I have 20-30 6-ounce bags of milk stored in my deep freezer. I rotate them out every time I have a long weekend at work so none are older than July or August currently. My daughter is 10 months old and I plan to stop pumping at work when she is a year old. I currently pump three times a day during work and wonder if I should go down to twice a day and supplement with the frozen milk to use that up? I would like to pump only twice a day so I can get more work done. I still plan to nurse her morning and bed time after she is a year old.
Minnow2011-12-07T14:35:06Z
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First, wait until she hits a year old and see if she's eating enough solids that stopping pumping at work won't cause a problem. You probably won't have any issue, but some babies aren't ready to have cow's milk for instance at a year old, and it would stink if after all that you found yourself dealing with her being sick and wishing for that milk, you know? Definitely you should be able to bring down the number of pumpings, but it's so wonderful that you have been able to do this. :)
Second, I would contact a milk bank and see if they would be willing to accept it as donations. Unlike underground selling networks, the milk bank prioritizes who they give the milk to. So it would go to the preemies or really sick babies who can't have anything but breastmilk. I think the last time I checked, they need something like 8million oz to meet the needs of these preemies, but right now they only get a little over 1million oz, so a lot of preemies go without and many have complications that could be prevented with breastmilk.
Continue to pump and rotate out until a year. When you quit pumping, you'll just use up what you have left. Nursing only in the am. and pm. will pretty much cause your breasts to start shutting down and your daughter will likely wean within 2 months.
If you instead want to get rid of all the extra milk, then check around locally. Lots of mothers are requesting frozen breastmilk given that milk at milk banks are pretty much restricted to hospital use only now. I included a link below, but you might try contact a mothers of multiples group to find out if anybody has a need.
I didn't pump a lot since I am a stay at home mom but what I did pump I ended up using in her food. Since it tastes better then just water and they aren't suppose to have cow's milk until they are 1 then it works really well. If by the time she is 1 and you still have a lot of milk left over, I would donate it.