Breast Feeding to Solid Food

Breast feeding, by far, is the most eco-friendly way to feed your baby.  Not only is it good for our earth it is most healthy for baby and mom too.  Many of the products on the market can make breast feeding more wasteful than it should be.  For instance, Medela sells disposable nursing bra pads and disposable pump and save bags.  Now, I’d imagine if you are nursing your baby for at least the first year of life you would go through numerous boxes of disposable nursing bra pads.  Not only is using these pads bad for the environment, but it is also bad for your wallet.

My solution to using disposable pads was found at Cotton Babies.  The pads are called  Milk Weeds Hemp Nursing Pads, shown here:These pads will show under clothing with a thin cotton bra.  My solution, has been to wear a bra that has some padding to it, when you put this under that bra, you won’t see any lines!!

Now, when a mom goes back to work, she will need to work on building up a supply of milk for that first day back and any other (just-in case milk!) occasions.  The Medela pump and save bags are another wasteful breast feeding item.  What I used instead was breast milk freezer trays.  I found some BPA-free trays at www.Sensiblelines.com:These trays can be filled up and are exactly one-ounce sticks, which provides for easy measuring to feed baby.  When the trays are full and frozen, you can store the sticks in a large tupperware or glass container and keep in the freezer in order to reuse the trays for more milk.  Now, I jumped the gun and bought 3 trays, not realizing that I would just empty one and re-fill it.  I would recommend only buying 1 tray to start.

My baby is 6.5 months now and is on to solid foods.  I’ve been making the foods myself and needed a method to store the food I make.  I saw all of these ice cube trays available for food, with lids and I did not want to spend the money on them.  All of the sudden it clicked, I have these breast milk trays that would be perfect to freeze and store food!!  The trays are perfect because they come with a lid, just like the advertised food storage trays.

Sensible Lines Tray Filled with Apple Oatmeal

Last night I made my baby organic peach oatmeal (Steamed peaches on stove top in 1-inch of water and added to cooked oatmeal, also made on stove-top).  It is ridiculous to make only one serving size, so I filled up the remaining oatmeal in the trays.  Now, when I want to feed him, I just pop out 1 or 2 sticks and put them in the microwave on defrost for an instant meal!!!

So far I have stored carrots, sweet potatoes, peas, rice, and oatmeal in the trays.  I use defrost in the microwave rather than high, so i don’t risk having hot food that will burn my baby’s mouth.

Tagged as: Baby food, Breastfeeding, Eco-friendly, Feeding baby, Freeze breastmilk, Freezer trays, Medela, Nursing pads

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