A Simple Guide to Storing Breast Milk While You Are Away from Your Baby

A Simple Guide to Storing Breast Milk While You Are Away from Your Baby

If you are a nursing mother and intend to resume work, building a milk stash might really prove helpful. This means pumping and freezing breast milk for later use. All you need to do this is a breast pump and refrigerator.

Go over the steps below to know how you can build your own breast milk stash:

• Begin many weeks in advance

Begin pumping milk 3 to 4 weeks prior to resuming work. If you are breastfeeding exclusively on-demand, you should invest more time to adjust to the extra pumping needed. A working mother generally misses approximately three breast feeding sessions every day. So, ensure that you pump a sufficient quantity

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• Schedule an early morning and evening session

You will often experience abundant milk supply early in the morning. By nursing the baby first in the morning, there is still some milk left to be collected. If the baby has a fixed sleeping routine, pump from one side before the baby wakes up and then nurse on the other side. Even though it may feel that milk supply is low during the evenings. Adding an evening pumping session will quickly add to the supply. Remember to pump the breasts for 20 minutes even if no milk is expressed. Don’t give up and continue pumping for the body to get used to the schedule!

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Storing the milk stash

• Milk should be stored either in a freezer bag or a freezer baby bottle, 30-120 ml per container. All packets must be date marked and stored with the oldest one kept at the top.
• You can combine milk from several feeds, provided they are in a 24 hour window period.
• Do not freeze breast milk for more than 6 months.

The stored milk can then be thawed before use by running warm water over the freezer pack/bottle until it reaches room temperature. It is important not to heat or refreeze thawed milk and you must use it within the next 24 hrs.

Also Read: All you need to know about Pumping Breast Milk, All you need to know about Storage of Breast Milk, Working Mothers Guide To Breastfeeding, 9 Reasons Why You Must Visit a Lactation Specialist as a Breastfeeding Mother!

_{Disclaimer: This article has been put together by experts.}

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