Hellobee Boards

Love the lansinoh bags.

I used the lasinoh bags and the gift bag storage method, worked great! I always pumped into bottles and then poured into the bags. That way I could control how much was in each bag to prevent thawing too much and having to throw some away.

http://greenlitebites.com/2011/06/breast-milk-storage/

the kiinde bags you can pump directly into, but they have twist tops and are much more expensive than regular milk storage bags. you also have to buy an adapter for your specific pump brand.

@Miss Ariel: You're supposed to lay the bags down before they're frozen, so that they freeze flat. I never had problems with leaks, I was always really diligent about making sure they were sealed all the way though.

The lanisoh bags always leak, I pump into bottles and pour into Nuk bags.

For freezing I liked the Lansinoh bags. I froze them flat and never had issues with leaking. It saved alot of space and looked alot neater in the freezer than the Medela bags.

I just switched from bags to freezing 1 ounce bars. It's so much more efficient and the bars fit in any bottle! Also so much cheaper buy the tray once and freeze in ziploc freezer bags instead of the expensive milk bags!

http://www.amazon.com/Milkies-20060401-Milk-Trays/dp/B000ZK3YBC

@jetsa: Newbie mom question... How do you thaw them out?

I liked these Ameda ones to pump into: http://www.ameda.com/accessories/milk-collection-storage/store-'n-pour-breast-milk-storage-bags/store-'n-pour-breast-milk-storage-bags-getting-started-kit

I mostly used bottles though, the bags were just for emergencies if I forgot bottles. I found bags were easier to spill and it was hard to tell how much was in them. Plus, I always wanted to recombine everything so that it was in even amounts, so I rarely just pumped into the bag and threw it in the freezer.

@kiddosc: I did the same with mine and it worked great.

I hated the medela bags because they didn't freeze flat or pour out easily once defrosted.

I froze flat in lanisoh bags too without any leaking. Now if only I had known I had a lipase issue, all my milk wouldn't have been garbage

ETA- I pumped in to ameda bottles then poured in to the bags.

Right now I store in bottles, which isn't a helpful answer. We got (literally) about a hundred over the course of our nicu stay, and we have the room in our deep freezer, so it's the easiest for us.

@jetsa: if i didn't have a TON of leftover lansinoh bags from when I had E, i would get those trays! And I plan to if I run out of bags

Lansinoh bags hands down.

I pump into bottles so there is no chance to spill. Then I put them into lansinoh bags. I only put 5 oz per bag because that's how much my LO roughly drinks each time, date them, and I lay them flat in the freezer. Huge space saver! If you think your stash would rapidly grow, start putting them (laid flat) in containers organized by month. This way, your older milk from 5 months ago wouldn't be stuck all the way back in the freezer and you'd be risking melting / thawing everything when you try to dig out older milk every time. Start now before you have to "organize" your freezer when you have 5 months worth of milk in there as a gigantic mess (like i did).

The Medela bags sucked because they don't lay flat and just wasted a lot of space. I tried pumping into the M bags directly and they just spilled, so I just won't do that. I can wash bottles rather than wasting my milk. I don't quite get the freezer bars/boxes... so you'll have to buy 100 of them if you have a ton of frozen milk..? (I literally had at least 60-70 bags of 5 oz milk in my freezer at one point)

I use honeysuckle bags. You can pump directly into them if you want, but I don't because i pump less than an ounce per side so i pump into bottles and consolidate after a few sessions.
I picked honeysuckle after reading tons of amazon reviews from many different brands and they were the best reviews for not leaking. Also, they come with the milk bags AND ziplock-type "extra" bags that you put the milk bag into while defrosting in case it does leak if you're worried about it. I haven't used those yet, but it's a nice backup option.