Gerber Seal 'n Go Breast Milk Storage Bags are a "must have" product for any breastfeeding mother that pumps and stores breast milk! If you want storage bags made of top quality, durable plastic that are easy to use and convenient as well, look no further.

Last year in June, I gave birth to my third child. Almost instantly, he became a pro at breastfeeding. I spent those first few weeks nursing on demand and building my milk supply. Then, before I knew it, my 12 week maternity leave from my part time job as an RN was coming to a close and it was time to begin building my freezer "stash" of frozen expressed breast milk in preparation for my return to work. Where had the time gone? I never knew 12 weeks could pass by so quickly!

In the beginning, I used the Medela Breast Milk Storage Bags that were included with my double electric breastpump by the same company, but I wasn't very happy with these at all. They have the "twist tie" (ie...like bread ties) tops which made them difficult to use. More than once I spilled several ounces of my precious mother's milk as I attempted to tie and seal each bag. And because they don't form an air tight seal, some of my frozen breast milk became freezer burnt in just a matter of weeks. So, to me, they performed very poorly.

I had my first experience with the Gerber Seal 'n Go Breast Milk Storage Bags several months ago when my son, Tristan, was still a newborn. Gerber was sending out free samples of these bags just for registering at their site online, so I signed up! In less than a week, my sample arrived in the mail. So now I was ready to try them out at my next pumping session.

These Gerber Seal 'n Go Breast Milk Storage Bags are pre-sterilized and are made of durable, freezer grade plastic. They hold up to 6oz of frozen breast milk and best of all contain NO twist tie closures! Instead, these bags have a "ziplock" seal, so I liked the looks of them immediately. As an added bonus, Gerber enclosed a $1 off coupon off the purchase of these bags. Give me coupons and I'm a VERY happy woman!

After my pumping session was complete, I then transferred my expressed breast milk into my Gerber Seal 'n Go Breat Milk Storage Bags. As a general rule of thumb, it's usually better to store breast milk in smaller portions (at least for younger babies) as there is less waste that way and also because larger portions take longer to thaw. So I placed 3oz of my mother's milk into each bag and them simply sealed them. (However, if larger portions are to be stored in these bags, make sure not to completely fill them so there will be plenty of room left for the milk to expand when frozen.) I then used a black felt tip marker (ie...like a sharpie) and wrote the time and date on each bag.

Frozen breast milk is good for up to 6 months in the freezer, so it's important to rotate your stock and use the oldest milk first. Also try and keep frozen breast milk stored in the back of the freezer so it's less likely to thaw and then refreeze when the door is opened and closed with regular use. Through trial and error, I found that even though the Gerber Seal 'n Go Breast Milk Storage Bags did an excellent job in keeping my milk fresh, it's still very helpful to "double bag" frozen breast milk to preserve optimum freshness as well.

This is a very simple as well as cost effective practice. Take a large gallon sized ziplock baggie and place the smaller portions of frozen breastmilk sealed with Gerber Seal 'n Go Breast Milk Storage Bags inside. This will help keep your "stash" fresh for much longer and will decrease any incidences of freezer burn.

When it comes time to defrost frozen breast milk, simply place each individual bag in the refrigerator overnight for use the next day or directly into a bowl of warm water for immediate use. These Gerber Seal 'n Go Breast Milk Storage Bags may also be used with any of the popular bottles that use the disposable baggies as well. So this makes them very convenient to use as they can go directly from the freezer onto the bottle without having to transfer the contents to another container.

NEVER microwave breast milk as it kills many of the beneficial antibodies found within. And NEVER refreeze breast milk once it's thawed. Defrosted breast milk is good for 24 hours.

The only problem I encountered with the Gerber Seal /n Go Breast Milk Storage Bags was when I actually tried to FIND them to purchase in stores. I do most of my shopping at Wal-Mart, and although recently I've found they have started carrying this product, they initially did not have them in stock when I needed them months ago. I checked the Gerber online site to find stores in my area that sold their storage bags. Target and Toys R Us were 2 of just a few others that had them.

In summary, I highly recommend the Gerber Seal 'n Go Breast Milk Storage Bags to any nursing mother that pumps breast milk for storage. Ease of use and durability of the product are just two of their many desirable qualities. This makes the extra effort sometimes needed to locate these bags for purchase well worth it.

To order your FREE sample of these bags today and decide for yourself, go to:

www.gerber.com (under "our products" go to "baby care" and then "breastfeeding" to find the correct page)

Or simply copy and paste into your browser:
http://www.gerber.com/ourproducts/babycare/brecr.asp

Enjoy!! Happy breastfeeding :-)


**For a highly recommended double electric breastpump choice, please check out the following review of the Medela Pump In Style:

http://www.epinions.com/content_8088751748



Recommended: Yes