Breast milk storage containers--sterile?

[petesgirl]

I was going to buy some BM storage bags for when I'm pumping at work but DH told me about a lady he works with who freezes it in ice cubes trays and then just thaws a few at a time.
My question though--ice cubes aren't sterile but the bags are. Is that important to freeze in something sterile? I don't sterilize her bottles every time...

[abh5e8]

Well, it so nice to just pump right into tha bag, seal it and freeZe. I do lots of smaller bags like 3 to 4 oz and then thaw as needed. The icecube trays seems messy. Then u have to wash bottles for pumping and trays and bottles for feeding.

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[megs4413]

I wouldn't do it personally and I honestly can't understand what the advantage would be. Pumping directly into the bag is so simple. How does she label and store them? I'm envisioning how you can do it with baby food you make at home and that just doesn't seem appealing with BM at all to me! It *is* a good idea to store in increments (like 2 oz or 4oz in each bag, not just however much you pumped) so that you're thawing a correct amount. It limits waste. But, that's achievable without the added step of ice cube trays.

[petesgirl]

Oh yeah! I forgot that the bags attach directly to the pump! So glad I asked here. :)

[klwa]

I'm one who froze in ice cube trays. My reasoning was that I wasn't always a consistent pumper, sometimes I'd get 8-9 oz, other times two. So, by freezing in ~1 oz increments, I could get the right amount out for DC for the bottles. Or, when DC started drinking more yet I was still bottle feeding from my older stash, I could add a couple of extra ice cubes into a bottle without thawing 4 ounces. With DS I froze in storage bags & had a lot more trouble with getting the right amount unfrozen without unfreezing too much. When I realized I could use ice cube trays, it went much smoother, FOR ME!

Oh, and as for storing, since a PP asked, I always transfered the cubes once frozen into a ziploc freezer bag that would hole a full day's supply in one bag & wrote the date on it. That way I was sure to use the oldest milk first, just like you would with BM bags.