Plastic Free Breastmilk Storage and the Haakaa

Hakuna Matata… more like Haaka Matata.  It means “no breast worries.”

I don’t know who said don’t cry over spilled milk, but honestly, I get a little emotional seeing even one drop of my precious breastmilk lost. My sweet stuff is like liquid gold filled with immune boosting antibodies, prebiotics, probiotics, vitamins and all the good good. It was a tragedy seeing my breast pad saturated with breast milk every time I fed Coco. I almost went total savage one time, wanting to ring out the breast milk from the pad into a bottle…desperate times, desperate measures.

I stumbled upon the Haakaa purely coincidentally when Mark and I were frequently traveling to meetings and little Coco Bean was cluster feeding. The pump I was using at the time was just too much of a hassle and we found ourselves regularly pulling over so I could feed her safely. This was a big waste of time and wildly inconvenient (I use the Willow pump now, I’ll do a review on that in another blawgy blawg post)

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Of course, Target has everything I didn’t know I needed.

We ventured into Target to find a hand pump that allows the milk to go straight into a bottle and of course, there are 20 different, tantalizing options to peruse and that is when I ran across the Haakaa. I thought it was a hand pump but I was VERY WRONG. As it turns out, it was also EXACTLY what I needed and I didn’t even know it.

It’s a pump but for me it works best when feeding. I put Coco on one boob, the Haakaa on the other and I’m able to double fist it and feed her while also producing between 3-5 ounces of milk to store! At first it seemed like just a milk catcher but your Haakaa pump actually draws milk from your breasteses.

You attach it to your boob by squeezing the bulb and then snuggly affixing it to yourself creating a vacuum, then it starts sucking the milk unaided.

The suction stimulates your breast to let milk down and then it flows smoother than EMINEM rather than just dripping. While Coco was nursing on one, the Haakaa pumped the other!

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First things first, we gotta empty out those milk jugs!

1. Allow your baby to latch and once they are happily nursing, attach your Haakaa on the other boob for your freezer stash. I use it when I’m overflowing, so it’s not every time Coco feeds. 

2. Place your nipple in the neck of the Haakaa. Try to come at your breast from below like your baby would – just imagine bringing a baby chin first to the breast. Do that with the Haakaa. Try not to let your nipple touch the silicone to avoid friction. Once you are happy with the position, squeeze the round body of the pump and release to create suction. Do it once and you’ll be a pro. 

You will feel the pressure of the suction which you can release and try again if it’s too strong. It’s never been too strong for me but I have friends who were a bit more sensitive in that area. The tighter you squeeze the bulb, the stronger the suction will be. You can also fold back the flange, put your nipple in the the neck and then let it collapse over you boob for a bit tighter hold. Once it is attached comfortably, you should start to see milk begin to drip into the bulb.

Once you’ve drained your milk into the Haakaa here’s my plastic-free storing system

• Pour breastmilk in these 2 ounce silicon molds

• Once frozen remove the milk cubes and store them in a silicon Stasher bag

• I date my Stasher bags with the weeks date; for example July 28 - Aug 3 and I fill one to two Stasher bags a week with my Haakaa milk.

  • Update: I now also use the containers from my willow pump and cube freeze. Since I pump at all different times of day, I started storing my milk in stasher bags with the time of day as well. Example: Morning milk, afternoon milk and evening milk to match the different components in milk. I also put the week dates on it.

• Lay flat in the back of the freezer

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Here are a few tips:

• Make sure to use the oldest dated breast milk first. Not just because it will go bad first but because breastmilk is a living changing substance that constantly adjusts to meet the needs of your baby.

• Write the time of day and use that milk closest to the time you’re feeding your babe. There are different components for different times of day that will help with sleep and things like that. 

Plastic has a bad rap and for good reason. Even BPA free doesn’t mean it’s not full of other hormone disruptions and neurotoxins like BPS or BPF, which have been shown in infant studies to decrease sperm count and increase the chances of infertility, so I try to use glass and silicone containers if I can.  I use these molds and the frozen milk fits perfectly into these bottles!

Lemme know if you have any questions!

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As always thanks for visiting my little space online

I just love your guts!!

Chanelle Cozette Doyle

#TheGutGirl

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