It’s no secret that a breastfeeding mother truly does cry over spilled milk. I never thought about this as it relates to leaked milk. I remember when I first heard about the idea of collecting the leaked milk directly from the breast to be used later. It’s hard to deny the brilliance. I have teamed up with Fairhaven Health to bring you this personal review.
Breastpads are great, but what if we could collect that milk that is being wasted and use it later? Some women leak as much as 4 ounces of milk per day. Depending on the age of your child that is more than one feeding! And we all know that breastmilk can be used for many other things such as skin care and a home remedy for just about any ailment. Breastmilk soaked in a shirt or pad is wasted breastmilk.
Ever had this problem? (The milk leakage, not the toddler left hook to the eye, although I’m sure many of you can relate to that too.)
I put the Milk-Saver and Freeze products to the test in my own home to see just how well it would actually work. It was difficult to get started because whenever I sat down my 3-year-old would have taken it somewhere while he pretended it was a glove. He loves this thing. He thinks it’s hilarious to put it on his hand and uses the carrying case for his small toys.
**Tip for use: If you have a grabby toddler keep it hidden just under your chair/couch or tucked in a magazine rack, etc. Because they will take it and hide it and laugh when you ask where it is.
Once I was able to get my hands on the Milk-Saver I tucked it into my shirt. Make sure you put your nipple in the hole! It’s fairly subtle. It’s smooth on the front mimicking the shape of your breast inside of a bra. It seemed bulky at first, but when I actually tucked it in and looked at this photo above I do think it is quite discreet.
**Tip for use: Put it in place first then adjust your shirt for nursing. When I pulled my shirt down to nurse I found that it was a bit more difficult to slide it in because the fabric had already been stretched. When the Milk-Saver was already tucked in my shirt pulled down just fine.
A huge, major, amazing, wonderful bonus to this product is that your child can’t twiddle your other nipple! This bonus might only apply to tandem nursing moms since most of the leaking occurs early on when baby can’t really do this. However, if you have a new baby, are leaking and also nurse a giant, twiddling toddler then go ahead and add this to the list of interventions for this annoying habit!
I personally don’ leak very much and not with every feeding. However, the times I did leak I was really happy to catch the milk. It was satisfying to have this leftover breastmilk to freeze or even just hand it to my 3-year-old to gulp down in a cup; rub it on my face to help with acne; throw it into a smoothie, or on my baby’s bottom! The uses and benefits of breastmilk are endless.
Once I have completed my nursing session I carefully pull out the Milk-Saver and set it in the travel case that doubles as a stand. Then I grab a freezer bag and dump it in.
**Tip for use: Be careful getting up so you don’t spill it getting over to the fridge.
Now comes the second product of this review. The Freeze. This is a breastmilk storage system that saves room and organizes your milk. Any person who freezes breastmilk should definitely have this. The Freeze lives in your freezer. You place your freshly collected milk in the freezer bag and place it on the metal shelf on top. This freezes the milk flat. Then you take your flat, frozen milk and slide it into the open slot on top. Your milk is automatically being saved in the order it was collected. When you need to use the frozen breastmilk you slide the bag out from the bottom slot. It will be the oldest milk; the milk you want to use first.
**Tip for use: Even if you collect enough milk in one day to fill the Freeze then you can simply pop off the front (which easily disassembles for cleaning), pull all of the milk bags out (which are now neatly organized in the most space-saving way possible), put a rubber band around it and label the top bag with the date. It’s a hell of a lot easier than having a freezer full of misshapen bags each labeled with a different date.
I found the Milk-Saver and Freeze to be useful and I would recommend this product to breastfeeding mothers. The Milk-Saver comes with a travel case and can easily go with you. I personally would not bring it along on a shopping trip or out to dinner simply because of the steps needs to collect the milk. These are situations where I would just use a breastpad. However, a woman who leaks a lot might still find it beneficial to bring it along considering the amount she might collect in one breastfeeding session. I would definitely bring it along on longer trips away from home. Even if you don’t end up freezing the milk because you are away from your storage system you still get the benefit of protecting your shirt from a milk stain. The Milk-Saver is great for nursing when mom is in an upright position. Although you really could turn it sideways when lying down. It won’t work great for when sleeping, but let’s not get carried away. Mom needs sleep anyway. Some leaked breastmilk just comes with the breastfeeding territory. The Milk-Saver and Freeze do very well what they are advertised to do. Badass stamp of approval.
I highly recommend you check out the Milk-Saver and Freeze and the huge selection of fertility, pregnancy and breastfeeding products at Fairhaven Health!
Abby Theuring, MSW
