How to Store Breastmilk

[Seekrit]

While I'm hoarding like a squirrel coming into winter, I thought of this one..

I have the boobs. I hope they'll work.
I have a breast pump. I hope THAT works..
but once as I've pumped the milk.. what do I do with it? I know I'll freeze it.. but how? are there special little bags I can find? containers? Anything? the bottle that we'll be using on the next feed?

Hmm.
Ta!

[Goosie22]

Hi,
You can buy little bags, you can put it into special milk trays or icecube makers, you can use the bottle, or you can use just about any plastic container as long as its air tight and spill proof and clean. The milk can stay in the body of the frezzer (not the door) for 3 months once its defrosted 24hrs.

[misskittyfantastico]

I just freeze it in the bottle...but any container would work.

[Seekrit]

Excellent!
For some reason I had it in my head that I read somewhere not to store it in bottles. :)
This'll make it easy.

Interestingly enough, and completely off topic, I had a really scary dream about my boobs the other night which has freaked me out about touching them or breastfeeding and the like :/
I'll get over it, I'm sure, but it was pretty weird :S

[misskittyfantastico]

mmm preggy dreams! Actually though, the weird dreams don't end with the birth, my DD is teething really badly and I wish a tooth would just come through - anyhow, last night I dreamt that she grew a tooth out of her ear!

[Seekrit]

:eek: My dream was about the Areola was flapping off my boob and there was a flower pattern under it with thick, grey "milk" but it was thick like lotion or something. I was a bit freaked out.

My boss, in all his wisdom, said that everyone has odd dreams but preggie women (and no doubt mummies) remember them more often because they sleep lighter, those who sleep deeper tend to forget their dreams *nod sagely*

[MariaO]

You can buy special little bags that you pump straight into (at least I did with my lovely Medela pump) .

[Beany]

The Avent pumps pump straight into a food storage container that is freezer safe.

For all other pumps and things, just make sure you buy freezer safe storage containers.

[Tam-I-Am]

Excellent!
For some reason I had it in my head that I read somewhere not to store it in bottles. :)

I think this is just glass bottles - I don't know the science of it, but glass bottles destroy the anitbodies in breastmilk, so you might as well be feeding formula. Basically, find out what attaches to your breast pump- ie mine's an Avent one, that the bottles attach directly to, so after I've expressed the milk, I pop it straight in the freezer, in the same container I expressed into.

BTW a lot of people on here have said that you don't have to steralise containers to store breastmilk in - I'm not sure I agree, I steralised EVERYTHING for the first 6 months (and then, introduced solids, wasn't steralising the spoon or bowl, so didn't bother with it anymore), and found that a microwave steam steraliser was so much easier than boiling everything. They're about $20 in target or the likes.