What It Is:
A breast milk bag system that allows you to pump, store, warm, and feed using the same bag (or as Kiinde calls it, a twist pouch).
Available Through the Links Below
Price: $48.99 (Pack of 160 6-ounce bags) $25.99 (Pack of 80 6-ounce bags) $14.99 (Pack of 40 6-ounce bags) $11.99 (Pack of 30 6-ounces bags) $10.49 (Pack of 20 6-ounce bags)
$16.99 (Pack of 40 8-ounce bags) $33.56 (Pack of 80 8-ounce bags)
Prices may vary, prices listed above were accurate at the time of posting
Good to know: Some bag sizes offer a subscribe and save option
Other Expenses:
To fully use the system, you will need to purchase not only the Kiinde bags but a connector piece that attaches to your flange and then to the bag. The most common connector pieces are sold separately, but others can only be found in a bigger variety pack. The connectors make it possible to use nearly all non-wearable pumps (wearable pumps are ones like Willow, Elvie etc.). Additionally, if your baby does not like feeding from the Kiinde nipple top, the connector pieces make it possible for you to feed from the bag using a nipple top from any brand.
How Does It Work?
Set up your pump and flanges as you normally would, but instead of screwing on a bottle, screw on a Kiinde adaptor and a twist pouch, then pump as you normally would! Once you are done pumping, unscrew the bag and screw the cap back on. The left top corner of the Kiinde bag has a little space where you can write the date the milk was pumped, and then the bag can be stored in the fridge or freezer.
When it’s time to feed your baby, heat the bag in a bottle warmer the same way you normally would a bottle. When the milk reaches the right temperature, take it out of the warmer and place the bottle holder over the bag. Secure the bottle holder on the bag by making sure the blue cap is above the top of the holder before locking the cap base into place with a click. Once you are sure the bag is securely snapped into the holder, unscrew the cap, gently squeeze the pouch to bring the milk to the top of the pouch—which should dispel any excess air—then while holding the milk in that raised position, push the nipple base into the bag opening.
Now you are ready to feed your baby! When your baby is finished, the empty bag can be recycled and you are only left with cleaning the nipple and giving the bag holder a good wipe down—what an easy cleanup, right?
Other Features/Purchasable components:
Kiinde Twist Cap Single-Use Write-on Labels
Kiinde Keeper: a breast milk bag organizer for the fridge or freezer
Nipple Brush Set: for cleaning the bottle nipples
Kiinde Twist Squeeze Natural Baby Feeding Bottle with Nipple and Case (2 Pack)
Extra Nipples: Slow, Medium, Fast
Bottle Warmers: Kiinde Kozi and Kiinde Kozi Pro and a travel warmer (thermos style, but works well!)
Kiinde Twist Universal Direct-Pump Feeding System starter Kit
Kiinde Twist Universal Direct-Pump Feeding System and Warmer Gift Set
Kiinde Anika Breast Pump Bag with Cooler Pocket
And if your baby ends up preferring the Kiinde nipples, Kiinde also offers pacifiers that are shaped the same!
The twist pouches can also be used as your baby grows for feeding purees or for transitioning from bottle to straw cups.
Kiinde Food Baby Food Maker System for Homemade Squeeze Pouches
Kiinde Foodii Reusable Snack Spout Attachments for Homemade Puree Squeeze Pouches
Kiinde Twist Pouch System 2-piece funnel set
Kiinde Foodie Reusable silicone Squeeze Spoon attachment for Homemade Squeeze Pouches
Kiinde Twist Pouch Sippy Top Attachments with Straws for Breast Milk, Formula, Juice, Purees
Insurance:
Some insurance plans will cover the cost of pumping accessories, which may include milk bags. It’s worth checking your plan to see what is included; however, even if your insurance plan does not cover pumping accessories, if you have an HSA or FSA generally you can use those funds to purchase your supplies. Always check with your plan ahead of time to be sure!
Effect on Milk Removal:
I noticed no discernible effect on my pumping efficiency or milk removal when using these bags.
Comfort Level/Ease of Use:
The Kiinde Twist Pouch is incredibly easy to set up both for use while pumping and for feeding. If you are able to successfully attach a normal bottle to your pump flanges, the Twist Pouch is no different!
Parts to Clean:
If you are using the Kiinde Twist Pouch to its fullest potential, you are adding two connector pieces to your pump parts cleaning routine, but you are eliminating the need to clean a bottle that you would pump into. You are also eliminating the need to clean anything but a nipple when feeding your baby.
The EP&Me Take:
Pros: I truly love the Kiinde Twist Pouch system. It made my life so much easier while I was exclusively pumping because I had less pump parts and bottle parts to wash, which I was especially grateful for once we started daycare and lots of bottles were coming home all at once. I also loved how I could immediately feed my little one or put the bag into the fridge or freezer without doing anything more (like transferring milk into a bag). I also noticed that using the Kiinde bag eliminated some of the breast milk waste that would naturally remain in a bottle or another bag that isn’t designed for your baby to feed from. It’s not necessarily a significant amount, but the drops of breast milk that remain in a bottle you pumped into, those that remain in a freezer bag after thawing, and what remains after a feed all add up! With the Kiinde bag, you only lose the drops of milk left after a feed.
It is also really easy to pour between the Kiinde bags and from the Kiinde bags into another container. Unlike other breast milk bags, the Kiinde bag has a sturdy top, which provides significant control when pouring. And, as I mentioned above, the Kiinde bag is also recyclable.
Tears and leaks in breast milk bags are a hot topic for EPing mamas—and for good reason! I never had an issue with the Kiinde bags breaking or leaking, even after being in the freezer, and my little one had a little more than two months of milk in the freezer after I stopped pumping at nearly 13 months, so I did a lot of rotating milk and thawing milk to get to that point. I attribute this to the bags being thicker and sturdier than other breast milk bags. My little one also learned to hold the Kiinde bottle at a really young age because of the way the Kiinde bag holder is designed. There is a little opening between the bottle holder and the bag, and she quickly learned that she could wrap her little hand around the side of the holder and tuck her fingers where the bag was and suck, suck, suck to bring the milk up without needing the strength to tip the bottle up. Our daycare was impressed, and we loved that she had this independence early because it allowed us to get things done around the house even if it was feeding time!
Cons: Although the bags froze well and I never had one break or leak, they are bulkier than most other breast milk bags, which are typically flat and thin. If you are limited in space and know you’ll be able to freeze a lot of breast milk, this bag may not be for you for that reason unless you have significant freezer space.
Additionally, in about 2-3 of the batches of bags I bought (which is nothing when you consider I went through nearly 2 batches a month), there were little black specks on some of the pouches on the rim. This concerned me for hygiene reasons. When this happened, I contacted either Amazon or Kiinde (depending on where I had purchased that batch of bags from) and was always sent a new box with no problem. I know many brands have issues with their bags, some leak, some make your milk smell bad (smell the bag before using it—the users having that problem could tell the bag smelled funny before use!) and so the black speck issue didn’t bother me because I could check the bags when they arrived and it was easy to get replacements. Although I always got the help I needed from Kiinde’s customer service, I can’t say I found their customer service friendly. I know that’s an odd comment to make especially since in the end things were made right, but there it is. I think it stood out to me because I viewed them as a smaller company, and I am used to communications with smaller companies (especially when I say nice things about your product, which I did, along with my issue) to be friendly and not sterile or blunt.
Additionally, although volume measurements are listed on the Kiinde bags they are not very accurate. To get around this issue, I used a scale to measure exactly how much milk was in each bag. Before you measure a bag filled with milk, first measure an empty bag. Then subtract that measurement from the weight of the bag containing milk. I particularly loved this scale. My little one always drank bottles of 4.5 ounces of milk, so I would just pour between bags to make that amount for the next day and then freeze the remainder—it worked so well for me!
Other Tips: I never needed to use the 8-ounce bags, the 6-ounce bags were sufficient even though I pumped more than that during some of my pump sessions. This is because I found it easy to switch bags mid-session. I waited until my milk flow was thinner and and slower. Then, while the breast pump was still running, took the cap off of a new bag, untwisted the full bag that was attached to my flange and held it in one hand while I lightly reattached the empty pouch with the other hand. I could then put the cap on the full bag and use both hands to fully tighten the new bag. The whole process probably took less than 10 seconds.
It’s also worth noting that the 8-ounces bags don’t fit as well in the Kiinde bag holder—they’re a little long—but my little one never consistently wanted more than 4.5 ounces at one time, so we just used up the small pack of 8-ounce bags and didn’t repurchase that size again.
If I was near the end of a pump session and the bags were nearly full, I still kept pumping with those bags because the connectors held the extra milk if I over-flowed the bags. If you do this, make sure to detach the connector from the flange with bag attached. Then you can pour milk into a new pouch from the connector/bag combo. I never had leaks or spills doing this but proceed carefully!
Verdict: I really recommend the Kiinde Twist Pouches. We tried other bottles before discovering the Kiinde Twist Pouch, and I cannot imagine what it would have been like to regularly clean all of those bottle parts on a regular basis. As an EPer, I already felt like I was constantly cleaning pump parts and the idea of cleaning bottle vents or other anti-colic pieces for months on end still fills me with dread. When you compare nursing to EPing, there is certainly additional time commitments with EPing, and this system is the closest thing I found to relieve some of that extra burden.
