Milkbank: It Does A Baby Good

If you're not a nursing mom - or a mom, period - then the genius of this breastmilk storage system is probably going to fly right over your head. If, that is, your eyes didn't automatically glaze over at the words 'nursing mom' or 'breastmilk storage system.' I know: it's hardly glamorous, and it's not going to make your ankles look skinny. But if you have or ever intend to have a baby at your boob - or know someone who does - then you should read this.

Milkbank is new-fangled, fancy-dancy, backed-by-science (patented! clinically-proven!) system for storing breastmilk and keeping it fresher - which is to say, more replete with all of its critical nutritional goodness - longer. Sure, we've always been told that we can pump that liquid gold and just seal it up in bottles or baggies or whatever and stash it in the freezer, but guess what? It just doesn't come out as good after it's been frozen - or even refrigerated - for any length of time. (If you doubt that, try freezing a batch of your favorite eggnog, or a Shamrock Shake, or any other milk product of your choice. Then thaw it, and drink it. Does it taste as good as before you forze the bejeebus out of it? Thought not.) And because you're storing that breastmilk precisely because of all that precious nutritional oomph - and it's nummy, baby-friendly flavor (this, according to my infant son) - you want to do whatever you cna to preserve it, right? Right.

Enter the Milkbank system. It vacuums out excess air - which breaks down the nutritional elements that you don't want to lose - and seals the breastmilk into the Milkbank containers (which conveniently slip into bottles, and moderate temperature when the breastmilk is warmed), so that what your baby is getting is pretty much as good as what came out of your boob in the first place.

This is proving to be a sanity saver for me, because my baby won't take bottles, yet. Which means that when the ol' boobies get overfull, I produce breastmilk that he won't take. I've been dumping gallons of it, and weeping all the while, because I know that he'll take a bottle one day, and I would have loved to have that golden elixir on hand for that day. But because I now have Milkbank technology on hand, I am freely pumping and storing to my heart's content, secure in the knowledge that that precious elixir isn't getting freezer burned and robbed of nutrients. Which, silly as it sounds, is helping me to sleep at night.

Also? The entire MilkBank system—including the packaging—is free of lead, phthalates, PVC, and BPA. Buy it for your favorite expecting mom as a shower gift and trust me - she will thank you profusly one day. Or! WIN HER ONE! One commenter on this post will one full MilkBank Storage System - comment before February 23rd to be eligible. (Thanks to the Parent Bloggers Network for setting up this promotion!)