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(More customer reviews)I used the Playtex drop-ins system with my son.He was exclusively breastfed for the first year of his life (with enough milk stored to last him another two months, until he was about 14 months old).I am about to have my second child and plan on using the same system, as it worked so well with our first child.
I am a school teacher, and after my maternity leave was up, I needed a way to pump and store milk for longer periods of time (as in several weeks ahead of time).I am a busy person, and didn't want to have to clean bottles all the time, so the drop-ins system looked good in that regard.However, I did not want to spend a fortune on the storage disks/lids in these kits, and I figured that I would have to do this if I wanted to store the milk in the drop-in liners longer than a week.BUT I found a really good alternative that worked for me.Here's what I did:I bought 2 or 3 Playtex Breast Milk Storage Kits.I would pump directly into the drop-ins liners with my Ameda pump, put the disk/lid on the liner, **put the liner in the freezer right side up...NOT on its lid (if need be, use a spare bottle to support the liner until it freezes)**, THEN after the milk is frozen, TAKE OFF the blue disk/lid, and put the liner into a large Ziplock Freezer baggie.The disk can be washed and used again on a fresh bottle right away.The milk-filled liner is sealed in a freezer safe bag (I would date the bottom of the liner so I knew how old the milk was - always use oldest milk first!), and I would keep adding filled drop-ins until the Freezer bag was full.
Here's why this worked so well for me:When you pump into other milk storage bags, which are often much larger than one feeding (and some are really expensive!), you have to thaw out the entire bag...which means that the milk must be drank within a certain number of days.With the drop-ins (and storing them in a large ziplock baggie), my daycare provider would store the entire ziplock in the freezer, and she could pull out a drop-in sleeve of milk for each feeding, and it was just the right size for each feeding.If my baby was still hungry, she would just take out another sleeve of milk, and so on (I did pump some smaller amounts of 1-2 ounces in liners for situations like this).The waste was minimal....and believe me...if you are a pumping mom, then you know how time consuming it is to pump, and you don't want to see any of it wasted!Plus, my daycare provider didn't have to mess with trying to pour milk into a liner or bottle, because she still had the convenience of the drop-ins system.
I was able to pump enough milk to have a month's supply on hand for most of the first year of my son's life.I did not have problems with freezer burn on the milk (get a good freezer bag, though), and I did not have to buy tons of sealing disks.Like I said before, when I stopped nursing my son at a year of age, I still had another 2 months worth of milk stored up to last him through 14 months of age.He got the good benefits of breastmilk for an extended amount of time, and I was happy with the convenient system.A tip on this method, though: the 4 ounce and 8 ounce liners work best for doing this.The expandable 10 ounce liners don't work well, because once the milk is frozen in the expanded liner, it is virtually impossible to slide the blue disk off.I actually found that the 4 ounce liners worked best for us, and it was easier to thaw out 2 of these as opposed to one 8 ounce liner, simply because a.) the 4 ounce liner thawed out more quickly (the second 4 ounce liner could be warming as baby was being fed) b.) we seemed to waste less, and c.) it was a convenient reminder to get a good burp out before continuing the feeding.HOWEVER, if you're looking for an 8 ounce liner and can only find the 10 ounce expandable liner, then I have found that the generic brand of liners is still sold in 8 ounces (Wal-Green's, Parent's Choice, etc.).These liners worked just as well for us.
Hope this helps those of you who are looking for a more long-term storage solution.:)
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Playtex Drop-Ins System - Breast Milk Storage KitProduct Description: The One StepTM Breast Milk Storage Kit is the convenient way to store your breast milk. Pump, store and feed in one Playtex Drop-Ins Liner.Features Pump into liners that drop into your baby's bottlesNo pouring or spilled milkNo extra bottles needed for storageNo bottles to washFreezer safe Includes 6 Liner Rings6 Sealing Caps1 Pump Adapter10 Playtex Drop-Ins Liners (4 OZ) The One StepTM Breast Milk Storage Kit is compatible with all Pla
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