Usually, mothers store ebm in milk bottles, special pre-sterilised bag and other containers. However, MyMomsBest’s members have other time and money saving tips. MyMomsBest’s members are such devoted and loving mothers who produced litres and litres of ebm for their little ones and usually ran out of space in the freezer. Thus, the below suggestion also saves space. Some of these moms are working full-time, travel overseas and yet, managed to exclusively breastfeed their babies for more than one year old. Members like Dr Teoh Mei Shi (featured by The Star), Siaw Fui, Fei Ru and a lot of other members have bravely and lovingly carted back large cooler box filled ebm which they gathered when they were away from the babies. With lots of innovative ideas and determination, these bold and loving mothers have managed overseas trips on plane, lengthy car trips and made it back with a supply of ebm for their babies. They are an inspiration to all women and shining examples of the greatness of mothers’ love.

Notes by Lilian : In certain unavoidable circumstances when a mother has to be away from her small baby, she finds a certain connection and closeness to her child if she can continue to carry on expressing milk. Whether it is a few hours when she is working or weeks when she is away on assignment. By this act, she is comforted with the thoughts that she is still able to nurture her child even in her absence. Being able to do something for her child somehow lessen the heartaches when she misses her child. Therefore, ideally all women will consider expressing milk and extend breastfeeding even if she is met with difficult situations. The moms mentioned above have proven that nothing is too inconvenient when it comes to providing the best – mother’s milk.

This photo of frozen ebm is taken from the fridge in the Paed ICU of a Government Hospital in Kuala Lumpur.

All expressed breastmilk should be stored in sterilised containers either made from glass or food grade plastics. Each container should be labelled with the date, time the milk is expressed and if possible, the quantity in each container. If one is storing ebm with other mothers’ ebm (e.g. in hospitals, babysitters), remember to also label with either you or your baby’s name.

Some hilarious observation I made abt this whole pumping life: (Sze Sze)

1) You have stained your book, your desk, your radio, your keyboard, your company’s annual report before. Lilian stained her Bible too!

2) And if you did any of the above, you have clumsily run out of the pumping sanctuary before — frantically looking for a wet towel to clean up the mess only to discover that you have created quite an impression art with the sprayed milk already dried up on the surface.

3) If you pump in the office, you have battled the initial shyness of taking the X no. of bottles of EBM in your hands, striding past at least a dozen of male colleagues while on your way to the pantry.

4) Your EBM is labelled with your big name and provide a great source of amusement amongst the colleague especially on a gloomy Monday.

5) Your EBM have helped to strike a convenient conversation with the tea lady, the CEO and even the not-so-intelligent colleagues around you.

6) Because you could see your milk qty, with each subsequent pump you mentally compare your milk qty and take great concern over the level of milk output for the day/week. In fact you are only “kiasu” when it comes to this matter.

7) You save every drop of milk you could possibly get your hands on, carefully knocking down every drop of milk from the pump or breast (if you hand express) into the bottle ensuring not a single drop of antibody/nutrient in the EBM is left uncollected.

You are already a multi-tasker when you are both a woman and a mum. But you are even more of a multi-tasker as you pump, boil the water, catch the ASTRO’s world’s birthday, pick up your bawling baby, talking to a friend from Holland, reading and doing manicure altogether, all while the other free hand’s busy collecting those sprayed milk from the other boob.

9) You have the latest gadget for pumping, from breastshell, canggih-manggih pump, leopard print nursing mom (LOL), steriliser, cooler box and still know exactly what you ought to buy to make pumping even easier if you have the money.
10) On weekends, you can be seen rushing to the supermarket aisle to pick up some rarely used nursing tea, herbs and whatever secret remedy you could lay your hands on to increase milk qty.