How to Store Breast Milk

A lot of mothers today practice storing breast milk inside the freezer, especially since their busy schedules do not allow them to stay home most of the time. It is an excellent way to continue providing breast milk for your baby even when you are not around. Here are some guidelines that will help you on how to store your milk properly and how to heat it again in time for your baby to drink.

If you plan to store milk at room temperature, it will only last for four to six hours. But if you want to make it last longer, try using a deep chest freezer, since breast milk lasts for up to 6 months longer there. You can also try the refrigerator, which makes it last for 8 days; and if you put it in the freezer, it will last for about 3 months. But before you put it in a freezer, make sure that the breast milk has been chilled. Never place it in the freezer without chilling it.

Your choice of storage should always be based on how often you need to use it. For example, if you only need to store breast milk occasionally, then the plastic storage bags are just right for you. Keep in mind that if your baby is always fed using a bottle, it is better to use a glass bottle rather than a plastic one. Live antibodies tend to stick more to the sides of plastics, so start changing those plastic bottles to glass.

You may find that breast milk storage bags are a little cumbersome to use. Most mothers tend to spill freshly expressed milk when putting it into the storage bag. The best thing to do to avoid this is to put the storage bag into a bottle before pouring the milk in.

Gerber bags with zip lock closures can also be used as storage bags, and you will find that these are durable and very convenient. When you have poured your milk into one storage bag, prepare another bag and write the date and amount of milk. Put the first bag into the other bag and put it in the refrigerator. When you already want to store it in the freezer, put it into a zip lock bag. The zip lock bag can hold more bags of milk as you accumulate them. Whenever you have pumped more in a day, you can always add it to your supply in the zip lock bag. For same-day expressions, you can chill freshly expressed milk and add it to the bag that is already frozen.

When you are done with all the freezing and it is already time to feed the baby, always warm the milk first. When warming the milk, never use a stove or a microwave! Doing this will destroy the very important antibodies in the breast milk.

Storing your breast milk is one way of making sure that your baby is getting all its benefits even if you are not around most of the time. It also gives you the freedom to do what you want, without compromising the quality of milk that you are giving your baby.