Pumping and Storing Breast Milk

Expressing Milk by Hand

Normally if you are expressing breast milk by hand it is not that you need an excessive amount of expressed breast milk, but rather that you are relieving the tension of engorgement. However there are some moms that not only become very good at expressing breast milk to fill bottles and cups but prefer it over using a breast pump.

First things first before you express milk by hand you should sterilize, unless it is already sterile, the container you plan to collect the milk in. Wash your hands thoroughly and find a quiet, relaxing place where you can express your milk. Think of your baby, perhaps have a picture of them near by in sight and have an article of clothing of theirs, such as a hat, that you can smell to remind you of your baby. Think about how cute and precious your baby is, how much joy you get when you hold them. All of this baby thinking will help you pump because it will help your letdown reflex.

Place the container in front of the breast you plan to pump. Place your fingers on your breast keeping your thumb above and your fingers below so they form the letter C shape. Push back towards the chest wall while squeezing your fingers and thumb together rhythmically just behind the areola. Rotate your hand around the breast in order to reach all of the milk ducts. Doing this for 3 to 5 minutes at each breast, switching off and on, will help increase the flow of milk. The more practice that a mom gets with this the easier it gets. Often after viewing another mom express milk, it is easy to understand how to do it yourself.

Expressing Breast Milk by Pumping

As stated before making sure that everything is sterile before you begin pumping, the storage containers, breast pump, etc., is important. Again wash your hands before pumping breast milk and to start the letdown reflex, as always it is super important to think about your baby while you pump milk. Follow the instructions on your pump to ensure that you use it correctly to minimize any discomfort that you will feel, pumping shouldn't hurt so make sure that you are comfortable while you are doing it. If you find that pumping causes your nipples to be abnormally sore contact a lactation consult or a le leche league leader.

Depending on a mother's situation will determine if she needs to get a breast pump for pumping breast milk. While a mother can express breast milk by hand if she needs to, it takes practice, so that is why it is great if you have a breast pump on hand in the event that your baby suddenly decides to go on a nursing strike. Depending on how often a baby will be apart from their mother, if she is working or out at the movies once a week while the baby is with a sitter, will determine if it is more practical for a mother to get a breast pump. Types of Breast Pumps offers information on the different kinds of breast pumps that there are and advice on choosing a breast pump that will work best for each mom's situation.

Storing Breast Milk

Expressed breast milk is often stored in disposable or reusable bags, or the bottles that will be used to feed it to the baby. Often the pump that you use will determine which storage method you use and when you are hand expressing milk it will be entirely up to you which storage method you plan to use.

Breast milk can be kept at room temperature for about 10 hours. If you pump at noon you shouldn't have to worry about putting the breast milk in the fridge or freezer until 10 o'clock at night. Note that room temperatures are 66 to 72 degrees fahrenheit, 19 - 22 degrees celsius, so if a mom pumps milk at work and her work area does not exceeds these temperatures when she travels home she should keep her pumped milk in a small cooler, and if her work area will exceed these temperatures she should place the express milk in the cooler right away. When she return home she can move the milk to the refrigerator.

Breast milk can be refrigerated for 8 days, if a mom pumps milk at work so that while the baby is at home the next day they will get expressed breast milk from the day before a mother need not worry about freezing her milk keeping it refrigerated will be just fine, even if she refrigerates expressed milk on Friday, it can safely be giving to her baby on Monday, or even next Saturday for that matter.

If you have to keep breast milk longer than 8 days you will want to freeze it, keep in mind that the area you are freezing the breast milk will effect how long it will last. Breast milk that is kept in a compartment freezer inside a fridge it will only last up to 2 weeks, if the freezer compartment is in a separate door it will last 3 to 4 months and when breast milk is kept in a deep freezer it will last for a good 6 months. Since breast milk loses some of it nutrients when frozen, freezing breast milk should only be used when the milk will not be eaten in 8 days.

Reheating Frozen and Refrigerated Breast Milk

When it comes time to warm frozen or refrigerated breast milk, there are some things to keep in mind. Never use a microwave to heat up breast milk, as they do not heat up liquids evenly and can severely burn a baby, will destroy many nutrients and actually changes the milk's composition. If the breast milk that you are reheating is frozen take the container and run it under COOL water to thaw it and then carefully and gradually increase the water temperature to heat the milk to feeding temperature. If the breast milk that you are reheating is refrigerated simply warm the milk to feeding temperatures for running it under WARM water, NOT HOT, and for several minutes. Never heat frozen or refrigerated milk on the stove top. Before you give reheated breast milk to your baby test it on your wrist to make sure that it is not too hot.