Kiinde Pump Bag System Review

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When I was pregnant with my daughter, breastfeeding was really important to me and my original plan was to exclusively pump. Although I was also fully prepared to fail at breastfeeding because my knowledge was my mom and aunt’s horror stories. I was constantly looking at breast pump accessories or food items to help boost milk production. Somewhere in that journey, I stumbled across the Kiinde system and was very intrigued. Kiinde designed a sterilized milk bag that you can pump directly into creating less items to clean. As someone who kind of loathes dish duty, I was already sold on it.

How It Works

Kiinde made adaptors for a variety of breast pumps. The storage bag itself is a twist top making it very easy. . You’ll screw these were the bottle would normally attach. Then you’ll take the Kiinde Twist Pouch and screw that in place of the bottles. This way you’re pumping directly into the bag instead of needing to dump the bottle into bags. They even have 2 different sizes to suite your growing child, 6oz and 8oz. The system continues where the twist pouch can lock into Twist squeeze bottle. You’ll pop the Active Latch Nipple into the bag creating a complete bottle. Again with minimal parts to clean as you’re really only cleaning the nipple.

Pros of the System

Cleaning. I can’t explain how nice this was to not be worried about not having multiple bottles to constantly be cleaning and sterilizing. I was working away from my daughter 3 days a week and pumping twice within a shift while I was there. This saved me time at work just worrying about the other pieces to clean. It allowed me to get back to work quicker especially on days where I was the only one there for staff to rely on.

If you don’t want to pump directly in the bag or use their bottle system, the bags themselves are very easy to transfer because of the stable opening. The bags also save a lot of space in your pump bag. Personally I was able to pack my pump bag once a week and was able to use a smaller cooler bag to save space in the bag. I never had any leaks with these milk bags because of the thicker plastic. I used the Kiinde system for 15 months with my daughter at work and even travelled to Mexico for 5 days using these bags.

You can evolve the system by utilizing their sippy tops for breast milk or even smoothies. The system adapts as well into the Foodii system. This allows you to make your own baby food and use the pouches to store it and feed them from it. They have spoon or spout attachments that make it easy to feed your baby.

Cons of the System

While I was always rinsing out the milk bags (or at least trying to remind my husband) and recycling them, they are wasteful as you can’t reuse them. However if you really need to pump and create a stash then it’s extremely hard to avoid this. Another reason for wastefulness, is when your supply is a bit off or you’re slowing down and only pumping a couple ounces then pumping directly into 2 bags seems incredibly wasteful.

For this system, the price is higher than most. I could get these milk bags for around 25 cents a bag. Competitor milk storage bags are usually around at 12 cents a bag. If you fill these Kiinde bags to their capacity, they fill out a lot and make it challenging to lay flat even once you get remaining air out. People have gotten around this by using a brick method, but even with that it does take up more space than your traditional bag.

Some people have made the complaint regarding inaccurate measurements pumping directly into the bag. Personally I have not come across this problem as long as you completely open the pouch once there is some milk in the bag.

Overall thoughts

This system is not for everyone’s lifestyle. However I still really enjoy this system. When my supply was off, I’d save on the bags by only using the Kiinde system on one side and would use the breast pumps bottle on the other side. Then would just combine into the Kiinde bag. It half defeated the purpose of the convenience, but it fully worked for me and I would do it again. If you’re exclusively pumping, I think the extra cost is worth the convenience. It’s strange how this system simplified pumping and that extra time could really add up if you’re consistently pump.

Even while I was doing that extra step and the extra cost, I still think the system is awesome. I used the pouches while pumping at work for 15 months and traveled from Michigan to Mexico. I never experienced break or leak from the bags unless I was clumsy that day and dropped the pouch. This system made me completely confident in keeping that liquid gold safe and I will always recommend it!