One thing I promised myself I’d do with this blog is to share any great ideas I came across with other moms or moms-to-be. Well, I found one, and I’m repeatedly kicking myself for not figuring this out sooner. Hopefully by sharing it with others, you’ll implement this plan from Day One and make your life a little easier!
This seems like common sense now, and maybe some of you super smart chicks figured this out on your own. I didn’t.
In fact, I only figured it out when I saw the above picture in the paper recently.
It was a story about selling your extra milk online, but what caught my eye wasn’t the story’s content. It was this woman’s stored milk. Look at that domino-style method she’s got going there! It looks awesome! And quite a contrast to what my freezer looks like:
It’s not rocket science, but basically, you let the milk freeze in the bag lying FLAT. Then it’s easy to stack, store, and keep in order (which is important since you need to use the oldest milk first).
There’s a storage container sold on Amazon that uses a spring-loaded paddle to flatten the bags inside the freezer, but it doesn’t hold much. Plus it’s about $17 for just one (look at my freezer; I’d go broke buying containers for all that milk!). But the girl in the top picture appears to be using the plain ol’ clear plastic bins you get at Target for a few bucks each. Smart!
Just this week, I asked my husband to grab a bag of milk from the freezer to send to daycare the next day – “Grab a September bag!” I told him just as he stepped out the door. I heard lots of banging and the sound of frozen milk bags being tossed around. He came back in a few minutes later, grumbling about what a mess the freezer was. He couldn’t find the September bags, and the January and December were scattered all over the freezer willy-nilly. I spent about half an hour yesterday reorganizing it, but it’s still near-impossible to organize it when every bag is shaped differently.
From here on out, I’ll leave a spot on the freezer shelf open, and lie the bags of fresh milk there until they freeze. Then I’ll line up the bags in a container, put the new ones at the back, and ta-da! Booby milk organization!
I just wish I’d figured this out five months ago. 🙂
Do any of you breastfeeding/milk-storing moms have any other great ideas to share?
Hands free pumping bra and a car adapter. If I couldn’t pump during my commute I couldn’t do it. The hands free bra also allows me to pump and feed her a bottle at the same time. The bra is called simple wishes. I got both the adapter and bra in amazon.
I too am a huge fan of the hands-free pumping bra! I don’t know how anyone pumps without one. Seriously they should just come with the pump, right? I also have a pumping bra I like called Pump-Ease. I like that the openings are shaped like eyes instead of being round, makes it easier to get the horns in and out! 🙂
Smart idea too with the car adapter. My pump had a battery pack that I’d use when I needed to pump in the car.
I agree with the pumping bra…it should come with the pump! It is so finicky without it.
I used the battery pack for a while but I pump twice a day in the car so batteries were getting expensive. Highly recommend the car adapter.
As for your current milk storage issues (your picture made me laugh btw) why don’t you gather up similar date, put them all in a plastic bag and label the bag? I am thinking gather all the January 1st-15th in one bag, gather all the January 15th-31st in another bag, etc. At least then you can work out of one bag at a time instead of sifting through all those little bags.
Stephanie
Stephanie, you’re right on, because when I organized the freezer last weekend, that’s exactly what I did! I used a few Target bags and organized my October and November milk. December is in a couple of baskets, but I’ll probably move it to a bag here soon too. 🙂 Good thinkin’!