Avent Via Breastmilk & Babyfood Containers > Reviews (4)

My Reasons for buying the Avent Breastmilk Containers

Whilst pregnant with my one and only child I had decided that I was going to breastfeed. Then came the birth and a four day stay in hospital. The midwives and breastfeeding advisor were brilliant and encouraged me every step of the way in my efforts at breastfeeding but it seemed an uphill struggle. My daughter didn't seem to latch on properly but I was insistant. We were both duly discharged from hospital and then the panic set it. How much milk is she having, is she getting any milk at all. Oh my god what a nightmare. The first full day at home and we realised just how lazy a baby Holly was going to be. The milk started to drip and she just lay there with her mouth open. You could see her brain working, why should I suckle when the tap is turned on!. That was it no more breastfeeding. My home visit midwife suggested that maybe I should express if I was that set on my daughter having breastmilk. So with my little Avent handpump I set about expressing as much milk as I could, every two hours for 40 minutes at a time to ensure my milk supply would continue.

When the health visitor came for her first appointment she said I looked absolutely knackered and suggested that if I was to continue expressing, why didn't I hire a hospital grade electric pump, they are available on the internet. This was great I could extract the milk from the udders in 20 minutes.

My milk production line was going so well after one week I was producing about 20 oz per 3 sessions of expressing, gradually reducing through out the day. 80 oz is a bit too much for a 3 week old baby to consume in a day. Next problem, where to keep all the milk I was expressing. The health visitor suggested freezing it. Go to Boots and you can buy freezer bags. So off the husband duly went and came back with about 5 packs of freezer bags. These were fine, however they weren't very easy to stand up in the freezer draw, so we balanced them with bits of cardboard slats.

I then spotted the Avent containers on the internet at Boots and ordered a couple of boxes. That made it much easier to store the milk in freezer.

A bit about Avent.

Avent was launched in 1984 and redesigned the baby bottle to closely resemble the natural feeding process and gave mothers the freedom to combine breast and bottle feeding, whether the bottles were used for expressed milk or formular milk. 90% of their products are designed and made in their factory in Suffolk, England and is certified to ISO 9001. In 2006 Avent joined the Philips group to become Philips Avent.

Avent make products to help mothers through pregnacy and beyond upto when your baby is about 18 months old.

They make skincare products for expectant mums and a skincare range for babies. Their breastfeeding range contains pumps (hand and electric), breastmilk storage containers, nipple cream, breast pads, breast shells and nipple protectors. Three sizes of bottles, the smaller one holds 125ml/4 oz and the medium one holds 260ml/9 oz and the large "magnum" that holds 330ml/10.

5 oz. Teats that reduce the risk of colic. Formular milk dispensers, bottle and teat brushes. Sterilizers and a bottle warmer. Daytime and nightime dummies, sorry, soothers upto the age of 18 months. Cups and spoons for weaning and different types of bags suitable for carrying everything.

Avent products are used in more than 60 countries around the world.

The Product.

These containers come in boxes of 10. They are pre sterilized and packed in two bags of five containers with lids. The 10 lids are screwtopped. The box also contains two adaptors for use with the breast pump or you can screw the teat system to it, enabling you to use these instead of a bottle and one clip for securing the open pack closed enabling you to keep the containers sterilzed.

The containers are made of a sturdy plastic material that is clear on one side, with a slight frosting on the other side to enable you to write any dates or information that you want on them. They hold 180ml/6oz of milk or 240ml/8.5 oz (the larger pots are difficult to buy) and are dishwasher and freezer safe. They can be resterilized up to four times for holding milk then recycled with your plastics or reused to hold food.

The pots are about 8cm high, 8cm diameter at the top tapering down to 6cm at the bottom. The lids are made of a clear light blue plastic and screw easily onto the container. The adaptors are also a light blue in colour and have a screw bottom and a screw top for fixing to the pump.

The top of the lid had a ridge the same size as the bottom of the container, thus making the easy to store one on top of the other.

My Opinion

These containers are the best thing I used for storage of breast milk and are very versatile. I continued to express milk until my daughter was 10 months old. Every so often I would take milk out of the freezer to use and replace it with fresh expressed milk. I was able to give my daughter breastmilk until she was about one year old. I was much happier with her having breastmilk than formular. I am still using these pots two years after I purchased them. When my daughter went onto solids I was able to make up large quantities of food for her and freeze it in these pots which I still do today. Any resh food that is left over from dinner time, she can have it for lunch the following day. They do take up quite a bit of room in the freezer but I am lucky as I have a fridge/freezer and a seperate freezer, so I have pleaty of room for storing.

I gave some of these pots to my sister-in-law. She takes them to work with her and puts salad in one and cheese or anything else she fancies for lunch in another. She also uses them for her milk for work as she is dairy intolerant.

My husband also uses any damaged pots for keeping screws and nuts and other rubbish in his shed.

Price and Availability

I have found them online at Boots for £7.50 and Amazon for £6.99. They are also available to buy as a refill pack of 5 pots only, for £1.99 at Mothercare. The Avent Baby Shop sell the 240ml pots in packs of 5 for £5.99

For further reading the Philips Avent website is www.avent.philips.com or www.aventbabyshop.com

Many thanks for reading. Anna

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