When my first baby was born, I really wanted to nurse but circumstances led to me pumping exclusively for her for six months. During that time I pumped more than she drank, so I froze several months worth of breast milk as well. At the time, the best method to store the milk was in a zippered breast milk storage bag. I noticed that my daughter didn’t seem to like the milk as much after it had been frozen and sort of wondered why.
The Parent Blogger’s Network sent me a new milk storage and feeding solution. Now that I’ve seen the MilkBank system and read about what it does I understand why she didn’t like the frozen milk as much. Too bad MilkBank wasn’t around then!
The MilkBank is a system of bottles and storage containers that vacuum seal the milk inside the phthalates-, PVC-, and BPA-free plastic bottles. In fact, even the packaging is free of these harmful plastics. The system comes with a hand pump that removes the air from the bottles. It’s the air trapped inside the storage containers that causes milk stored in traditional ways to degrade. With the air removed from the containers the milk stays good and retains more of the nutrients for longer than 6 months in the freezer.
Another great feature of the system is that you store and feed with the same containers. No more fumbling with the plastic bags and hoping you don’t spill any of that milk that you worked so hard to pump! And these bottles are guaranteed to not leak, which is another big plus in my book. How often have you been feeding your baby only to realize the milk is running out the cracks in the bottle instead of going into your baby’s mouth?
When I pumped some milk for Baby D before I went out to dinner last Friday, I had the opportunity to try the system. At first, I admit I was a little intimidated by all the components. I also wasn’t sure I was vacuum-sealing the bottle correctly. But I was really making it harder than it was. (I can’t be the only mom who makes things harder than they need to be, right?) I poured the milk into one of the containers, grabbed a storage cap and placed it on top of the container, put the pump on top and pumped 2-3 times to pump out the air. Then I thought that I hadn’t done it correctly so I checked and tried to pull the top off and discovered it was on tightly and the vacuum seal had indeed worked!
This system is definitely worth checking out for any new or expectant mama. It would make a great shower gift. Are you expecting or a new mama? Know any? You could win a starter kit just like the one I reviewed. Just leave me a comment here and tell me what feature of this system seems the best to you. (Bonus points if you go to the web site and tell me about a point I didn’t discuss here.)
Get an extra entry if you tweet about the giveaway. Come back and leave me the link to your tweet for it to qualify.
The winner will be chosen Friday February 27th.
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Disclaimer
The opinions expressed here are exactly that, opinions. In most cases I have received the item(s) I have reviewed for free. In some cases I have been given a small honorarium. In all cases I have given my honest opinion of the product or service.
I will not review items if I do not have any initial interest in it. You will most likely never find a review of the best onions, for instance, since I do not currently like onions. However, I reserve the right to change my mind. Hey, it happened with tomatoes. I used to hate them and now I love them.
I will not review items if I do not have any initial interest in it. You will most likely never find a review of the best onions, for instance, since I do not currently like onions. However, I reserve the right to change my mind. Hey, it happened with tomatoes. I used to hate them and now I love them.
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9 comments:
Heather,
This is fascinating! I remember stock piling milk in my freezer for that rainy day...liquid gold I called it. This would have been an amazing system to have had back then. Who knew you could do such a thing?
So, please don't enter me in the give-away... as I have no need for this... but I was intrigued enough to learn what it was about. Great review.
My sister is expecting and she will need something like this. She will be going back to work after 8 weeks, and hopes to keep breastfeeding. A solution like this is ideal. Please enter me!
I tweeted!
http://twitter.com/DowntoEarthMama/status/1248116333
Interesting. I did the bag and freeze with both my kids, mostly to add to cereal once they got to that stage, since neither one of them would take a bottle.
I would love to try the system with this baby :)
bless you for pumping for so long! After 2 months of exclusively pumping i just couldn't do it any longer, but luckily my son and I figured out the whole nursing thing around that same time. Once we started solids, I was back to pumping at night for cereal milk. We've also had some freezer bags of milk go bad as I do try to freeze a little here in there "just in case". This would be wonderful to try out, I've loving the idea of an all in one system!
I now know two people expecting who would LOVE this!
I know I would have appreciated a system like this, especially when I had the boys.
Thanks so much for your thoughtful review.
I really appreciate you taking the time and effort. Without honest feedback, we couldn't make our products better.
Thanks for giving the Milk Bank system a whirl!
Steve Saari
Milk Bank/Dex Baby Products
steve@dexproducts.com
Ah -- the spilled milk. That really used to get me because I hated pumping, so I hated wasting any precious drops of milk. So I like how you can store and feed from the same container.
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