Playtex One-Step Breast Milk Storage Kit
by Playtex
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Our Price: $26.95 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Baby Product See more product details |
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Baby Products Reviews of Playtex One-Step Breast Milk Storage Kit
Customer Review: Read This for LONG TERM Storage Tips.
Summary: 5 Stars
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. :)
Customer Review: Convenient but clumsy
Summary: 4 Stars
Like some of the other reviewers, this is the first storage kit used in storing my wife's breastmilk. The ring adapters work well with the Medela pump, but you'll need at least two of these kits if your pump is of the double action variety.
Pros -
1) Adapters work with Medela collection pumps of both the manual and powered variety.
2) No need to transfer breast milk from storage to bottle, which can reduce some of the nourishment found in breast milk. The drop-in liners function for both storage AND feeding.
3) 10 drop-in liners included here. These liners are not as fragile as those made by Gerber. They withstand heating and freezing rather well.
Cons -
1) You go through liners like crazy, but that is to be expected.
2) If you plan to store breast milk ahead of time, you'll need plenty of these kits. Say you or your wife has to go into surgery (as mine did to correct some complications induced during the delivery of our daughter). My wife takes five of these collectors to work, each of which effectively holds 4 ounces. I've also got some breast milk in the freezer, others waiting to be cleaned. All told, we've purchased 5 of these kits. These costs add up.
3) If you do as they say and just screw the kit into the bottle for feeding, the Playtex drop-in holders cannot give you an effective reading on how many ounces are left. For one, the liners collapse (to be expected), which does help in reduce the amount of air your baby gets. Second, the extra ring which fits around the latex drop-in raises the drop-in above the "1 ounce" mark. To get a proper reading on how much milk is left, you have to remove the latex drop-in from the screw-in ring and place it directly into the drop-in holder.
Ok, so it sounds like its a pain. But it works, which is more than I can say for some of the other systems. Overall, Playtex's system works great for this stay-at-home Dad.
Customer Review: A registry must for breastfeeding moms!
Summary: 5 Stars
I absolutely love this storage system! After showing it to one of my girlfriends, she replaced everything she used for baby #1 with Playtex and used the Playtex system for baby #2.
It is a very clean and simple system and minimizes the risk of contamination since you do not have to transfer milk from one storage device to another. It worked perfectly with my Medela Pump in Style; you use the same bag for pumping, storing and feeding. I have a deep-freeze chest freezer and used this for storage. I followed the manufacturer's suggestion to double bag for freezing. I never had any problems. If you want to see how much your baby is eating, with clean hands, simply lift the bag out of the ring and drop it directly into the bottle shell (the ring is heavy-duty enough that it lifts out easily). Remember, when you are breastfeeding baby directly from the breast, you don't see how much baby is getting. Dr. Sears says, "A baby who is getting a sufficient volume of milk will usually have at least 6-8 wet cloth diapers (4-6 disposable diapers) per day after the initial three days of start-up time. Enough wet diapers tell you that your baby is safe from dehydration." Everyone has different preferences, but I honestly can't see how anyone could be dissapointed with this storage kit. I only purchased two kits because most of the time, I fed directly from the breast, and eventually, dd wouldn't take a bottle, but for moms who plan to return to work, I would recommend more kits. I really only used my kits in the beginning when I was pumping a lot because I had so much milk.
Customer Review: Very convenient but a little costly
Summary: 4 Stars
I am breastfeeding my daughter and am working full-time. While I was on maternity leave I was only pumping occassionly, and I used the Gerber bags that zip closed to store and freeze. This worked ok for occassional use but I knew I had to find something more convenient when I was going to be pumping 6+ bottles per day. I came across the Playtex Storage Kit and it has been wonderful. I bought two kits, as one kit only has one pump adapter and 4 storage rings--now I have two adaptors to accommodate my Medela double pump and I can have up to 8 bottles prepared at a time. They work great because I can pump right into the liners, refridgerate them, and then that night I drop the liners into the bottles and wash the storage rings and then re-pack them for the next day's pumping. I've found it's easiest this way because I can make do with only having 8 rings, and it is also easy to read the number of ounces in the bottle because I'm not using the additional ring on the bottle. It's also very easy for the sitter because the bottles are made and ready to be warmed. The only downside is that I also had to buy 8 bottles to accommodate this. It is really convenient if you are going to pump and then use the milk in a relatively short period of time. I still use the Gerber ziplock liners when I freeze milk because it stores more compactly in the freezer, and also doesn't take up so many of the rings, as they can be costly.Customer Review: Great for the occasional pumper
Summary: 5 Stars
I love this item for a baby that is only going to take an occasional bottle so mommy and daddy can have a date, etc. I use mine a little differently. I put the liner (I use the cheaper soft bags) directly into the bottle. Then I screw on the collar and pump adaptor. I pump directly into the bottle then screw off the adaptor and screw on a lid (nipple ring with a plug in it). Then when the baby sitter goes to feed the baby, she does not have to take off the collar and risk loosing the bag of milk. She just screws off the top lid and screws on a nipple (using a contrasting color nipple ring with the plug for a lid may help distinguish which part should be unscrewed). (This also solves that problem of having the milk raised above the readings on the bottle.)
Only thing I don't understand is why they don't give you more of the plugs that go in the lids. You wouldn't need the lids if they would just give you the plugs, you could put them in the rings that go with your bottles....
I know this is confusing; you kind of need to be looking at the pieces to understand what I'm talking about. For occasional bottling, 1 newborn gift set and 1 breastmilk storage kit is more than enough for what I need. My babies definately take to the nurser nipple easier, so that is how I ended up with this system. Everything washes in the dishwasher, so clean up is easy.