A step in the right direction to nourish little one

‘I thought about quitting, but then I noticed who was watching’- This is the quote I saw as the display picture of one of the new moms in my family recently and honestly, I was touched. Such is the selfless love of mothers!

However, in modern times, no matter how much a mom may want to spend time with her child, there are days when she is too busy meeting deadlines at work. This often leads to an endless cycle of guilt. A guilt about not spending enough time with the baby, in fact, not even able to breast feed timely.

Breastfeeding a child up to about 1 year of age is crucial as it forms a ‘complete balanced diet’ for the child, protects it against infections and diseases by supplying antibodies, is easier to digest and gives the baby a healthy weight. 

For working mothers, storing breast milk while being physically away from the child can act as a boon.

Here are a few guidelines you could use to safely store breast milk:

1. Storage: Use sterilized bottles. They have measurements marked on them depending upon the amount you want to give per feed. There are BPA/phthalates free sterilized bags available. Sterilized glass bottle could be used too. Keep feeding and storing bottles separate.
2. Technique: 

• Use breast pump to extract milk and leave it in sterilized bottle at room temperature(RT) (25°C) if you want to use it within 2- hours.
• For use up to 2 days, put it in the refrigerator at 4°C and for use beyond that, keep it in the freezer at 0°C or below. Do not store the bottles in the door of the fridge as it causes temperature fluctuations as we open and close doors. Store at the back of the fridge in separate tray. Also label the bottles with date and time of drawing the milk to know its viability.
• Always serve milk at RT to the baby as babies understand the difference in cold and hot milk. 
• Never heat stored breast milk. Thaw it and let it come down to RT. You can use bottle warmers or warm water for it
• Never restore used milk.
• Store enough for one feed and maybe a little extra depending upon your child’s intake but not so much that it goes waste.

Good luck mommies!