Ok, so I’m going to be perfectly honest from the get-go: I have been breastfeeding and pumping for 6 months now, and I have always been a Medela girl. I knew from the beginning that I was going to do my best to breastfeed my daughter for as long as I could, so when I was pregnant, I splurged and bought myself a top-of-the-line Medela pump. And to be quite honest, the pump has exceeded my expectations and has more than paid for itself over the past few months. That is, until I went back to work.
Bottom line: Medela’s milk storage bags are MAD EXPENSIVE! Yes, they work really, really well. I have never had one leak, melt, explode, etc. (Except for the one time when my darling boyfriend forgot to zip it back up after filling bottles and I didn’t notice and shook said bag = milk all over my face and kitchen. Hey, at least he’s filling bottles for me, right?) But the cheapest ones that I could find were $18.97 for a pack of 50 online at Walmart (about $0.38 a bag). For someone who goes through about 3-4 bags a day, it really starts to add up after awhile.
So last week I noticed that my stash was getting low and decided to try and find a better deal. After scouring the internet, I came across the HoneySuckle brand storage bags on Amazon. Brace yourself people: they were offering THREE HUNDRED bags for $44.75 (i.e., $0.15 a bag)!! I then almost peed myself with delight when I noticed that the reviews were pretty good for these bags, so I decided to try them out. Let me tell you, it was almost as if this was a match made in heaven right from the start. I used up my last three Medela bags on Monday, and when I got home from work on Monday night - there they were! I was so excited to try them today and am happy to report that they ARE a better deal, both in terms of price and without sacrificing quality. Here is the scoop on why these are now one of my favorite things:
- They hold more milk - The measurements go up to 6 oz. (Medela holds only 5), but the bags are large enough that you can overfill them by several ounces if you are not planning on freezing them (which we don’t). Medela’s bags barely close without spilling with the 5 oz. in them.
- The bags are sealed so you know they are sterile - Each individual bag has a perforation to rip off before use so that you know there has been no tampering with the bag. I never really thought about this before, but it is an added bonus.
- Nice wide opening to the bag - The mouth of the bag is much bigger than that of the Medela. I found it much, much easier to pour my milk into these bags from the bottles that I pump into.
- Designed with pour spouts - This bag is designed with pour spouts on either side of the bag to aid in pouring milk out of the bag. My biggest pet peeve of all time with the Medela bags was how difficult it was to pour from. Everyone in my family has spilled my precious liquid gold because of their poor milk bag design. I’m not the bottle-filler in my family, so I checked in with Joe about the pouring situation. He said that they don’t necessarily pour better (because the bags are longer and a bit harder to maneuver), but that he definitely liked them better. So there you have it.
- Lays flat and freezes well - These bags lay much flatter than the Medela bags but still have a substantial enough bottom that they can stand up if that is what you prefer. The plastic is sturdy but yet softer than the Medela bags.
- Double zipper closure - The bags have a really nice, super sturdy double zip closure. Thus far, no leakage.
The only “con” that I have discovered so far is that the bags do not permit for pumping directly into them (the Medela bags come with adapters that hook right up to the pump), but this is not a method that I prefer using so it did not affect my opinion of the bags. For those of you who pump directly into bags, this would pose a problem. Also, as mentioned, they don’t necessarily pour “better,” but the world cannot be perfect for everyone. :)
Overall, I can’t say enough good things about these bags, and I super like the fact that I can order a bunch of them at a time so I don’t have to purchase them quite so often. The HoneySuckle breastmilk storage bags definitely get my “favorite things” seal of approval!
Has anyone else used this brand? Are there any brands that you prefer more (or are a better deal)?
