You know what, I bought the 1.5 x 12″ ice cream bags and I find that I can’t really handle them either. a lot of my ebm actually ends up on the kitchen top. So, I went and buy the 4″ x 8″ instead. It is working very well for me now. Well, I am staying in a small town here in Nibong tebal, so most mini markets here have these little bags.
(Maggy)

Here’s what one mom who is on a working trip shared about her experience in a hotel’s in Bangkok, where she expressed and stored her milk in the hotel kitchen’s freezer (*if one is using the room minibar, be careful to check that the freezer temperature is cold enough to freeze the milk):

BTW, so funny this morning. I went to the hotel’s freezer to add more ebm (I am currently travelling – thanks to Siaw Fui’s tips). Though I don’t understand Thai, but I heard the chefs/staff whispering (wondering what is on the tray): “xxxx ice-cream xxxx toufu xxx ice-cream…”. Thanks to the ice-cream bag, comes the association with ice-cream!!!
They laughed even more when I told them those are frozen ebm.

Fei Ru

Just want to share how I store my EBM. I am using the ice trays with cover (or without cover depends on the contain in your freezer and I bought my ice tray with cover). Each cube is about 1 oz. After frozen, tranfer the frozen EBM cube into zipper bag. The cheapest / smallest size zipper bag is about RM 6 for 60 pcs from Giant, TESCO or Carrefour. It is sterilised.

I store about 6 EBM cubes in a zipper bag nicely in a line. Zipped it and folded it nicely. And then abt 12 bars of the EBM bags into a big zipper bag, easier to keep in the freezer.

Of course, you have to sterilise the ice trays. I have been doing for the past 8 months plus and so far so good. Baby is ok and bag no leaking.

(Siaw Fui)

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.