Optimal Techniques for Preserving Breast Milk for New Mothers
After 6 months of maternity leave, all mothers have to return to work, so expressing and storing milk for the baby is always the first choice. But when expressing and storing milk, mothers need to pay attention to hygiene and shelf life to avoid adverse effects on the health of children.
first Storage time
Depending on the tools and how they are stored, their time will vary. In particular, the higher the temperature, the shorter the milk storage time will be.
At room temperature: Depending on the weather, the temperature can range from 27 to 32 degrees Celsius. Breast milk can only be stored up to the maximum. 1 hour.
Temperature Air-conditioned rooms: Milk with maximum preservation 6 o’clockbut must ensure the temperature below 26 degrees Celsius.
Dry ice bag: A measure to help mothers preserve milk longer when there is no refrigerator, but they can only keep milk in 24 hours.
Store in the compartment cool fridge: 48 hours.
Freezer compartment of a conventional refrigerator: The longest storage time is 2 weeks.
For a two-door refrigerator, Freezer has its own door: Milk can be stored in 3 months.
Freezer Specialized: 6 months is the length of time milk is stored without loss of nutrients.
Storage time
2 Preservation tools
For first-time mothers who do not have experience in expressing and preserving, it is best to choose to buy a breast pump and specialized storage tools.
Currently on the market there are quite a few preservation tools, you can Choose a milk storage bag or a dedicated milk bottlewith clearly marked capacity to make it easy to monitor the amount of milk that has been expressed.
Especially at stores that sell baby supplies, you can find disposable bags, thermal bags… for moms to have more choices.
3 Use frozen breast milk
If storing in the refrigerator, just put the milk bags outside at room temperature until they cool down. If you want to use them right away, you can put them in cup of warm water to shorten the time.
In the case of frozen storage, you should put the milk bag in the refrigerator the night before to defrost. Use milk warmer Heat to 40 degrees Celsius, then cool, for children to use. Or place them in a cup of warm water, until warm.
Absolutely do not use a microwave to heat milk, sudden temperature changes will lose nutrients.
4 Handling smelly milk
Many mothers believe that milk has a fishy, greasy or soapy smell because it is spoiled and cannot be used again.
This phenomenon occurs because the lipase enzyme present in milk breaks down the fat when stored at low temperature, so mothers can rest assured for their children to use.
To avoid this situation, after expressing the mother can Heat milk to 40 degrees C renders lipase enzymes inoperable.
However, this operation will reduce the nutrition of milk. The mother should only use this method if the baby refuses to use the stored milk.
5 Note
Mothers should express milk only when it is time to give birth without having to express it all once a day, which helps to save storage bags and avoid storing milk for too long.
Do not mix frozen milk with freshly expressed milk.
Record the date and time on the bag, milk storage bottle, making it easy to keep track.
Used baby milk should not continue to be preserved, because saliva that sticks to the milk will create an environment for bacteria to grow.
Never use unsterilized bags or containers.
Breast milk is an indispensable component that provides adequate nutrition during the development of the baby. Hopefully with the above information, mothers can confidently preserve milk even though it is the first time they give birth to a baby.
See also: How to express and store breast milk
Reference information: tuoitre.vn
