Pumping
and Storing Breast Milk
There
may come a time during the time that you are breastfeeding
your baby that you need to or decide to pump breast
milk. Essentially there are two ways to pump breast
milk, via a pump or by expressing your milk by
hand.
Depending
on the reason that you are pumping milk and how
much milk you plan or need to pump as well as
how much you plan to pump will effect which method
that you plan to use. With in these methods there
are different techniques that you can use for
pumping breast milk. |
Breastfeeding
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Expressing
Milk by Hand
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.
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.
