Pumping gives mothers more freedom to leave their babies with their other parent, whether it’s for work or simply getting out of the house. Anyone can feed your baby a bottle, but if you decide to pump and leave the house for longer than two to three hours, a cooler bag is a must-have item. Not to mention that it will keep your breast milk cold until you get home and put it in the fridge or freezer. With so many options, you’ll want to carefully consider what cooler makes the most sense for you. This means thinking about: You can include your baby milk bottles in your family cooler too. Just be mindful of how often this will open, and consider whether a consistent temperature can be maintained for your breastmilk in the larger coolers we describe below. If bub didn’t finish that bottle, no need to worry – follow the below guidelines to determine how long you can keep the leftover breastmilk! If the breastmilk was freshly expressed, it can be kept up to 24 hours

If you’re simply using the bag for work, a heavy-duty insulated cooler isn’t needed, but when traveling long distances, you want something that offers heavy insulation. Leakproof We have a detailed guide to breastfeeding and travelling with breastmilk that may cover many more of your pumping and breastmilk transportation questions. Short Trips vs. Long Flights Let’s dig into all the details now on the leading brands of breast milk cooler bags for travel; noting that there’s no one-size-fits-all, and you may need different bags in different travel scenarios. Best Overall Breastmilk Cooler: Skip Hop Insulated Breastmilk Cooler Remember to always use storage bags for your breast milk and label them with the date, so that you will know whether it has expired or not. One caveat is that it's not machine-washable. While the inside of the bag is easy to wipe down, if you have any large spills or happen to stain the outside, it will need to be hand-washed.

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Now, specifications. Made of microfibre, the bag measures 6.46” x 6.1” x 5.31”, so it fits into the larger end of our options. Both the bag and bottles are BPA free. The cooler will hold other (shorter) bottles, but because of its design, it is quite short, meaning a lot of bottles won’t fit. If you are planning to use it for anything bigger or taller, even moving up to the Medela 8oz bottles, then you may be disappointed. It is also designed to fit inside another bag and doesn’t come with a carry strap, so you can’t easily transport it around on its own. This is a great choice if you already have one of the Medela pump or diaper bags, but otherwise, we think there are better products out there. Pros Storing breast milk in small quantities will help avoid waste. If you're freezing it, make sure you label and date it first. Defrosting frozen breast milk At some point, every pumping mum has questions about how to store her breastmilk. We’ve put together some that will help, based on current recommendations from the CDC – but remember, if your care provider has given you guidelines specific to your situation, you should always follow those. Storing Fresh Breastmilk Considering that breastfeeding and pumping can take considerable time out of your day, it’s important to know how to store all that breast milk so that it doesn’t go to waste!

Regardless of how tall your bottles are, you can fold over the top and make the tote smaller if you need to, and this will further prevent cold air from escaping the bag.Sometimes to find a really good cooler for your breast milk, you need to look outside the box of traditional baby and mom brands! Choosing a breastmilk cooler bag with quality insulation is essential regardless of where you’re going or how long you’ll be travelling. Knowing that your milk will stay at a consistent temperature gives you peace of mind and is also necessary for your baby’s health and safety. Capacity Think about how you will need to use the bag and what needs to fit. Obviously, it needs to fit your pump, pump parts, and pumping accessories. It'll need to fit the milk containers of your choice,” Blankenship says. “Keep in mind how long you'll typically be away and calculate how many containers you'll need to use within that time frame. Make sure your bag will have enough room to hold them all.” Coolers are often marked with claims of how long they can keep things cool in hours or by days. Sometimes claims use the terms “holds ice” or “keeps ice”.

If you need a more versatile cooler, the Idaho Jones Lysiais a great option! It can fit bigger bottles like 8oz Dr. Brown’s. Use the code EPUMP10 for 10% off. Pros You just pop it in the freezer for 12 hours and it’s going to keep the contents cool, whether it’s milk or school lunches.

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When the flow from one breast has slowed, swap to the other breast. Keep changing breasts until your milk drips very slowly or stops altogether. Good for traveling when you want to bring a lot of breast milk; you can fit as much as 60 oz if you fill 6 8oz bottles to the top