Freezing/Defrosting Breastmilk

First, you need to buy bags to freeze your milk in. I personally liked these bags. Label the bag with a Sharpie before pouring the milk in. Make sure to include number of ounces and the date.  I recommend freezing in 3-4 oz increments – too little and you are wasting bags, too much and you may waste milk because you can only heat up once. Pour the milk in and make sure you get all the air out before sealing – I did this wrong many times before figuring it out. Lay flat to freeze.

After the milk is frozen, I organized my milk in empty soda cartons – no need to pay for a specialized product. This kept the milk organized as was easy to grab when I needed.

***Make sure you have your frozen milk labeled and use the oldest milk first. If you are pumping for a while, make sure you are dipping into your frozen stash and freezing new milk periodically because you will be so sad if your milk expires! Remember, frozen breastmilk in a regular freezer is only good for about 4 months. Remember it’s really important to use good sources of information when researching online–  I like to reference la leche league for any questions I have regarding breastmilk storage. https://www.laleche.org.uk/storing-your-milk/.

To defrost milk, I would take the milk out and leave in the refrigerator overnight (remember though, it needs to be used within 24 hours). I would put the bag into a bottle warmer (I liked this bottle warmer) for a few minutes depending on how cold the milk was – make sure to read the product’s instructions.  FYI on the Lansinoh bags, if you fold the tabs at the top of the bag in half (bringing the sides together) it works as a spout to make sure the milk pours out nicely. Got that one wrong a few times too ☺