How do working mothers correctly store breast milk for their babies?

When a mother has too much milk or can't feed her baby on time, she might as well store the milk first and take it out when the baby needs it. So what tools do you need to store breast milk? What are the precautions when storing breast milk? What is the safest way to heat frozen breast milk?

What is breast milk storage?

Breast milk storage

Breast milk storage is to store excess breast milk and take it out to feed when the baby needs it. Many mothers adopt this breastfeeding method, mainly because there is too much milk to find time to breastfeed.

For the crowd

Usually working mothers. After maternity leave, mothers have to continue to work, but they don't want their babies to drink milk powder, or they want their babies to eat their own milk. This kind of mother had better use the method of breast milk storage.

Breast milk storage tool

storage container

Hard ware or special plastic bags can be used, and bottles made of plastic or glass are preferred. Plastic milk collection bags are specially used to store breast milk. Its advantages are convenience and small size.

Precautions for storage tools

1. Pay attention to breast milk storage.

In order to avoid waste and thaw faster, it is best to hold 1 ton of baby in each container. If fresh breast milk is added to a container filled with frozen breast milk, it should be noted that the newly added breast milk cannot be larger than the original breast milk.

2. Mark the extrusion date on the container bottle.

Expired breast milk may make children eat bad stomachs. In order to keep breast milk fresh, the time information such as year, month and day should be written on the container for storing breast milk. If you put your baby in a nursery, you need to mark your baby's name.

3. The milk collection bag cannot be used for a long time.

Although the plastic milk collection bag is specially used to preserve milk, it is fragile and easily broken by mother's excessive force. Because it is disposable, it is not suitable for long-term storage of breast milk. The milk collection bag can be used on the breast pump. Exhaust the air from the milk storage bag first, and then store the milk in it, which is eight points full. Leave some space to prevent the milk collection bag from bursting after milk freezing. When placing the milk collection bag, the milk collection bag should be placed vertically in a clean box, being careful not to dump it, and then stored in the refrigerator or freezer.

Glass bottles or plastic bottles should have closed lids.

In order to prevent bacteria from mixing into milk and affecting the quality, the milk storage container should be cleaned with high-temperature water and detergent before use, and dried in time. Don't put too much milk, just eight points full.

Preservation time of breast milk

Store at room temperature

Colostrum (breast milk expressed within 6 days after delivery): it can be stored at 27~32℃ 12 hours.

Mature breast milk (6 days after delivery): 65438 05℃ can be stored for 24 hours. The lower the temperature, the longer the storage time.

cold-store

Usually kept in the freezer.

1. Generally, it can be stored at 0-4 degrees Celsius for 8 days.

2. If the freezer is stored in the cold room, the shelf life is 15 days.

3. If stored in the freezer, the refrigerator door often needs to be opened and closed, and the storage period is 90- 120 days.

4. If it is in a deep freezer, the temperature is below 0 degrees Celsius, and the refrigerator door is not often opened, the shelf life can reach more than half a year.

Reminder: Mothers may find that breast milk is broken down. Don't worry, as long as the milk is shaken well first and then heated, the blue, yellow or even brown breast milk will return to its original state and will not affect the baby's consumption.

Scientific storage method of breast milk

Preparatory preparation

1. Adjustment time

About ten days before rework, mothers can adjust the way they feed their children. If the mother works near home and it is convenient to go home, she can feed her baby during lunch break. If the mother goes to work far away from home and it is inconvenient to go home once, she needs to save breast milk in advance for her family to feed her baby.

Preserve breast milk

Store the milk at low temperature in advance, and let the family heat it when the baby needs it.

operating procedure

1. Prepare electrical appliances

Prepare the milk storage container and breast pump. Milk storage containers require good sealing and low temperature resistance. If conditions permit, breast milk fresh-keeping bags are preferred. Because glass products or metal products are easy to make immunoglobulin A, G, M, lactoferrin, insulin-like growth factor, transforming growth factor, etc. It is best not to use these products by adhering them to breast milk, thus reducing the nutritional content of breast milk.

Suck milk

Squeeze breast milk into a milk storage container, and write information such as year, month and day on the container to avoid eating expired milk by mistake. If it is stored for too long, bacteria will multiply in large numbers, and the baby will have diarrhea after eating it. In order to ensure that the baby has enough rations, mothers should continue to suck milk to ensure milk secretion.

store

Because breast milk expands when it is frozen and refrigerated, the container for storing breast milk should not be too full or too tightly covered. To leave some space, it is best to freeze or refrigerate breast milk according to the baby's appetite, so as not to waste it, and at the same time paste the preservation date.

unfreeze

You can't heat it directly by fire or microwave oven. Both of them have high temperatures, which will destroy the nutrition in milk. The correct thawing method is: firstly, wash the outside of the container with tap water, and then slowly add water with higher temperature to let breast milk absorb heat and melt. Note that secondary freezing is not allowed after thawing, and it should be drunk within 24 hours. If you don't finish it, you should throw it away so as not to affect your baby's health.

Can breast milk be frozen?

It can be frozen under certain conditions.

According to the brochure of the International Breastmilk Association, breast milk can be kept in the cold room for 3 to 5 days, but it can't be eaten after this period. If frozen in a double-door refrigerator, the indoor temperature can be kept below-18℃ for 4 months, and it can be stored in a separate freezer for 6 months. When freezing breast milk abroad, the bacteria are usually killed by pasteurization first, and then the milk is stored in the breast milk bank.

Frozen breast milk needs thawing.

Rinse the container with tap water first, then slowly add higher temperature water to melt it, and gradually reach the temperature suitable for feeding, or soak the container in hot water.

How to heat stored breast milk?

Many mothers like to heat their breast milk in a microwave oven or on a fire. In fact, this method is not scientific. If you want to heat breast milk, it is recommended not to use microwave oven or fire to heat it. First, because of uneven heating, breast milk will be half cold and half hot. Second, whether microwave will destroy vitamins is still inconclusive, and there are certain risks. In addition, the temperature of fire is generally 900 degrees Celsius, which will destroy the nutrition in milk and is not suitable for heating breast milk.

1. Waterproof bleaching method

(1) If the milk is only refrigerated but not frozen, put the milk container in warm water and gently shake it while soaking it, so that the milk is heated evenly and becomes hot.

(2) If the breast milk is frozen, the first thing to do is to thaw it: flush the outside of the container with tap water, and then proceed to the next step according to (1) after the milk is thawed.

2. Milk heater heating

The principle of milk warmer is water separation. The temperature should be set at 40 degrees Celsius.

3. Constant temperature milk regulator

If the constant temperature milk conditioner is used for heating, the temperature should be set at 40 degrees.

Reminder: When heating and freezing breast milk, mothers may find that milk is layered. Don't worry, just shake it gently.

Precautions for breast milk storage

1. Breast milk should not be stored too much.

Don't store too much breast milk to avoid wasting it. In order to better grasp the baby's feeding amount, it should be stored according to the measurement scale standard on the breast milk storage bag and bottle.

Mark the time on the container

The amount of breast milk stored is preferably the amount of one meal for the baby. Milk should be sealed immediately after storage, and put in the refrigerator after the warm breast milk cools down. Breast milk should not be refrigerated for more than 24 hours.

3. Heat with water before feeding.

Because the temperature of frozen breast milk is relatively cold, it needs to be heated by dividing water to ensure that it reaches the right temperature before giving it to the baby.

4. Hot milk should not be frozen again.

In general, it is not allowed to freeze again after thawing or heating. If there is a power failure when storing breast milk, feed the breast milk stored in the refrigerator to the baby or dispose of it in time.