Freezing breast milk bottles - with or without nipples?

Question

When freezing bottled breast milk, can you freeze the bottle with the nipple (teat) on it or do you have to replace it with a sealing disc? We're using Avent products.

Answer 1

Use the sealing disk. You can also buy the storage bags so you can write the date and time you pumped right on the bag.
Gerber makes a good quality storage bag for breast milk. Just snip off the bottom corner and dump it into the bottle. Good luck!!

Answer 2

Use the disc with the bottle to store in the FRIDGE. Buy Gerger disposable bags for FREEZER storage and thaw and pour into bottle.

Any air getting into the milk will ruin it (antibodies don't fight off spoiling). Nipples will let air through, so will regular bottles for the most part. Zip lock type bags are the safest.

use the rule of 5 with storage
deep freezer--5 months
freezer--5 weeks
fridge--5 days
room temp--5 hours (if not warmed, warmed milk--1 hour)

Answer 3

You can do it either way really. If you leave the nipple on it it will be better for the bottle because the frozen milk will expand and the air can escape through the nipple. However it is still okay to put the disk or a twist on cap on the bottle instead.
(freezing milk in milk storage bags or ziplocks works best. You can lay them flat and stack them so that they don't take up so much room!)
BTW the best way to thaw frozen milk in a hurry is to boil some water, remove it from the stove top and place the bottle in it.. Unlike glass the plastic bottle wont crack (never do this with glass).. The best way though to thaw frozen milk is to put it in the fridge, but this can take up to a full day and sometimes longer.

Answer 4

rubber loses it's integrity when frozen. I would recommend freezing with the discs if you choose to freeze in the bottle itself. There are breast milk bags available (I found mine at babies R us) and they attach directly to the breast pump! Once the bag is full, you press the air out and seal it up! It has an area to label it with the date and then you can toss it into the freezer! When you need to warm one up, you just float the bag in a bowl of hot water until it's nice and warm and then pour the milk into a bottle!

I enjoyed using the bags because it cost a lot less then filling the freezer with bottles and they were compact and easy to store! :)

Answer 5

Without......too much of warming up and freezing the teat will make it spoil.......remember to label the the date and time of collecting the breast milk b4 keeping the the freezer.

Answer 6

use the sealing disc, because the nipple will freeze and that will cause the nipples to break down sooner than if you don't freeze them.

Answer 7

freeze w/o nipple leaving head room in bottle for expansion and never thaw in the microwave it will destroy the antibodies. Warm the bottle in warm water, never boiling!

Answer 8

You need to use the disks. The nipples can let air and bacteria into the milk.

Answer 9

Your supposed to freeze breastmilk right away and quickly, so I would put it in ice cube trays ( thin layers at a a time) and freeze it that way. That way when your ready to use it you just crack the ice cubes out and throw them in the bottle.

Answer 10

I wouldn't freeze the nipples. It could possibly crack.