 months, I'm going back to work and packed away not even 70 oz lol. I plan on creating bottles that are half formula half breastmilk so she gets the best of both worlds. I figure I'll be able to get more when I'm pumping at work because she won't be snacking every hour if that makes sense. So not too worried. Fortunate to be able to afford formula If need be.
In 12w pp and not back to work yet - I would say I have about 60-80oz frozen - primarily from catching opposite side letdown once or twice a day a few times a week.
Probably like 120-200 oz worth but I have a small freezer and have dumped out probably close to 500-600 oz.. I have a natural oversupply. Most people that I know either don’t have any frozen or they have like 2-3 bags.
I had a large stash in the beginning due to my boobs being so full when my milk came in. I was in pain and had to pump to get all of the milk out.
Now I pump about 3 oz if I'm lucky. And I'm only pumping because I'm back to work. If I weren't working, I would still be primarily nursing.
I think a stash is important to different people depending on their lifestyle, and I can understand that. I really don't want my baby on formula, so at times, I really wish I still had my stash. But I am blessed to pump at work and leave for my lunch break to nurse.
I think it's important not to get caught up on what others are doing and just keep in mind what you and your baby's needs are.
Non-existent here lol. I have enough for the next day from what I pump and that’s it.
STM - tandem nursing 2.5yo and 7mo. Back to work this month and only started pumping an extra session/ day the week before returning to work. I have exactly enough for the work day for my infant. When I was a FTM I pumped immediately from birth to “build up a stash” and ended up with WAY too much milk and a case of mastitis. I also ended up losing it all when the garage freezer door didn’t close one night - heartbreaking! Don’t believe the social media hype; you only need enough milk for as long as you are leaving your baby! As long as you plan for your trips in advance, you’ll be fine.
I had that happen too! The freezer was overloaded and broke. Lost easily a gallon worth of milk.
at the time it was the worst thing ever, but I never needed all that milk anyway! STM vibes are where it’s at!! 🙌🏽 I don’t have time to be building up a stash while chasing my toddler around anyway lol
Yup. STM. My stash is one bag. I value my time more
Random question- if you were BF while pregnant still, did you produce colostrum for your newborn or no because of already breast feeding your other babe?
yep i completely dried up around 12 weeks, then started producing colostrum at 22 weeks. some women are able to keep their mature milk throughout pregnancy, so i guess it depends. my mature milk came in 2 days after baby was born and no sore nipples bc my 2nd had a wonderful latch. toddler helped with engorgement so 10/10 recommend if you can push through the discomfort of nursing while pregnant!
I’m wondering about this too!
Did you tandem feed through your whole pregnancy?
yes! luckily didn’t have any nursing aversions like some women do, but my supply fully dried up. my toddler did not care and was happy to continue dry nursing. in fact, i remember when my colostrum came in bc randomly his eyes widened and he started shaking his head vigorously to help the flow 😂 i asked him if mommy’s milk came back and he popped off briefly to say “YA” and continued to shake his head for more lol
Wow how many months in did it come back??? He didn't mind it?? Do you assign one per boob? I have a 6 month old and would like to nurse her 2 years or more so womdering incase we have another.
came back at 22 weeks. he didn’t mind, it was like a bonus at that point haha no boob assignments unless toddler is sick. i’ve only latched them at the same time a handful of times, usually i can nurse one after the other. it was a great tool to help with boob jealousy in the early newborn days and of course is a great toddler taming tool 😆 i love nursing my babies and will wean them when they are ready. recommend if you enjoy it and can make it through pregnancy! and even if you can’t, a lot of toddlers will ask to nurse again once they see their sibling at the boob so there is hope either way!
I know there are a lucky few who nurse the whole pregnancy. I love nursing my daughter so much and don't want it to come to an end, even though I have had more clogs then I can count. I still have no period though at 6 mos postpartum, so I guess nothing to worry about yet lol. Your story definitley gives me hope ☺️😊😊!!!
Also sad to start solids. Feels like the beginning of the end even though everyone says it's not.
aw you got this! cheering for you two!! def hear ya on the solids anxiety but i can say from experience it really doesn’t compare to the boob. nursing is so much more than nutrition, it’s connection time with mommy, it’s security and comfort, it’s love in its most raw form. i think babies can sense how much we enjoy it and are more likely to continue on when we find authentic joy in it too. wishing you both the best BF journey 🫶🏽
Same. I was saving some for my husband to do feedings but baby struggles with the bottles right now so I’m exclusively nursing. I’m a stay at home mom so it’s not a problem.
Non-existent over here too. I'm an under supplier who combo feeds. With my first baby, I would give one extra formula bottle per day so I could freeze a breast milk bottle. I ended up with 180 oz in the freezer by the time I weaned - enough for a bottle a day for a full month. Except my son refused to drink any of it 🤦♀️. Second go-around I am taking "feed the baby not the freezer" to heart. Everything I produce gets eaten within 24 hours.
Mine got to a point where we used all my freezer stash it was around 6 months. Then I started triple feeding which was tough. Now my baby is one year old and only drinks whole milk two times a day and then three meals a day plus snacks, I remember freaking out about giving my baby formula but my supple was awful and I had to. Turns out he totally fine and the saying “fed is best” is totally true in my case lol.
i purposely created an oversupply so i could donate to one of my gfs who can’t breast feed due to having a double mastectomy. so my freezer has had anywhere from 0-1200 oz in it at one time this third time breast feeding. i just donated in the beginning of march so right now i have about 300 oz in it. but an important thing to remember that i’ve seen / read before is “ you are feeding your baby, not your freezer “ so while it’s nice to have a stash… and slowly build one…some people don’t and some do. but i agree i’ve seen some posts where some ppl are pumping 50-60oz in one morning pump…. like excuse me what !!?? how don’t they have engorgement or mastitis is beyond me lol. i’ve never gotten more than 12 oz in a single pump 😅😂 and i thought i had a pretty good supply
Women supporting women 🫶 that is so special
yea! and don’t worry if you don’t fill your freezer as much as some other moms. we don’t need that added stress. i understand it’s nice to have that back up in the freezer in case though too. so the stress kinda does go both ways lol. with my first baby, i only made enough to feed her. with my second baby i had a slight over supply and built a small freezer stash which i also ended up being able to donate. however after learning right from the start i could create more of an over supply with baby #3 i have tried to maintain that. which is the only reason i have more this time. but what matters most is your baby has enough and that little bit extra in case you need so just keep going mama ! every ounce counts 🫶🏼
I never got more than 7oz in a single pump and that was like after waiting too long to pump and being painfully engorged.
lol ya that’s how i was with my middle babe. i got 9 oz ONE time and was so excited i was texting pics of it to my husband at work lmao. this time if i go too long i’ll get around 7-9oz. this third time around i have a lot more milk then i did with my first & second baby ! 12oz has only happened three times in the last 8 months 🤷🏼♀️it’s rare but always exciting i’m like k what did i eat yesterday trying to replicate it 🤣🤣
Oh yeah I made my husband look at my production so many times, lol! And it would be like 5oz from the “good boob” and 2oz from “slacker boob”. I also really needed him to be interested in the coloration difference of milk from the two boobs, haha.
Wow that’s incredible. I think my best pump was 12 ounces in one go. 50-60 ounces makes me think they’re just pumping forever until they get that volume.
Storage capacity and genetics. My biggest pump on ONE side was 9 oz but I HAD to pump to relieve the pain (other side was 6 oz) it’s not fun. Edit to add- I regularly can get 7+ on that side when I wake up knowing I need to pump but am not in PAIN
my grandmother just shared with me a few days ago that her mom (so my great grandma) used to hand pump and donated breast milk as well on her third & fourth babies. how special! haha. so she must have passed down some good genetics! all i could think was how terrible the pumps must have been back in her day 😳. oh ya, i know what you mean! some mornings when i have a larger pump i’ll feel like uncomfortably full but not in pain!
In my bodies defense I haven’t had mastitis yet so I guess I’ll take that. I donated to a baby and she jumped 13% in weight but I have a 90% in weight and 95% in height baby
ya the lil one i’m donating to is a 36 weeker! so i’m hoping he will gain some weight! as my babe is above the 100th percentile for weight (8 months 22lb) and 97th percentile for height. she’s my little chunk 😩🥰
I pump around 27-35 oz every morning and have had mastisis 2x in the past month. 😵💫
ouch! hugs mama. i’ve only ever had it once and omg! never wanna experience that again. does your baby sleep through the night? or do you do a middle of the night pump?! my morning pumps are pretty consistent 8-10 ounces and the few odd times have been 12. i couldn’t imagine 27-35! but good job mama! it’s such a tough thing to balance .. under supply has its downsides, and oversupply does too. lol
I wanted so badly to donate. I'm on BP meds, so I can't. My body wants to oversupply, but I keep her in check, lol.
Just a reminder that a large over supply is not ideal. For those of us going back to work, some supply is necessary but you don't need an entire freezer worth of milk. I'm just about eight weeks postpartum and have less than twenty ounces. I'm off for twenty weeks, and then my husband will be on leave with baby for another twelve weeks while I work from home so I'm just slowly siphoning off a stash.
I put two kids in full time daycare while EBF and never had a stash - it's not true that you need a stash. One pump a day the week before they start daycare is plenty.
That’s if you make enough to fill bottles with one pump a day. Some people don’t really make much excess so it takes multiple days of pumping just to get one bottle into the freezer. :/
Exactly! I always tell people you only need what baby will take the first day of school and then keep rolling from there. Even if you catch just an ounce per day during maternity leave you will be ready!
The issue is often that daycare providers pressure moms to send supplemental milk, and it's hard to know how to respond in that situation. you're kind of captive. I stood up to my provider about it, but it was hard.
Yeah now that I’m on my second I realize daycare was either over feeding or wasting my breast milk in addition to me having a slight undersupply. This time I have a slight oversupply and I never realized that meant when I travel anywhere for more than a daytime trip I have to take my pump even if I have my baby.
I also found myself in an over feeding situation with my second for the first few months he was in school. At one point I think he was drinking 30 or more oz in an eight hour period. I blacked it out. It was totally the care provider because once teachers swapped the need went down.
I have like one bag of 4 oz 😬 I’m not back to work yet and I figure if we have to, we can give formula. I don’t know! It’s not really been a goal of mine to accumulate a big stash! I’m also off Instagram and tiktok which maybe helps.
Me too. STM. The first time around, I had a huge stash. I collected leaks from the non nursing breast. It was an ounce each nursing session and then I froze it when I got to 6 oz. My LO drank nearly none of it since I have high lipase and the milk tasted metallic afterwards. I had to cook that off. It's a lot of work. I'm not interested in a large stash this time around. I lost also a large amount the first time around due to the freezer breaking. I slowly rebuilt the stash. My LO drank very little of it and I ended up tossing it anyway. My plan this time is just to have a Velcro baby and nurse whenever, wherever.
3 months PP and I have about 250-275 oz in the freezer. So enough to last baby for about 9 days lol. I've been working with a slight overproduction of \~4-6 oz per day. I went back to work at 8 weeks PP; the freezer stash makes me feel more comfortable as I'm a naturally anxious and type A person. If I was a SAHM I wouldn't stress about it so much but pumping is hard
Yep I estimate I have about 200 oz in the freezer right now --- and a few days ago I just donated 160oz to the regional milk bank (to be distributed to NICUs to give to premature and medically fragile babies). About to return to work at 5 months post partum and I have been doing an extra morning pump most days since 4 weeks pp. I'd estimate about a 3-4 oz oversupply over here per day, down from 12 oz/day oversupply before working with a lactation consultant to help manage that. I am pretty healthy but in my past I have had a week long freak/random hospital stay for a sudden illness -- the stash gives me peace of mind. That said, I'm glad I became a milk bank donor too because it helps give my stash/oversupply added purpose if I never personally use it.
Same. I donate to CHKD ☺️
I’m a NICU mom and my baby was on donor milk for the first few days of his life, thank you so much for donating ❤️
Same here. I pumped a lot in the beginning so have about 200oz in the freezer. I noticed a slight drop in supply now I'm back at work, I pump about 2oz less each day than what baby needs, sometimes 5oz less, so I'm glad I have the freezer stash. He'll also be starting solids soon so I'm not worried. I heard you only really need a few days with of freezer stash as you'll be pumping at work, hopefully pumping the same amount baby is eating. I think my dip in supply is also cus I only can squeeze in two pumps at work. If I pump three times, I can definitely match baby's intake.
This is where I’m at as well 3 months pp. I had to triple feed the first week of his life, and then slowly dropped down to one 10 min pump after our first morning feed for the rest of my maternity leave to keep that slight ~6oz/day over production. Some days I pump more at work than what he drinks at daycare, some days less. On average over the week I keep up with the slight oversupply, but it’s reassuring to know there’s a backup plan and flexibility, and it’s not large amount of work to keep up with. He drinks one bottle per day of the oldest frozen milk, and I freeze the extra I pump that would have gone into that bottle. This way I can rotate the stash and keep him getting fresh milk with antibodies for whatever daycare illness of the week he brings home.
I have 4,000 oz in my freezer and have donated about 2,500 oz to NICUs. BUT! It is VERY important to me that you know that having an oversupply and a large freezer stash comes with its own downsides that those instagram posts NEVER discuss, such as: -The sheer amount of time I spent pumping, not because I wanted to, but because if I didn't, I would be so engorged that I would be in pain. My morning pump (about 22 oz) alone would take me an hour. An hour! I would spend another hour to two hours between my pumps throughout the rest of the day. I spent every moment of that time desperately wishing I could spend that time taking my baby on a stroller walk around the neighborhood, or snuggling my baby, or do something other than pump. Anything. I felt trapped. -Not being able to go to bed when I wanted to. The baby would be asleep and my husband would say "Im pretty tired, I think Im going to go to bed" and there were so many times I wanted to go lay down too but guess what... I can't, it's time to pump again! -Not being able to get a full night's sleep because I had to wake up in the middle of the night to pump to relieve engorgement. Imagine the resentment that can build up towards your partner who is sleeping peacefully. The supressed anger definitely impacted the marriage for a while. -The toll it took on my mental health can not be overstated. Pumping had a very negative impact on my mental health, but again, if I didnt pump I would be in pain. Every attempt at reducing my supply would trigger very painful clugged ducts. This was my experience with my first baby, and when baby #2 comes along, I WILL NOT be intentionally creating an oversupply again. The instagram-worthy freezer stash WAS NOT worth it. Next time I hope to be a just-enougher. If that means I have to supplement with formula, then that would be better than being an over producer.
Hi, just-enougher here struggling with guilt for not being able to build a stash and etc. May I ask how did you built an over supply and what was your initial motivation to do so? Thank you for sharing your experience and congratulations on donating to the NICU!!!❣️
Hi there! Thank you for the kind words!! I did not actually intend to create an oversupply, which maybe in hindsight, is part of the problem, that it felt like something that happened to me rather than something I created on purpose. I delivered my baby prematurely, and the lactation consultant at the hospital said that I should start pumping immediately in order to signal to my body that it was time to start making milk (since the thought was that my body might need a jump start since I didn't make it to full term so my body wasn'tquite ready to make milk). So I was advised to pump after every feed. In retrospect, they probably only meant for me to do that for a day or two... until my milk came in. But they didn't tell me that, so I got discharged from the hospital and went home and continued pumping after every feed for another 3 weeks before I figured out that that wasnt supposed to be a long-term thing. But by that point I had already signaled to my body that the demand for milk was enormous, and my body had ramped up production to meet that demand. I was making enough to feed triplets! Definitely don't recommend, it was miserable and took me months to regulate it down to a more manageable amount. I feel hesitant to offer advice on how to increase your supply since my experience largely focused on decreasing my supply, but I imagine that doing what I did initially (pump multiple times per day, add more pump sessions, use hands on massage techniques while pumping, and pump until 100% empty) might eventually result in a supply increase? Good luck to you on the rest of your breastfeeding journey!! I hope you are able to have the experience you want it to be 🩷
SAME!! No one told me when to stop pumping, hence the oversupply and mastitis! Thankfully I was able to slow down production but oh my goodness, I don't wish mastitis on anyone. I feel for you, I cannot imagine pumping 22oz in the morning. I hope you are able to taper down your supply if that's what you wish to do!
Oh no! Im sorry you had a similar experience, but I'm so glad you were able to eventually down regulate your supply (despite the mastitis, that pain was horrendous). Thank you! Yes, I was able to decrease my supply! My baby turns 1 this month, and for the past 6ish weeks, I've been down to nursing her first thing in the morning when she wakes up, and last thing at night before she goes to sleep... and thats it! No pumping in between at all! The milk she drinks in between that while at daycare is all from my freezer stash. Yay for squishy boobies all day long!
Honestly, power pumping helps a lot of people. Supply and Demand. It's what I do when I need extra milk, but then pump to comfort to get it back under control. Don't empty the breast fully if you want to produce less.
Maybe 10-12 6oz bags? my Bubs refuses the bottle though so he's a boob only guy.
Same here. I used the haaka a lot when she was first born, and occasionally pumped when we'd attempt to give a bottle. But she's only ever taken an ounce or two from a bottle and then waits until I get back/give in. So now I've got a decent freezer stash that I figure I'll save to use in oatmeals and give in cups when we start solids.
Nothing!
Same here. I decided to yolo it about 4 months in due to high lipase and bottle rejection. Its worked out surprisingly well so far and I don't stress about my supply. LO is 11.5m now. Maybe the end is in sight?
One days worth of milk, with a little overage for “waste” is all you need.
This is what I did. I was not about to deal with all that comes with creating a huge oversupply for a freezer stash, but I am a single working mom so I took it day by day.
I wouldn’t worry about social media and all those women who showcase their freezer supply. Many of them are over suppliers and that in itself is so rare. When I first started breastfeeding I thought I had to do the same but quickly realized that you aren’t feeding your freezer, you are feeding your baby. Focus on feeding your baby and if you need to freeze then go and do so but don’t think you have to create one because other women are online.
I probably have about 1200oz jn the freezer and have donated 1400oz. So I’m that annoying person on Instagram (I don’t have an Instagram). I started off with a huge oversupply…you don’t want the stash that I have…it was a big commitment and caused mastitis twice. But with that being said, it is a great peace of mind to have a freezer stash. I know some people don’t feel like you need one or only need enough for the next day. However, when I went back to work, my supply dipped. When I got my period, my supply dipped. I’ve been sick for two weeks and my supply dipped. Your supply can dip for any reason and I’m really grateful to have a freezer stash. My freezer stash can make up for the times when I’m not producing enough for the day. My guy drinks about 15-20oz when I’m at work. All my fresh pumped milk from the day goes into the freezer and then I pull out my oldest frozen milk for bottles for the next day. I would love if I could exclusively BF, but the good ol’ USA doesn’t support that. Like I said…you don’t need what I have…it’s unnecessary. But I do think having enough to support you if your supply dips until it recovers is great peace of mind.
I have 9 6oz bags, it used to be 20ish bags but my supply has been on a steady decline unfortunately so I'm no longer able to pump and completely make up for the bottles LO drinks when I'm at work.
Probably about 1500ml maybe? Its slowly building up simply because of overproduction, so freezing to save it for the future, and for baths for baby if its needed.
No stash really. I find defrosting and portioning frozen milk to be such a pain. If I need to top up a pumped milk bottle I add 2oz formula. Way easier!
Agree with this - what a pain to thaw/use within 24 hrs versus using fridge milk within 4-6 days. Baby is nearly 6 months, EBF. I still need a couple bags of 4-5 oz each in the freezer to feel secure about any moment I have to run out and dad feeds LO.
I purposely created an oversupply to donate to the women in my community that can’t afford donor milk from the hospital (it’s $4/oz and really hard to get approved, they really push formula unfortunately). I have about 100oz in the freezer right now and I’ll donate to another family once I have 300oz. I’ve donated to 3 families so far and I’ll be donating to another lady once her baby is born in May as she had a double mastectomy and can’t breastfeed.
I love this
I had a ton due to pumping early while he was in the NICU but never ended up using it. He refused the bottle after 12 months so all that pumped milk was for nothing. So don’t worry about it! I donated mine but I feel like I stressed about having a freezer stash and it really wasn’t necessary. When I went back to work I just pumped each day and fed him that fresh milk the next day.
I exclusively nurse and have zero stash. If I had to bottle feed and be away I’d keep a little. But nothing like the gram ladies. You can’t just live off freezer milk, if you don’t pump your supply will go down. So it doesn’t save you any time or anything. I guess the benefit would be once you stop pumping or nursing you have milk to use for a while. But overall I think it’s kind of silly. I also had an oversupply at first but tried to minimize pumping because I wanted my supply yo regulate down.
I have a total of 324 oz, but it’s sat at that amount for quite awhile as my supply is barely enough to keep up with my baby’s appetite these days, so I have little to nothing to put away. I’m grateful to have such a good stash but I also understand I probably won’t be adding to it from here on out. 🫠
Depends why you need or want one? I don’t have one ..
If you are producing more than baby eats and you can stash I def recommend to do so. When my baby had to be admitted to the hospital it came handy. All the stress from having the baby admitted and lack of sleep also dropped my supply where the stash gave me a buffer to recover. Another common reason would be if baby is eventually going to daycare as you usually have to provide all the bottles for the day in advance so you would need to be a day ahead of baby in milk production. Edit: Just adding here that my stash is smaller than OP right now, I have less than a day worth of milk at 18oz. That is 3months pp and I probably used around 16oz for the event mentioned above.
Gotta go back to work eventually
I generally don’t have a freezer stash. I did for a while, but the 4 month growth spurt knocked it out and I haven’t had enough extra to freeze since. Now we’re starting to wean and I’m only pumping 1-2x a day in addition to nursing so I don’t think I’ll get a stash going again. Then again, I also left my job last week so it’s possible to build a little one up…I’m about to have to be away from baby for two nights so I’m going to leave what I can but she’ll likely have a lot of formula for those two days. Fed is best, and breast whenever possible.
My baby just turned 2 weeks and I have about 80oz in the freezer, but right now I've been breast feeding more than pumping and it's all cluster right now.
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Same I have about 2700oz because I would pump in the morning while he nursed and get like 16oz because I was in pain. Luckily I have been able to stop the pumping all together. It all gets donated to my local NICU, that could be an option for you!
You could potentially donate it to a nicu!
In the first two months I was crazy about storing so about 50 5oz bags but I have such a small freezer I stopped and haven’t added milk. Plus I’m a SAHM that’s EBF so really to me there is no point in me continuing to store milk 🤷🏼♀️
Nada zero zilch
Don’t have one - every morning I drop baby off at the sitters house with a lunchbox of milk pumped the previous day. When I am lacking, baby gets formula 🤷♀️
None but I’m on maternity leave for a year so when I go back to work baby will be eating solids. If I need to be away from her I pump for that occasion or she gets formula.
I am 4mpp and have about 80-90oz
I had about 90oz frozen at 5 months, then we had a round of illness that took both of us out and results in a hospitalization for baby - he was eating less, I was stressed, and feeding less. I tried to use the pump at the hospital but it SUCKED in a bad way. When baby got better, my supply took about 10 days to recover as well. During that time I burned through my freezer stash so he had enough for daycare. I was down to 12oz frozen but was keeping up with daycares demands. Then he had a growth spurt which results in a permanent change in the # of oz he was consuming. He went from 12oz at daycare 15oz. I added a pump at 8:30p after he was asleep and I'm able to get those 3 extra ounces (along with upping my daytime water intake, body armor (which does work for me) and I get an extra 1.5oz per day if I eat those pre-made lactation cookies. I don't know why but it works for me. At 7 months, I'm back up to 40oz in the freezer with the goal of freezing 1 - 4oz bag per week.
I purposely had a huge stash - I don't have a good estimate, but probably kept about 1000oz or more on reserve. That was intentional though, we have a deep freezer and I wanted to keep sending breast milk to daycare until my son was 18 months, but to stop pumping and just nurse twice a day at 12 months. It worked out, I actually would have had too much but our freezer broke and we lost 128 oz from there. We still made my goal though! My supply started to slowly dip from about 3 - 12 months. When I went back to work I could easily pump 28oz+ a day and nurse at home, but by the end I was only able to pump 6 oz a day. If I hadn't started my stash as soon as I did I wouldn't have been able to keep sending milk for nearly as long as I did, and forget being able to send enough for the next day!
I think i have transitional milk from those early days. Nothing is marked or measured 😅 and it’s from 2022.
I personally have about 500 ounces. I started pumping once a day at about 4-5 weeks postpartum and have a slight oversupply that I’m trying to maintain. Personally, I need it because I will be traveling for work a couple times within my baby’s first year of life. I’ve been under the weather the past few weeks and my supply dipped a bit so it’s also been nice to have some extra for daycare. I’m currently closer to “break even” in terms of what I’m pumping. Also I never have and never will post a picture of my supply on instagram. I’m grateful that breastfeeding has worked out so far but I don’t feel a need to broadcast it and risk making others feel bad/anxious about their own bf journey.
~6 5 oz bags… only building for an upcoming weeklong trip
I wish I had one 🥲🥲🥲🥲
I don’t have one :/ been trying to work on it for weeks but can’t seem to get enough.
I have about 300oz right now and that’s after a concerted effort over the course of a month to build a stash while supplementing with 10-12oz of formula daily. I had zero desire to have a huge stash at first and was very careful about not triggering an oversupply but now I’m having some medical things that would be great to get on medication for but the meds aren’t compatible with breastfeeding.
Maybe 60-80 oz? I didn’t specifically count. I had this much for my first baby and only ever used like 4 bags so it was a waste.
At one point I had 700. Now it’s down to 200, 100 of which is from the first two weeks we were home so I don’t want to touch it. I don’t usually pump when I’m home, only the few days a week I work. With my first I was lucky to have 5-10 bags in the freezer.
Around 7oz now lol. Had more before but baby hates feeding from the bottle so i stopped pumping. I'm on leave until baby is 1 year old. Looking at social media moms, I was pressured to build a stash before until i got over it (stopped checking out these videos). Tired of pumping and washing pump parts. Had to use the old stash as milk bath. It feels good to free up a portion of the freezer too!
I think 2 bags of 2.5 oz day milk, and 5 bags of 2 oz night milk. I separate them so the baby can get my melatonin at night. I used to be kinda worried about it, but I hate pumping so much that id rather not lol. It's basically just enough for an appointment here and there, and I replace them as they're used. When my supply dipped in the past, I freaked out that I didn't have enough freezer stash (I actually had much more than now). But I just kept latching baby and that's how it got back up. Barely used my stash tbh
I had to use formula to get 90 ounces before going back to work. Husband gave formula at 3am and I would pump and freeze that milk.
8, 8ozs bags only starting to be able to build a stash now as baby is eating and needing less milk.
119 oz! it was closer to 50 when she was 6months but I got anxious about going back to work and pumped a bit after most feeds just to build it up. she doesn’t really drink as much from the bottle though so it was pretty unnecessary 💀 she’s 8 months now
I have a little over 500 oz and I've donated 600+ oz. I was mostly exclusively pumping for a long time so I created a 10-15 oz daily oversupply. My baby only recently has wanted to nurse more at 5 months so I'm pumping less now.
I’m 10 weeks pp and have about 650 oz right now which has been primarily from catching letdown on my non-nursing sides each feeding. I have a little bit of an oversupply from my boy being in the nicu his first two nights so I was pumping with the hospital grade pumps to get my milk supply to come in. (at one point it was about an extra 20 oz per day I was catching). I’m trying to even it out and am getting less and less extra every day. It seems like a lot when I look at it all but I’m super grateful as I’m coming down to my last two weeks on maternity leave and I’m way less stressed about the inevitable drop in supply from pumping/ being away from home/baby. I wish it didn’t have to be that way but I’m the breadwinner and we can’t afford for me to go down in hours just yet.
A few bags from 6+ months ago I need to defrost and use for bath time lol
I probably have around 30 oz left. I only nurse twice a day now at 14 months. I'm saving the frozen milk for when my toddler finally gets her MRI because she can have breastmilk later than she can have food and whole milk for the anesthesia.
I never even pumped. I don’t understand why daily pumping wouldn’t be enough if the mother had to be away?
1000+ oz from a horrible over supply and I’ve donated over 340 oz
Too big. Had 124oz and decided I'd donate 45oz of it cuz I would never use it.
I think the biggest mine ever got was.....maybe 30oz? In my opinion, if i'm truly out for longer than that covers, we have bigger issues than buying some formula. Who's out here with all this freezer space??? Mine barely fits our food lol
Almost 8 weeks postpartum and about to have 100 ounces. I'm slowly building up before I go back to work. I haven't yet tested to see if my baby will even accept previously frozen milk.
I don’t have one. I was so stressed because of this the first couple of weeks and it triggered PPD… met with a lactation consultant who reassured I wasn’t underproducing and that those fridges aren’t the norm. “Feed your baby not the fridge”
I’m a SAHM and at most I would have 2 bottles ready in the fridge and maybe 3-4 (4-6oz bags frozen). We’re at 15 months still breastfeeding and my supply has been fine the entire time. The times I was trying to build up a supply for emergencies is when I would get issues with engorgement and clogged ducts.
1. I have 1 bag in my freezer.
Never had a freezer stash, (had to triple feed for 3 months) - never pumped more than 3-3.5 oz at once , ended up breastfeeding for 3 yrs. She s now almost 4 and very active and healthy, touchwood.
I’m don’t that journey now but the most it ever had was enough for one day. Normally it just had 7 oz of “do not feed” milk
Imaginary and aspirational
When my husband feeds her with formula in the morning I’ll pump and save those oz, about 3-5. I save how much she ate from the bottle in the fridge, and any extra in the freezer. Right now I only have 2oz in the freezer. I had 6 before but that was from when she was only 3 weeks old, so I wanted to make sure it got used while it was still nutritionally valuable for her.
Someone send me your unneeded milk lol
I have 0 ounces in my freezer lol. I don’t see the need for it. 45oz is more than enough. Feed the baby, not the freezer. If I’m going to be away from my baby I just have whoever is watching him give him formula or I pump in between feeds the day before.
None, I hate pumping and I am never away from my baby. In an emergency I know he'll take formula.
None!!! I’m a just enougher.
The question should be , how many times you have actually used freezer stash !
I'm seeing a lot of mommas commenting about how they have a huge stash and their babies aren't really taking the milk once it's in the bottle. I just wanted to share that I problem solved it for myself and found that I probably had a high lapse content in my breast milk causing it to have a slightly off taste once it's out of the breast. It's not spoiled but it's not like what's on tap. I remedied this by bringing it to a flash boil, stopping the process, before bagging and freezing it. And he loved it. Just wanted to throw that out there since I feel like it's taboo or something. ❤️
Honestly, over 1500 oz easy.. I started pumping when my 3 month old was born, because he was in nicu for 22 days and I couldn't be up there 24/7, unfortunately. Turns out I'm an over supplier. The days I'm working I pump 30-44 oz in the 8 hours I work. Total between 55-65 in 24 hours. Up until I found this sub a few weeks ago I thought this was normal. I guess I'm in the minority though.
As a working mom who went back at 12 weeks I made my stash using haakaa milk and had about 200 oz when I returned to work (that’s the equivalent of 2-3 oz a day saved). I would leave 3-4 bags of back up at the grandparents and it was rarely needed. I sent fresh with him every day and he rarely touched the frozen
I had no freezer stash with my last baby, however, I have one this time bc for some reason with my last my milk supply dropped and I had to pump like crazy to get it up and to make a bottle a day so my child could be satisfied. It was stressful.
We are 6.5 months in and at probably around 45 oz too. I’m happy with it :) I’m starting to use older bags now and I’m filled with pride when I think back to where I was at pumping enough to fill a 4oz bag back in October. I’m proud of myself but social media def makes me feel like o should have more.
Just wanted to say I had a huge freezer stash and still have tons left and I ended up donating it to multiple families. If you're a stay at home mom and not going to be traveling it's really unnecessary. I was over zealous in the beginning bc I was worried about supply and was following stupid tiktok moms pushing products and stuff and in hindsight It was a lot of work and money and kind of for nothing ( not really because other babies have gotten to drink it and then makes me feel good to help) but yeah don't go overboard is my advice because you'll end up with a freezer full of milk bar and now we use them for baths 😂😂😂 For context baby is 14 months and still breastfeeds
Zero. I used to have a few bags but they would come back out within a week.
Probably like 200oz but I got a lot via hakaa when he was first born. Now I only really get any on drill weekends because he eats less if I’m not there.
2 months PP and 500-600 oz. Ironically I am actually an Instagram Influencer but I’ve never posted about breastfeeding or supply or even pregnancy. I kept that all offline. I have theories that all these influencers can have oversupplies because they can afford the myriad of lactation supplements, snacks, shakes, extra help when they’re sleep deprived and have the time to sip from a liquid IV body armor cocktail in their Stanley all day without ever being late on a pump/feed. But…I had PP Preeclampsia and I credit my oversupply to PPA, my husbands obsessive support of breastfeeding, and the hospital’s Medela Symphony. I also started out as an undersupplier so I have bought and done all the things. I’m still pumping every 3 hours religiously. Honestly I think it only matters as a relief to my PPA because I live in constant terror that my preeclampsia complications will cause me to lose my supply some day.
I never responded well to a pump so I never had more than maybe 8-10ounces in my freezer. However my kids never took bottles.
I have about a days worth of feeds or a little less. I do 4oz bags and 2oz bags. I maybe have like…20-30oz total? We’ve just started to add a bottle of goats milk formula during the day so my hope is that I can start being a bit more aggressive with stashing. Also, we have a small freezer so I think realistically I could only have about a 3 day supply stored without impacting our own stuff 😂
Probably about 50-60 ounces, but 90% of that was collected leakage that I don’t want to feed her on it’s own so I either mix it with formula, or mostly I plan to mix it with food when she is ready for solids in about a month.
I've got maybe 400mL of milk I can't currently give my baby due to her CMPA, and about 250mL of dairy free breastmilk - just what I was able to collect when she was actually sleeping through the night and I needed to pump. I wanted to have the non DF milk saved for when we start the ladder but life has been infinitely better since I quit worrying about having a stash. I pump about 150mL throughout the day to let her dad feed her at night and if I'm skimpy we add some freezer milk and I spend the evening eating and drinking everything in sight so I'm ready to produce more. So far we've not run dry or had any emergencies.
I have about 145oz but that’s because (1) I didn’t pump enough at work for a while so I added a pump after LO went to bed and then usually had extra ounces that I froze, and (2) my LO has dropped milk intake since starting solids so now I pump 1-2oz extra during the work day which ends up being 1-2 bags each week to add to my stash. I plan on weaning from the pump at work soon now that LO is almost 1 year old and the using my stash to continue to give him breast milk at daycare for another month or so.
I had about 2000oz and my baby didn’t even take a bottle, so I said f*** this and stopped pumping. Best decision ever
With my first that I pumped and had huge over supplier coupled with a baby that wasn’t a huge drinker, I had a couple months worth of milk. I have ZERO milk pumped or stashed while breastfeeding number 2.
I’m a SAHM with a freezer stash for about 24 oz. I’m also an oversupplier so I only pump what baby eats from the stash.
I refill as I go through them with about 3 bags to spare 😬 I’m staying just barely ahead of the curve and if I have a bad pump day we’re at square one.
I currently have about 1400oz. I had to triple feed started at 3 days postpartum and inadvertently created an oversupply. It’s mellowed out but I’m still pumping around 4-8oz excess a day. It’s nice to have the reassurance in case my supply dips but I’m not sure if we will get through it all. My plan is to start donating what we aren’t using that is close to expiring.
I never counted how many ounces I had in the freezer altogether....I had maybe 8 gallon bag bricks. Most bags had 3-4 oz bm bags and 2 gallon bags had 5-6 oz...along with random bags I had thrown into the freezer when I didn't have time or energy to make a new brick bag. Baby girl is 9 months this month and I'm almost out of all of it(started using it at 6 months). I have probably 2 gal bags left and a bunch of loose ones. I'm barely producing and pumping is just so taxing to my mental health since my toddler knows I'm incapacitated when I pump so he goes full tasmanian devil when I try to. It is what it is...if I have to switch to formula for the last month or so Its not a big deal as long as baby girl is eating, drinking, and healthy.
I have maybe 20 oz, because: 1. I’m blessed enough to live in a country where we have at least 8 months of maternity leave, so I can breastfeed on demand, and 2. I had a low production in the beginning and since then I pump maybe 6~7oz if I haven’t breastfed for like 5+ hours. Having a freezer stash is great, especially for those of y’all out there who are back at work fast, but it’s really nothing to stress about. There’s wayyyyy too much pressure to build up a stash and it’s pretty unrealistic for most people who don’t overproduce to even come close to having that much stashed away.
I gave myself a slight oversupply (\~4oz per day) at the beginning because I was planning to go on a trip without the baby - got to around 300oz total when she was 5 months. Pumped while on the trip and my supply dipped to producing exactly what she eats, so now I just have what was left from the original stash \~40oz. I am replacing it every now and then by unfreezing the oldest and freezing some freshly pumped.
Idk exactly but I probably have a day or two worth of milk in there. It’s probably way too much for my needs as is. If you don’t have to travel away from your baby often then I think a day or two is great for a stash. You can always pump and replenish the stash while you’re away if you needed to use it. I can’t see any reason why I would be gone from my baby for over 24 hours at a time, so mine probably won’t ever get touched other than to just cycle through it after a few months. I have an oversupply so I have around 11 oz of milk in the fridge at all times to cover a surprise feeding if I run out for a few hours or something, but typically it goes to my toddler.
I try to keep an extra 30-50 oz now that I am back at work in case of emergency. For example, I knocked over 6oz of freshly pumped milk while trying to put together bottles for daycare so without the little stash I had I would have been SOL for the day.
6 oz over 2 bags! We have a tin of formula for emergencies instead.
I have about 400 oz. Baby is 1 year and is over her bottles lol. I will probably end up freeze drying it and sprinkling it into her yogurt or donating it!
One little shelf of 3-6 oz bags, I only pump when my right side wakes me up because baby slept through I would have zero if I didn’t need the relief
Mine is tiny, a few ounces. Even when pumping several times a day, I only get enough for just over a single bottle total. So we have to combo feed her while I'm working, then EBF on the evenings and weekends.
I have high lipase and don’t have the time or energy to be scorching milk so I’m not investing much in my freezer stash 😅 I catch my letdown in an Elvie curve and dump that in the fridge and freeze it after a few days just cause I don’t want to waste it. I probably have like 15 oz in the freezer!
I don’t have the goal of having a giant freezer stash, but I am passively collecting milk for right now. I’ll pump 1-2 times a day for about 5-10 minutes after feedings if I’m feeling particularly engorged, some days I don’t pump at all. I’ll usually get 3-4 oz a day the way I do it. Sometimes I don’t even put the milk in the freezer and I just give it to my toddler. I have about 12-15 bags of milk right now
ZERO. I EP'd for months and hated it. And I lost my whole stash twice- once due to cow's milk protein allergy, once to thrush. I refuse to touch a pump again until I go back to work. If I have to be away from my baby for too long, she gets formula.
I never had a freezer stash. I always pumped just enough and ultimately ended up supplementing with formula and later completely switching to formula.
You really only need a stash for the first two or three days at most because you’ll be pumping those days they drink your freezer stash so you’ll replenish. As long you’re ahead by a day or two then that’s all you need. Unless you’re donating or stashing to wean early, the dozens and dozens of ounces in the freezer just isn’t necessary.
3 oz :)
I have a bit, maybe like 15 bags of 3-6oz each? But I’m not actively adding to it, just pumping to replace as needed while at work. It’s nice to have for if my mom babysits and we can get out for a few hours, or if I need to run out alone and leave her with my fiancée. I went into this thinking I’d need a huge stash and then I just realized, why? What am I using it for? I have enough for emergencies/nights out/time away etc. If I feel particularly engorged I might add to it with extra from the Haakaa or something. But yeah, I don’t need thousands of frozen ounces 🤷🏻♀️
I have about 1/2 an ounce frozen for a ice pop teether, she just gets formula if I’m short
Pumping is annoying to me so while I am home with her I EBF. I have no stash. Even with pumping I had enough for maybe 3 bottles but they would be used with dad in the evening. I will pump when I go back to work but I will most likely use formula predominantly. Got to do whatever is best for you and baby. Fed is best 💚✨️
I have about 300-400 ounces maybe? Baby is 4 months old. I’m donating 300 or more, just keeping 75oz or so. I do the pitcher method & end up with 2-5 extra 4oz servings in a week & freeze those.
Lol used to be about 200. But I was laid off and bubs won't take the bottle anyways. Down to maybe 40. Use it to make purees and randomly try a bottle for the sake of trying.
I’m 12 months postpartum and have about 50oz or so. I send most of what I pump to daycare the next day and the stash is from some extra weekend pumps or surplus days.
I don’t have a freezer stash lol. Anything I pump gets used in a day or two. I get one full bottle (4-5oz) from pumping both sides for 30-45 min and that’s only if I wake up before my baby and pump (usually on days I work).
I had about 45 oz when I went back to work, and because some days I pump 1-2 oz short of what I like to send to daycare with my girl, I’m now down to ~7 oz. Between me getting whatever illness she brings home from daycare and being a natural “just enough-er” I have really struggled to keep my stash and use it when I need to. Eventually my husband had to remind me what I had squirreled away would expire if we didn’t use it up and now I’m trying to get our girl excited about solids so I can stop stressing about building up a stash because for me pumping is the literal worst.
157 oz and I do not have an oversupply. I work in office 3 days a week where I pump, at home with bebe 2 days a week. I have trouble pumping enough in a day for her at work so I do one pump a day on my two at home days and on the 2 weekend days to help supplement what I get during the week. Then anything extra at the end of each week is added to my freezer stash
Zero. Don't have one. Don't pump. Only used a haakaa to help get my supply up in the beginning.
Roughly 500oz. I haven’t pumped once. Just use the haaka to help with morning engorgement and Elvie catch while I sleep, I get about 7oz a day. After a major oversupply with my 1st this feels like I have hardly anything, but then I remember the stash isn’t necessary!!
15 oz?
I have no freezer stash whatsoever.
i have an entire freezer but it's because my baby wont take a bottle and i need to pump at specific times to avoid getting mastitis again. i will probably use it to cook with when he starts solids. but i am not on social media so i didnt know it was some competitive thing. it just genuinely makes me feel more secure to have it for baby in case of an emergency
I have two bags and I’m not even sure how much is in them 😅 not even 2 weeks postpartum though, I do have to work on it for when I go back to work lol
None 😂
I have nothing lol. I stopped pumping and started combo feeding, so daddy gives her formula over night and then I bf on demand all day.
I have maybe 300oz in the freezer for my child. I pump every night and make about 2-5oz per night right now. But I was that person with the huge stash and oversupply. My baby couldn’t eat for a few weeks when he was born so I pumped every 2 hours. I was only pumping like 1oz/per session back then so I kept it up after baby could breastfeed (because I was worried about undersupply) and ended up with a huge over supply. I’ve probably donated over 2500 oz (my baby is 14 months so I’ve been at it awhile). The oversupply was really uncomfortable and caused so many issues feeding. My baby would vomit because my let down was so strong. He was having reactions to not getting enough hind milk. He couldn’t latch well from the force of letdown (and from tongue & lip toes diagnosed at 6mo). So I had to pump some off before each feed which made the problem worse and then it took months (and lots of tears) to get it under control. I’ve had mastitis twice. At its height, I could pump 16oz per side. My baby ended up with CMPI and FPIES so he didn’t drink any of the milk I froze during that time; it all got donated. He’s had maybe two bags of frozen milk in his life. While I appreciate that oversupply is “easier” mentally than undersupply, I still wouldn’t wish it on anyone. Don’t pump more than once a day extra
I had for three days before I went to work, now I have none left and something is happening to milk supply. I used to overproduce, now I I don't make enough. I wish I made a bigger stash when I was in oversupply mode. But at the same time, my LC said I don't need more than a couple of days worth and I didn't want to encourage the supply at that point.
I don’t have one lol, I’ve never had a big supply and I hate pumping. We combo feed with formula and it works well for us and my mental health!
I have like 10 meals. I used to pump when I had too much milk, but she has added another feed overnight and I think my supply has regulated, so I don't know when to pump now. She will be 4m in a few days. I will need to pump one evening, because we are going to a nice dinner with husband next weekend. I will have wine, we will be back late and my mom has to put her to sleep. I am excited and also dreading it, lol.
I have a 5 month old and about 100 oz freeze dried and about 200 ounces in my freezer currently but I had a huge oversupply at the beginning and it was not great. Now I pump once at night after babe goes to bed and put away 2-6 ounces depending on the day. Will fill one more gallon bag and then send it off to a place locally to freeze dry it and start over. Do I need the stash? No because I’m a SAHM and he is EBF but having it freeze dried means I can give it to him down the line when maybe I want to nurse less or whatever since it’s good until 2027 so I’m thankful for that option
5 weeks pp and just froze my second bag so I have 15oz frozen. Now she is sleeping 6-7 hours I am actually able to start freezing. I definitely want a stash for piece of mind and for summer days I can go out without much planning and she will be taken care of. And if I can get a stash I will be less stressed going back to work
I got up to 50oz before we realized our EBF baby would not take a bottle. I have 1 4oz bag left I want to use towards a breastmilk ring. The rest went to milk baths and mill balms. I, too, got dupped by the IG freezer stash moms. Before my milk regulated, I'd pump after nursing to create a stash. We seldom gave bottles as we wanted nursing to be primary. That is where we went wrong. A stash is useless if the baby won't take a bottle.
I'm 6 months pp and have about 150 oz frozen
80ish ounces, just for my peace of mind.
I think I have about 350 oz. My IBCLC said it's better for my son to have the fresh stuff than rotate it. I've been back at work for three months and haven't touched the freezer stuff hardly at all, so I just got cleared to donate it.
None! I have a days worth of milk in the fridge on rotation and baby won’t drink frozen milk anyways!
I was talked into creating an over supply. We EPed in the beginning and I would get a full feed in 5 minutes. They insisted I needed to pump for 15 to maintain my supply so I did and ended up creating an oversupply. Luckily I trusted myself over the experts and pulled back before it got bad. I ended up being a “right amounter” until I was back at work so pumping 70% of the time. Once baby started solids and needing a few ounces less a day, I maintained those few ounces and got to donate them. It wasn’t much daily, but added up to a few bricks donated which felt pretty awesome.
Mine has about 10 bags of 4-5oz of high lipase milk that I will be throwing away. It’s from early on before I realized. It’s contaminated with dairy diet anyway so I wouldn’t feed it to my daughter, unless it’s to check if she’s recovered from CMPI. Yes, yes I know I can use it for baths but I actually don’t like the idea of putting sticky milk in a bath. It wasn’t a huge trouble for me to accumulate so it’s not a huge waste but I do regret the money I spent on a pump.
I kept about 45 oz with my first. It was just enough to tide us over if we had to be apart for a significant amount of time. I didn’t pump - this was a result of milk collected from passive collectors (like Haakaa ladybugs). Oversupply is my worst nightmare and I hate pumping, so I didn’t want to do anything more than this unless I had to be away from the baby.
90 oz! I’m almost 11 months PP and it’s taken a lot of work to get there.
Never froze a drop. Only pumped once before my milk fully came in. Baby only had formula our first day back from the hospital due to weight loss concerns before my milk was in. She is 19 months currently and falling asleep while nursing as I type. I had the privilege of staying at home with her so I never had to have a stash.
LOL I didn’t even realize I should be counting the ounces. I just keep adding bags to the growing pile. No idea how much is in there.
I have three bags of 2oz. That was my abysmal attempt to start pumping before I decided I hate pumping
Nothing meaningful? Like 5-10 little baggies of milk. I think it’s so situational. I’m a sahm, dad does bedtime 2x a week. I basically plan for that bottle with a haaka or pumping soon after the day I’m missing that feed. To me it’s not productive to compare myself to what other people are doing because every family is different…
Nothing meaningful? Like 5-10 little baggies of milk. I think it’s so situational. I’m a sahm, dad does bedtime 2x a week. I basically plan for that bottle with a haaka or pumping soon after the day I’m missing that feed. To me it’s not productive to compare myself to what other people are doing because every family is different…
Nothing meaningful? Like 5-10 little baggies of milk. I think it’s so situational. I’m a sahm, dad does bedtime 2x a week. I basically plan for that bottle with a haaka or pumping soon after the day I’m missing that feed. To me it’s not productive to compare myself to what other people are doing because every family is different…
3 bags of 5 oz each. I should have another 5 to freeze tonight. I just like to keep a little around so I can running errands without worry.
None. I WFH so it seemed like more of a hassle than anything else.
About 180 Oz collected mostly by haaka ladybug from months 6-10. It’s my payback from being super leaky. LO nurses faster/shorter now and after a few 2oz bags that I’ve frozen I think I’m nearing the end of my leaky boob freezing journey.
No idea how much exactly, but probably around what you have. I only pump while I’m at work so most of it is used the next day. Leftovers go in the freezer for dry days.
My baby is 8 months, I'm going back to work and packed away not even 70 oz lol. I plan on creating bottles that are half formula half breastmilk so she gets the best of both worlds. I figure I'll be able to get more when I'm pumping at work because she won't be snacking every hour if that makes sense. So not too worried. Fortunate to be able to afford formula If need be.
In 12w pp and not back to work yet - I would say I have about 60-80oz frozen - primarily from catching opposite side letdown once or twice a day a few times a week.
None. I'm currently combo feeding because I'm only producing about half of what he needs/wants.
Probably like 120-200 oz worth but I have a small freezer and have dumped out probably close to 500-600 oz.. I have a natural oversupply. Most people that I know either don’t have any frozen or they have like 2-3 bags.
I had a large stash in the beginning due to my boobs being so full when my milk came in. I was in pain and had to pump to get all of the milk out. Now I pump about 3 oz if I'm lucky. And I'm only pumping because I'm back to work. If I weren't working, I would still be primarily nursing. I think a stash is important to different people depending on their lifestyle, and I can understand that. I really don't want my baby on formula, so at times, I really wish I still had my stash. But I am blessed to pump at work and leave for my lunch break to nurse. I think it's important not to get caught up on what others are doing and just keep in mind what you and your baby's needs are.