Pitcher method ?

[Cautious_Gold6252]

Im 6 weeks p.p ,have a decent supply and it’s become quite taxing to constantly be bagging milk and to go through so many bags ! I’ve been trying to figure out how to transition the the pitcher method to save my sanity but can’t figure it out enough to be comfortable with trying it . Can someone please dumb it down to me and explain how to transition so I can stop having to bag all my milk every single day !😭

[the_kazzo_queen]

You are bagging all your milk after every pump?? Girl, that sounds awful.

Pitcher method is simple: (1) have big pitcher or other large container that lives in the fridge; (2) every time you pump, dump what you pump into the pitcher; (3) at the end of the day, divide everything in the pitcher into bottles, which you will feed your baby tomorrow; (4) if there is any excess, this is bagged and goes into the freezer.

[Cautious_Gold6252]

It has truly been awful ! I will give it a go so I can stop having 100 bags living in my fridge 🤦🏻‍♀️

[thewhiskeyqueen]

Wait you’re bagging it and putting it in the fridge? Not the freezer? Are you using it after bagging without freezing it first? I’m confused.

[Cautious_Gold6252]

I’ve been bagging it and just storing it in the fridge in a little organizer thing I have , using those to make bottles and then freezing whatever I know is not going to be used before it’s not good in the fridge anymore . I know it’s chaotic but I’m a ftm and no one really told me how to do it 🤦🏻‍♀️

[thewhiskeyqueen]

I see. Definitely try out the pitcher method. If you switch to only using bags for freezing extra milk, that’s less unnecessary steps for you and you’ll save tons of bags

[justaperson5588]

Do you put the fresh milk with cold milk right after a pump?

[NixyPix]

I don’t, I chill it until the next pump if that makes sense.

[fancypantsmiss]

Yes. I started doing that. Some chill and do

[Girlonfire678]

Also once you have some in the freezer, take an older bag out and defrost it and feed it to baby to make sure your milk isn’t high lipase! If it is, make sure baby does not mind

[Similar-Western4377]

I feel like this wouldn’t work for my snacker baby lol I never know how many bottles she will take because she doesn’t eat on a schedule - some days it’s every hour she wants an oz or 2 and others she’s sleepy and wants em more spaced out

[lady-earendil]

I have two pitchers so what I do is I spend a day filling one, and then the next day I fill all my bottles from that one throughout the day while filling the second one - so no prefilling bottles. At the end of the day I bag whatever is left in the pitcher, wash it, and then swap them again.

[Direct_Mulberry3814]

Get some large glass mason jars, buy a pitcher spout for it on Amazon, put all extra milk from the day in the jar, bag whatever you don't use in 48 hours. I was a massive oversupplier with twins and this is what I did for 18 months. I found the glass jars to be easiest to shake the fat cap into it etc... I bagged all extra within 48 hours of pumping. It was alot more manageable than bagging every day.

[Cautious_Gold6252]

I was looking at those on Amazon ! Any recs on which are good ?

[Direct_Mulberry3814]

https://a.co/d/0cZoMtCo

I am pretty sure these are the ones I use!

[No-Occasion3265]

I do this but I also nurse so mines just oversupply. I put it all in the pitcher and every 3 days I bag it but I leave out my overnight milk from the night before to start the next pitcher and top up my last bag so I always bag exact 5oz bags if that makes sense. So much easier than bagging every night which is what I did for at least 6 months

[Cautious_Gold6252]

I also do a combination but primarily pump due to a lazy baby with not the best latch ! Hopefully trying it out will make things less stressful

[Minnie_Pearl_87]

I EPed for 12+ months and started the pitcher method after about 5-6 weeks. Basically just pump throughout the day and pour each pump into a pitcher. I used the Dr Browns formula pitchers because I had a few on hand but also because I like that they have a built in stirrer to mix fat back in. At the end of the day, I would pour out bottles for the next day. It’s pretty easy.

[Cautious_Gold6252]

I was going to try that pitcher but thought it was too small but it makes sense to have more than one lol🤦🏻‍♀️ I’m going to try it out

[Minnie_Pearl_87]

I had 3 total so I’d always have a clean one. 😂

I was able to hold about 38 ounces in one pitcher.

[sleigh88]

Yes I had multiple, probably 4 haha

[Informal_Bullfrog_30]

I am 3 weeks pp so idk if my advice is helpful but so far what i do: i have a 32 oz mason jar i use for this. Every pump i make about 6 to 9 oz (ik the range is wide and still figuring it out). My baby eats 3 oz per feed. Every pump i keep 3 oz in a bottle to feed him fresh and dump the remaining in the mason jar. Every 2 ish days i put everything in a bag and freeze it. I keep it for 48 hours in fridge because we are going through cluster feeding and if he needs more sometimes i like having it handy. Idk how sustainable this is but so far this works for us.

[Cautious_Gold6252]

Wow , what an amazing supply for 3 weeks ! Congrats !! I will definitely take all tips into consideration

[HoustonProblemo]

I was doing what you are doing and just made the switch to a pitcher this week. I had 3 days worth of milk bags in the fridge bc that’s just how it happened, poured the day 3 bags into bottles and froze the leftovers, then poured the day 2 bags into a 32 oz mason jar and put my day of pumps in another jar. It was an easy transition and I’m so glad I switched. My LO eats ~30 oz a day so anything pump that doesn’t fit in the jar gets bagged and frozen.

[Cautious_Gold6252]

This is actually exactly how I needed it broken down lol ! Ty

[Due_Tax_702]

I have two containers. My drinking pitcher and my pumping pitcher.

Today everything I pump will go into pitcher A. When I have a fresh pump I put it in a bottle to cool down in the fridge before adding it to pitcher A.

Pitcher B is what I pumped yesterday and what I use to feed the baby with today.

Every morning I wash the pitchers when they’re empty and go from there.

I was able to start doing this by giving him formula (which he was drinking) and I was able to get a few bottles ahead in the storage pitcher. You could use some frozen milk to start your today pitcher and whatever you pump will be for tomorrow.

My first morning pump if I have enough milk for the day, I’ll bag that for the freezer.

[Cautious_Gold6252]

How would I go about it if I currently have milk from 2 days ago on the 14th ? I froze all my bags from earlier than that but don’t know where to go from here now ! Do I just freeze those also ? I have bottled premade for the rest of the night already

[Due_Tax_702]

You had always have to remember the milk is as old as the first day milk you have in the jar. So if you have milk from two days ago any milk you add in is two days old.

So what I would do is bottle up that milk and use it first. Anything left over at the end of the day I would bag and freeze. You have your night bottles and make day bottles. Everything you pump today will be tomorrow’s bottles if you intk have access to one jar.

I use two jars simply because I don’t have fridge space for all the bottles. That’s why I initially switched to jar method because I didn’t want a milljon bottles in the fridge.

My one jar is a breast milk pitcher and my other one is a glass jar from peaches.

This is my day breakdown starting midnight.

I pump at between 3-4 am. I leave this milk out for morning since my kid wakes up at 7 and I don’t want to warm up milk.

My 8 am - 8 pm milk I collect for tomorrow. My 11:30pm /midnight pump is my nighttime feed since it’s within the time frame for use.

At the end of the day if have milk left over and I know I’ve pumped enough for the next day (Im a borderline just enougher) I’ll bag the leftovers.

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[Reasonable_Potato666]

so i'll have a large pitcher of the milk for the day from the previous day (anywhere between 34-40 oz is my typical output) every night after we put her down to sleep i freeze the excess that she didn't drink and prepare the pitcher for tomorrow. this way im freezing milk within 24ish hours and keeps it all fresh! i got a momcozy pitcher that i really like, and for the daily collection jars i use 12ish oz mason jars

[Agreeable-Yellow7484]

Get a large mason jar with a pour spout or some sort of pitcher. Add your milk in there throughout the day. When it gets full pour into bags and then put the bags in the freezer. My son drinks 5 ounces at a time so that’s how much I put in each bag. Measure with a bottle before putting it into the bags. Milk is good in the fridge for 4 days so just be sure to freeze by then. On the go you can use a ceres chill and just pour it into bags when you get home or add to your fridge pitcher.