Breast milk storage bags are a great way to store your liquid gold since they take up less space, protect your milk from contamination, involve no clean up, and can easily be labeled and stored in your fridge/freezer.

Tear off the top plastic portion to open the bag. Using a permanent marker, write the date and time on the bag and any medications you took on the day you pumped. 

Pour breast milk into the bag. The amount should be equal to what you expect your baby to eat in one feeding, for example 3-4 oz. Do not exceed 6 oz. 

Remove excess air and seal completely. Lay flat to freeze.

To thaw, place upright in the refrigerator or place the sealed bag in warm tap water.

Once thawed, pour the milk into a bottle.

Returning to work after having a baby can be challenging since you’ll probably be away from your baby for several feedings. Pumping at work will likely be the solution but can raise questions like how often should you pump and how to store your breast milk. Use this guide to start preparing for your return to the office!

2 weeks before returning to work:

• Pump for 10 minutes following your first morning nursing session for the first few days and store the milk.
• Once you feel comfortable with pumping, choose a nursing session to replace, then pump for 15-20 minutes just before you think baby might be hungry.
• Feed baby this pumped milk.
• Once the bottle has been introduced, offering 2-3 bottles per week should help avoid future bottle refusal.
• If planning to go back to work, slowly increase the number of feedings that you pump and bottle feed instead of breastfeed.
• Most mothers need to pump every 3 hours while away at work.