Reader Kymberly sent Lasinoh Laboratories a concerned email after noticing that several of her 163 Lansinoh breast milk storage bags began to leak while defrosting:

I have in my deep freezer 163 bags of breast milk. I am a working mother and I rely on the frozen milk in order to ensure that my son can have breast milk while at daycare. Unfortunately I an having a problem with bags leaking. I have a serious problem with this because I pay for a product that is supposed to freeze and store milk. The bags are not much use if they leak half the milk they store while they are being thawed. As a Military member who constantly has the possibility of deployment, having a large stockpile of milk is more important to me than most. Every bag of milk that I have in the freezer is one more meal that my son will not have to come from a can.

I think that your bags need to be made of a thicker material. Gerber makes a bag that is thick and does not leak (at least the few bags I have); however, your bags have the double zipper that I find very important which is why I only used the few Gerber bag. This, of course, was long before I was aware of the leaking problem. My question now is, what do I do about the bag leaking problem, and are there thicker bags in your company’s future.

Lansinoh quickly responded:

Kymberly,

First I would like to extend my sincerest apology to you for the unpleasant experience you are having with our Milk Storage Bags. Thank you very much for notifying us of this problem. I can only imagine how frustrating and disappointing this must have been for you. This company was founded over 20 years ago by a breastfeeding mothers for the sole purpose of supporting breastfeeding and I am so sorry that one of our products has not only failed to make things easier for you but has created quite the opposite. It takes an enormous commitment to breastfeed, even more of a commitment to provide breast milk in your absence. To know that a product of ours has challenged you even further is a terrible thing for you and for all of us here at Lansinoh.

I would like to try and explain what might be the problem: Our biggest challenge is to make a bag that is strong enough while using a completely safe plastic. There are many types of plastic, most of which would be more pliable and more durable. Unfortunately, this plastic has components in it (called plasticizers) that could leach through into the milk. Only when using virgin plastic (which we do) can we be assured that the milk can be stored safely with no possibility of an undesired element being released from the plastic. Virgin plastic is more rigid and when the milk freezes, it places more stress on the plastic. The development of a breast milk storage bag has been a long and costly project for us, but we are determined to deliver a quality bag made of virgin plastic.

I would like to try and help you salvage the milk you have frozen now. I can get a supply of our bags sent to you for you to use to ‘double bag’ the milk you are defrosting so that if they do continue to leak, you can at least catch your milk in something sterile so that it does not go to waste. I just need to know approximately how many bags you currently have frozen. I would also like to send you an additional supply of bags to use going forward, or if you prefer, a refund.

Again, I am sorry for the trouble this has caused and if you have any questions or if I could be of any further assistance please feel free to contact me. I look forward to hearing from you soon.”

Sincerely,

Machesha Hasty
Lansinoh Laboratories
Consumer Relations

Excellent response. Personalized, direct, and complete with a clear solution that assuages all of Kymberly’s concerns. Kymberly was so satisfied that she wrote: “If I wasn’t a loyal customer already, this is what would have made the difference.”

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