Breast Milk Storage Bags – How to Use Them Correctly

If you’re a breastfeeding mama, you know that pumping and storing your breast milk is essential for your baby’s health. And while you can store your precious liquid gold in freezer-safe baby bottles, breastmilk storage bags are more convenient, cost-effective, and space-saving. Whether you use reusable or disposable breastmilk storage bags, learning how to use them correctly is important. In this article, we’ll discuss some easy tips to help you get the most out of your breast milk storage bags.

The most obvious step is to ensure that your breast milk storage bags are clean before use. Wash and sterilize your breast milk storage bags as per the manufacturer’s instructions. You can also find specially designed cleaning and sterilizing kits for breastmilk storage bags that make this task easier. These kits come with a set of breastmilk storage bags, a cleaning brush, and sanitizer solution.

Once you’re finished pumping, transfer the breast milk into the sterile breastmilk storage bag and seal it. Label the bag with the date and number of ounces so you can keep track of it as you store it in the fridge or freezer. This will give you a record of how long your stored breast milk is good for, and it’ll also help ensure that you use the oldest milk first. This is known as the FIFO (first-in, first-out) method of asset management and is important for safe, healthy breastfeeding.

You can also pump directly into your breast milk storage bags, which makes the process a lot faster and more efficient. If your breast pump has an easy-connect adapter, you can simply place the bottle attachment on your pump and then pump directly into the bag. This is especially useful if you’re pumping for multiple babies and want to save time.

Be sure not to overfill the milk storage bags, as this can cause the bag to leak or break when frozen. Leave a couple of centimetres of space at the top of the bag so that the milk expands as it freezes. It’s also a good idea to label the breast milk storage bags with the date and time to avoid wasting any milk.

When it comes time to use your pumped breast milk, thaw it in the fridge or in lukewarm water before feeding. You can also use a breastmilk bottle warmer to warm the milk to your baby’s preferred temperature.

Once you’re done with the thawed milk, remember that it’s only good for six hours at room temperature, so it needs to be used quickly. If it doesn’t get used within that time frame, you should discard it. This is because thawed breastmilk can easily harbor bacteria that are harmful to your baby’s health.how to use breast milk storage bags