Storing EBM-any ideas

[jmacg]

Just wondering what you do for storing breastmilk in the freezer. I have been putting it into the Glad ice cube bags but this is a bit fiddly to get out. What do other people use? Got my MIL and other visitors coming over the next few months so wanting to freeze it and stock up. I have a MEdela breast pump but the bags are expensive so looking for alternatives.

J

[veve]

I used to just sterilise bottles and fill them up to the top!!?? I hope that is the right thing to do?? :laughing: bit late to find out if it isn't!!! then I could just defrost them and warm them and put in the teat...

I use to label the bottles so I knew what to use first... they can be frozen for months though .. in the right freezer...

xxx

[cheezelkat]

I use double bagged zip-lock bags, or little plastic containers that have been washed in extremley hot water.

[borntobemummy]

I used to freeze it in bottles too, just mark the date you expressed, I think it lasts 3 months in the freezer. I just put the date on a piece of paper attached with an elastic band.

[Merlion]

This is what I used to do and it really worked well and it even works once your baby is onto semi solids:-


I would express the milk into a clean sterlised bottle (doesn't matter how much you have)
Then I would put into ice cube trays (I bought two sets of Tuperware brand ice cube trays ($34.95 for a set of two) due to the cover on it (glad wrap over the ice cube trays work well too) and put them in the freezer.
Then once frozen put into zip lock bags. (First I would work how much Jess would take of express milk 120ml usually, then I would put the correct amount of ice blocks into the zip lock bags)

Then when you need 60mls all I did it was take it out the frozen zip lock milk blocks chuck them in them in the sterlised bottle put in a container of hot water, heat it up to room temp and "bob's your uncle" ready made booby juice :chef:


Normally I would express as much as I could and at the of the day (it can last in the fridge for about 3days before you have to use it but it can last 6months in the freezer) I would do this.

This works well and its not hard to do and you don't have the mess of trying to pour from the zip lock baggies into a bottle. "What a mess" :eek: my baggie of expressed booby milk exploded in my cousins fridge when we went to S'pore (as silly me forget her ice trays).

For baby food what i did was cook a whole batch of veggies and food processed them. Let it cool down poured into ice cube trays (at this stage I had about 6 going at once) and then once frozen put them in zip lock bags and took how much I needed and defrosted it in the microwave for a few seconds.

With this bubs this is what I will be doing. It was so easy and quick and all I had to do was grab maybe 2 zip lock bags of milk if my parents were babysitting (I went back to night shift when Jess was 5 months old for 4 hours a day) and all my mum had to do was put it in the fridge and heat when Jess was hungry

[Tam-I-Am]

I have an avent breast pump, so I pump into their bottles and freeze....

Sometimes I don't have enough bottles though, so I bought some breastmilk storage containers - they have an adapter to go on an avent breast pump, so you can pump directly into them, they hold up to 180ml, and are about $20 for a packet of 10 with lids and 2 adaptors, or $10 for a packet of 10 cups alone.

They come steralised and are reusable up to three times, after which they are great "tupperwear" type containers...I've found them to be really useful.

Here's (http://www.myshopping.com.au/ZM--867295_Childrens_healthcare) a link.

[Mischief]

I use Glad Ziplock sandwich bags.

I put 150ml in each bag (I tip a little bit in first to make sure the bag doesnt have a hole in it!!), push the air out of it, the zip it closed and stand them up in the freezer. They freeze into a sausage shape, then when I need to defrost them I stand them in a bowl of warm water....they defrost so fast. Then just tip it to the side and cut the tip off a corner....pour into your bottle and bobs ur uncle! :)

Make sure you label them with the date though! They last up to 3 months in your freezer (the kind over the fridge with a seperate door) or up to 6 months in a deep freeze.

[aardvark]

I'm using the Avent breastmilk storage bags. Sterile and cheap.

They are no longer available in the shops, but I have picked up quite a good supply cheaply off ebay, in sealed packets.