I was privately asked a question about our Milk Bank preferring to use glass containers over plastic. I thought it would be helpful to have the answer in the archives too - haven't checked if it's there already :-)
The HMBANA storage guidelines "Best Practice for Expressing, Storing and Handling Human Milk in Hospitals, Homes and Child Care Settings" 2005 says on pg 14 - 15:
"Disposable bottle liners and 'mother's milk' bags can tear easily. They may spill and be awkward to handle. Double bagging is recommended to protect the milk. NOTE: standard plastic sandwich bags are unsuitable because they are too thin and tear very easily."
The first section makes the point that for healthy term infants/older children getting most of their milk at the breast, the type of container is not significant, but that glass or hard plastic containers are preferable.
The second section, on hospitalised babies says:
"...milk retains more of its nutritional and immunologic properties in glass or hard plastic (polypropenol or polybutylene) containers than it does in polyethylene bags. The milk loses up to 60% of the SIgA when stored in polyethylene for 48 hours."
(snip)
"Stainless steel containers should not be used for milk storage." (Williamson & Murti, JHL 1996 12(1):31-35
From the latest Breastfeeding Answer Book (pg 231), 2003:
"Glass is the first choice as a storage container for freezing milk. Glass is the least porous, so it offers the best protection for the frozen milk. The second choice is clear, hard plastic (polycarbonate). The third choice is cloudy, hard plastic (polypropylene)."
(snip)
"In one reported case, freezing human milk in brightly colored plastic feeding bottles was believed to have resulted in a chemical odor and the baby refused the affected milk."
But in any case, we don't like to see the milk arrive in soft plastic storage bags. They are such a pain to handle, are very often split (causing wastage), and have to be decanted before use, whereas our storage jars can go straight into the pasteuriser once thawed. This reduces the risk of contamination.
Riordan & Auerbach, "Breastfeeding and Human Lactation" second ed 1998 (sorry, no third edition here) expands a bit on pg 791 in the chapter on Donor Human Milk Banking:
"In the case of fresh milk, live white cells tend to adhere to container surfaces when milk is placed in the container. White cells tend to fall back into solution faster when stored in glass containers over a 24 hour period (Goldblum et al 1981). According to Hamosh (1994), glass is the preferred container for human milk storage but may not always be practical in terms of breakage."
This section goes on to say how much good stuff is lost to polyethylene bags, let alone their other shortcomings - considerable quantities of fat, antibodies decreased by up to 60%, vitamins being lost, and a possibility for oxidation due to poor seals.
Best wishes
Jacquie Nutt
Western Cape Human Milk Banking
www.wchmb.co.za (website currently being built!)
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