Milk Notes
There are two main brands of milk storage bags, Medela and Lansinoh. Medela makes pumps and bottles; their milk bags attach to the pump mechanism with special straps and the bottom flares out so they stand up when filled. They only hold 5 ounces.
Lansinoh has other products for mothers, like lanolin for chapping and disposable shields for leakage. Their bags don’t really attach to the mechanism, the idea seems be that you pump into a bottle and then pour it into this bag to freeze it later. If you are creative you can make it work, and they are marked for 6 ounces but will hold a lot more if you are just refrigerating it, probably shouldn’t overfill if you plan to freeze because the seams will burst and it’ll leak when you thaw it. They also flop right over if you try to stand them up when filled, and do a weird liquidy slinky off the table on to the floor if you are not quick.
With either brand you should squeeze out the air before closing to prevent freezer burn, and mark the label area with the date and quantity. But date/quantity get boring. So sometimes I mark extra little things on the label. Makes Zac smile when he unloads the bag that night, or when we pull a bag from the freezer later. Like “Gobama!” on election day, or calling the amount “6++” or “Gallon.” Today the date and quantity were “2+4=6.”
I think with a little more creativity milk notes could be a real artform. If I tried a little harder I could have a whole freezer full of mystery milk. No idea how much per bag or when it was pumped, but wonderful witty sayings. Hmm. Maybe not.
