Human milk is undoubtedly the best food for babies. Therefore, nursing mothers, even in conditions when breastfeeding is not possible, strive to preserve milk in order to give the baby such valuable nutrition. Why store it in expressed form and what is the best way to store this product?
For all the possible ways to store breast milk, read another article.
Causes
Mothers want to express and store milk for the following reasons:
- If mom needs to go away for a while, for example, go to the hospital or leave the city.
- If the baby refuses to drink milk from the breast for some reason.
- When mom goes to work, and during her absence, another adult will feed the baby with expressed milk.
The most affordable and preferred storage option is to put this product in the refrigerator.
Capacities
The choice of containers in which human milk will be stored must be approached responsibly. The cleanliness of the storage utensils is especially important. Also, the container must certainly have a tight-fitting lid.
The container for this can be made of plastic or glass. Glass containers are preferred. You can put milk in special sterile containers that you buy at pharmacies. Convenient and plastic cups that are combined with a breast pump. For the manufacture of such containers, a fairly durable material is used.
Pouring milk into plastic liners used in bottles is not recommended. When the liquid has cooled, the seams on the bag may come apart. The result will be spreading over the refrigerator. If you cannot find other containers, pour milk into two such bags at once.
Terms
- Both the breast pump and the container in which the breast milk will be stored must be clean and boiled.
- Milk should not be boiled to avoid destroying its important ingredients, but it can be pasteurized for 30 minutes.
Storage time
It is best to place expressed milk not on the refrigerator door, but in the back of the refrigerator compartment on a shelf where the milk can be stored for up to 48 hours. If the container stands on the door, it will be exposed to constant temperature changes during the opening of the refrigerator, which will significantly reduce the shelf life of the product.
Appearance
Human milk left at room temperature and stored in the refrigerator will stratify. Its fatty component will form a separate layer at the top of the container. Before feeding the baby with such milk, it is gently mixed, ensuring uniformity is restored. If it is frozen quickly, delamination may not occur and the liquid will remain homogeneous.
When is it forbidden to put in the refrigerator?
If the milk has stood at room temperature for 2 hours, it should not be placed in the refrigerator or frozen. As well as food that has been stored for one or two days in the refrigerator, it should not be sent to the freezer. By the way, you can put defrosted milk in the refrigerator, keeping it there for up to 24 hours, but you cannot return it back to the freezer.
How long does it take to cool?
Freshly expressed human milk for storage in the refrigerator should be placed inside the refrigerator compartment within twenty minutes after being taken from the breast. If it is going to be frozen, it should be placed in the freezer immediately after expressing.
Can I collect from multiple pumpings?
If such a product is obtained during expressing for one day, then it is permissible to combine human milk in one portion. In this case, the expressed milk should be immediately put into the refrigerator, and when it is time for the next expression, this milk is taken out of the refrigerator, a new portion is added to it, and then the liquid is put back into the refrigerator.
Can I pump by hand?
If pumping is done by hand, there is a great risk that the purity of the product is compromised. When expressing manually, more microbes will enter the milk, which is why bacterial flora harmful to the crumbs can multiply in the product (and this threatens the baby with digestive disorders). That is why those who want to store it should use a breast pump.
How do you know if your milk has gone bad?
The appearance of milk (its color and consistency) changes quite often. They differ both in different women and in the same nursing mother in different months of the child's life, at different times of the day and even during the same expression. So by evaluating color or consistency, you will not be able to tell if the product has gone bad.
You will understand that breast milk has become unsuitable for feeding a baby by the smell and taste of food. Note that normally it can have a sweetish smell or acquire the smell of foods eaten by mommy (garlic, herring, onions, hot spices and others).
Also, after storage in the refrigerator, a soapy smell may appear. Although it is not spoiled, babies often refuse it.
Spoiled milk can taste bitter or sour. Such a product should not be given to a child.
Tips
- Try to store it in containers that can hold about one serving to feed your baby.
- If the mother succeeds in expressing a lot of milk (there will be many containers), then the container should be marked with the date of expression.
- Warm the milk stored in the refrigerator in hot water by placing the container with the milk under the tap or in a large container filled with water.
- Before giving milk to a baby, be sure to try if the liquid is hot (drip on your wrist), and what it tastes like.
- If you doubt the freshness and quality, it is better not to give it to your child.
