Freezer stash

What It Means

A freezer stash is expressed breast milk that has been frozen and saved for later, so a caregiver has milk to give when the parent who breastfeeds is at work or away. It's built one pumping session at a time and used oldest first. CDC's storage guidance sets how long frozen milk keeps: about 6 months is best, and up to 12 months is acceptable.

How Parents Say It

• "I've got about 60 ounces in the freezer."
• "I'm pumping once a day to build a stash before I go back."
• "Grab the oldest bag, it's at the front."

The Breakdown

How long breast milk keeps, per CDC

Worked example. A parent returning to work expects the baby to take three 3-ounce bottles on each workday. Two work weeks is 1010,000 stepsA popular daily step goal that began as the name of a 1960s Japanese pedometer; later studies find health benefits begin well below it. See more days, so 3 × 3 × 10 = 90 ounces. Frozen in 3-ounce bags, that's 30 bags. The numbers here are only an example; how much a baby drinks from a bottle varies, so check with your pediatrician about amounts.

Portion and label. CDC suggests freezing small amounts, 2 to 4 ounces or the amount your baby takes at one feeding, so less is wasted. Write the date on every bag and keep them toward the back of the freezer, away from the door, where the temperature changes less.

When to ask for help. If pumping enough for a stash is hard, or your baby won't take a bottle, talk with your pediatrician, a lactation consultant or your local WIC office.

Good to Know

CDC's storage times apply to milk for a healthy, full-term baby at home. Start the 24-hour clock for thawed milk when the milk is completely thawed, not when it leaves the freezer, and never refreeze milk once it has thawed. A baby born early or in the hospital may have different rules, so ask the care team. The full guidance is on CDC's "Breast Milk Storage and Preparation" page.

Related Terms and Categories

• Breastfeeding

  Feeding a baby milk directly from the breast. The AAP recommends breast milk alone for about the first 6 months, then alongside solid foods.

• Milk supply

  How much breast milk a parent's body makes. It's driven by supply and demand: the more often milk is removed, the more the body makes.

• Pumping schedule

  A plan for when and how often to express breast milk with a pump, usually matched to how often the baby would otherwise feed.

• Combination feeding

  Feeding a baby both breast milk and infant formula, in whatever mix suits the family, also called combo feeding or supplementing.

Baby and toddler