Ways to minimize microplastics while pumping

There has been a lot of recent research on the impacts of microplastics and the exposure to babies when bottle feeding. Throughout my breastfeeding journey I did my best to get away from plastic use but this was challenging when I became an exclusive pumper. I did my own research and gradually transitioned away from plastic use (to the best of my ability).

Here are all the swaps I made to minimize plastic use:

Glass bottles

The easiest swap to make was from plastic to glass baby bottles. Unfortunately these can be pricey, and there are not a lot of glass bottles with the “ideal” nipple shape. However this swap made the most sense to me, as breastmilk gets so much exposure to bottles and is often heated in a bottle (heating plastic releases more microplastics). There is often the concern that glass can break. From personal experience, with 2 years of use only one bottle ever broke, and it was because I dropped it outside on a rock (user error).

Here is a list of glass bottles with “ideal” nipples shapes:

• Pigeon Glass Bottle

• Evenflo Feeding Balance + Wide Neck Glass Bottles

• Gulicola Glass Bottles

• Dr Brown Narrow Glass Bottle

• Philips Avent Natural Response Glass Bottle with the nipple swapped out for Lansinoh Natural Wave Nipple or Evenflo Balance Wide Neck Nipple (I have used both of these combinations with no problem - I have had some people report they leaked but I never experienced this even with months of use)

Glass pitcher

The “pitcher method” combines breastmilk pumped during different sessions into one container, usually a pitcher. This pumped milk can be from one day, or several days. Typically people that use this method are pumping more than their baby eats in a day or are ahead a day (the milk they pump today is for their baby’s bottles tomorrow).

Another benefit to this method is the ability to use a large glass mason jar as your pitcher. You can then either use the typical lid that comes with it or swap it for one that has a handle/pouring spout. This is a great option if you are using plastic bottles/pump parts but want to store your milk in glass while in the fridge. I personally chose to still pump into the plastic bottles that came with my pump and then immediately transfer it into the glass pitcher when I was done pumping.

Stainless steel breastmilk chiller

Using a breastmilk chiller like this one by Ceres Chill (use code BREASTFRIEND for 15% off) helped me transfer my pumped milk out of the plastic pump bottles when I was pumping away from home. A bonus is that if you add ice to the inner or outer chamber of the chiller your milk will stay at a safe, cool temperature until you get home (20+ hours)! This is actually how I stored my pumped milk at work and when travelling.

Another option for a breastmilk chiller is by Boon.

Glass bottles on pumps when possible

Some glass bottles are compatible with pumps like spectra s1/s2 and medela hand pump. Note: it will make the pump heavier, which can be a deal breaker.

Dr Brown Glass Narrow Neck 4oz and Dr Brown Glass Narrow Neck 8oz are both compatible with the medela hand pump.

Phillips Avent Glass Natural Response Bottle, Bobo Glass Bottle, and Comi Glass Bottle are all compatible with the spectra s1/s2

Freezing Breastmilk

When it comes to freezing large amounts of breastmilk, it gets harder to get away from plastic use. I ended up with an oversupply and at one point had over 800oz of breastmilk in my freezer. It wouldn’t have made sense for me to use anything other than plastic freezer bags. I also ended up donating a good portion of my frozen breastmilk, and this would not have been accepted if it wasn’t in those plastic freezer bags.

That being said, if your goal is to have a small stash of frozen breastmilk in case of emergencies, there are some options including:

• Reusable silicone breastmilk storage bags

• Reusable silicone freezer trays/food cubes

• Milkstache Freezing System by Ceres Chill (use code BREASTFRIEND for15% off)

If you use plastic baby bottles, there are still ways you can help reduce the microplastics in breastmilk:

• Avoid heating breastmilk in a plastic bottle - baby’s can drink cold milk!

• If sanitizing plastic baby bottles with a sanitizing machine or by boiling them, rinse them in cold water after

• When hand washing plastic bottles with hot water, rinse them in cold water after

Plastic is not always avoidable - I like to highlight minimizing plastic use rather than getting rid of it altogether.

-This post contains affiliate links at no additional cost to you-