Making the Most of Your Milk Storage Space

Wednesday, 3/15/2017

A big part of a pumping mom’s routine is keeping up with her milk stash. And for many of these moms, having an organized system saves them time and makes milk easier to manage. While there are countless ways to store your stash, the following guidelines are great for ensuring milk storage doesn’t take over your life – or your freezer.

1. Label each bag with your name and pump date. When you include your name on each bag as it’s stored, then those bags are ready for daycare, donating, or any other purpose that would require identification on your milk.

2. Fill to suggested volume, no more than 2/3 full. Bags can be filled to other volumes, but by leaving a little room, the breastmilk has space to expand while it freezes.

3. Freeze flat. This allows milk bags to fit more efficiently into smaller or designated spaces in your freezer, providing more space for your other frozen goods.

While these guidelines are great suggestions, we do accept milk stored in other ways. Donors often bring us milk that’s been frozen in bottles, bags that aren’t flat, or a number of other methods. At the end of the day, every ounce makes a difference at Mothers’ Milk Bank of North Texas. As long as we have a donor’s name and/or ID number with her donation, it can be deposited into our system and processed to feed the fragile babies we serve.

For more information about donating breastmilk, click here.