Milk storage question

iamrobyn

Hi! I'm planning to use a medela symphony at work and a medela pump in style at home.  Any suggestions for how to store the milk? Are the kits medela sells worth it? With 2 babies will I need larger storage containers?  Are other brands compatible?  Any advice would be much appreciated!

cauli001

It is probably worth getting the Medela storage containers since you can pump directly into them.  Then you just screw the lid on and put in the fridge.  They come with a nipple too, but my kids were picky with that sort of thing.  Also - I use Dr Browns bottles.  At home I was able to pump directly into the bottles and MH could feed them at that moment, or we would cap them until later.

trish3905

I use the Medela 6 oz. bottles to store milk in the short term and Lansinoh bags to freeze.  Medela makes bags that you can pump directly into, but I am not a fan.

Fun stuff  

omgtwinsfeb11

For short term storage, I use the Medela bottles.  For long term storage, I use the Medela freezer bags.  However, like PP said, I think the Lansinoh bags are better.  But I got the Medela ones as gifts, so I'm not complaining.  

Maybe this is unique to our NICU, but I was able to get all of my Medela bottles from there.   They had them available for moms to pump at home and bring in milk and then I would just reuse them so I was able to build a stash.  Because of that, I haven't had to buy anything.  Hopefully your babies will be full term and this won't even be an option for you, but you might want to hold off on buying anything for now.  Regardless, you won't need the pump bottles in the hospital right away, so you could always send someone out to buy the kit later if you decide you need it.

leviandlandensmom

The medela bottles are great for storage in the fridge but they take up too much space in the freezer so if I'm going to store in the freezer I pour it into the Lansinoh bags.

Sharra711

I pumped into the Medela storage bottles, feeding bottles that came with the pump, the tubes that the NICU gave me, and eventually Gerber bottles (they are $0.99 each and fit on the pump and you can get the 10oz bottles)

When I was ready to freeze I used the Lansinoh bags, cheapest and thickest.