Proper breastfeeding guarantees a newborn the formation of strong immunity and harmonious development. However, there are situations when the mother cannot be near the newborn at the time of the next feeding. It is not necessary to give the baby an artificial mixture. Milk can be stored in the refrigerator, and if a woman knows how to freeze breast milk properly, she can always use it for any such emergency.
When can frozen milk be needed?
Situations in which feeding the infant with expressed mother milk is required vary. Health problems, the need for a prolonged absence, some unexpected circumstances - all these are grounds for interrupting breastfeeding.
However, pediatricians insist that only mother's milk will help form a strong immunity in the newborn. So, it’s worth fighting for the restoration of breastfeeding. Here are situations in which frozen milk can help out:
• a woman is prescribed antibiotics or other drugs that pass into breast milk and adversely affect the health of the baby (feeding stops during treatment);
• there is not enough milk, and in order not to switch to artificial mixtures, you can use previously expressed milk;
• a young mother learns, works, or is forced to leave for several days, while she is not around, the baby receives breast milk.
A serving of milk is also useful if the woman just needs to leave the house for a while. For example, go to a beauty salon, to a doctor, for an important meeting.
Immediately after the birth of the baby, as a rule, the baby does not drink all the milk produced by the mother's body. This time must be used to freeze it for the future.
Can breast milk be frozen?
Naturally, a young mother wants all the best for her baby. She needs a guarantee of maximum security for him. Hence the fears about frozen breast milk: is it possible or not to use it in principle?
This method of storage and use of breast milk has long been investigated. Pediatricians approved of it, because they did not find any reason to consider it dangerous. It is freezing that allows breast milk to remain in a state for a long time when it practically does not lose its unique beneficial properties.
Mom should not be afraid to use such milk. If you need long-term storage for several months, it is simply necessary to create a home milk bank. It is much simpler, more useful and cheaper than transferring babies to artificial mixtures.
Another thing is how correctly the freezing of breast milk is carried out. Whether or not to give such a product to a baby, depends on the exact adherence to the rules of decantation, freezing, storage and subsequent defrosting.
How to prepare milk for freezing
The basic rule when preparing breast milk for freezing is perfect cleanliness. Of course, achieving complete sterility at home will not work, and this is not necessary. It is enough to fulfill the following requirements:
• to take a shower;
• prepare the breast for decantation by thoroughly washing and drying it with a clean, ironed dry diaper;
• Wash the hands;
• sterilize the container for storing milk and the breast pump (if used).
Now all that remains is to express the milk, pour it into the prepared container and freeze it correctly. You can express milk with your hands or with a breast pump. Glass jars and bottles, food containers and special dense bags for freezing are suitable as containers for freezing.
You need to freeze in one container as much as we drink the child at a time. Secondary freezing of milk is not allowed. The rule is simple: one container - one serving.
When freezing, the fluid expands. This property must be taken into account when sending milk for storage. How to freeze breast milk, taking into account the increase in its volume in a freezer:
• bottles and jars must be filled so that approximately 2-3 cm remain to the top;
• Packages must remain empty for at least a quarter.
Dishes in which expressed milk will be stored must be tightly closed. If glass bottles are used, they must be kept on steam for 10-15 minutes before boiling milk, and boil metal caps. Plastic containers should be scalded with boiling water.
An important nuance associated with the use of plastic when freezing breast milk: is it possible or not to use plastic packaging? Can. However, when using plastic containers, it is important to pay attention to the marking. If there is an inscription "free BPA", the dishes are harmless to the baby. Dangerous for adults and children, bisphenol A (a special chemical substance) is absent in such plastic.
How to freeze breast milk?
To create a safe large can of breast milk, it’s important not to be confused with its shelf life. Therefore, on each container with a portion of breakfast, lunch or dinner for the baby, you need to write when the mother expressed the milk.
Shelf life varies depending on the capabilities of the freezer. If this is a normal freezer with a temperature of 13 to 18 degrees, then it is safe to give milk to the baby in the next four months. With deeper freezing and storage from 18 at 20 degrees, the shelf life of frozen milk increases to six months. Of course, the sooner the product is used, the better.
How to freeze breast milk? First, it must be held on the shelf of the refrigerator (not on the door) in order to cool and prevent a sharp jump in temperature. An hour is enough for small portions to cool sufficiently. Now they can be put into the freezer.
How to thaw breast milk?
The main difficulty in using a expressed product is not how to freeze breast milk properly, but how to restore it to a usable condition later. The kid should get a product, firstly, tasty (otherwise he will refuse to eat), and secondly, healthy, otherwise there is no sense in freezing.
That is why it is important to know how to properly defrost breast milk. There are two main methods:
1. put a container with the right portion (or portions) of milk on the shelf of the refrigerator at night. Milk will defrost by morning, and it can be used;
2. If you need to prepare a serving for feeding faster, you can hold the bottle in warm water at a temperature of 37 degrees.
The first method is natural and most acceptable. Milk is thawed evenly, while maintaining maximum nutritional quality and beneficial properties. The second method is faster, but you need to make sure that the water temperature is not too high. In hot water, all the benefits of breast milk will be lost.
What you can’t do is defrost the product in the microwave. Firstly, it will not be possible to keep track of the uniformity of heating; milk will defrost unevenly. In addition, shock defrosting and a sharp temperature drop will destroy all the benefits.
Do not be afraid if the milk after thawing acquires a pinkish, bluish or greenish tint. It is not spoiled, just shortly before expressing a woman ate brightly colored vegetables, apples or other products.
A slight soapy smell should not scare. It appears under the influence of low temperature and is due to the presence of an active enzyme - lipase. If the baby refuses to eat such milk, the bottle can be heated in water on the stove until the first signs of boiling appear. The smell will disappear, but the benefits of milk will decrease.
How to heat defrosted milk
When the milk defrosts, it needs to be warmed up and given to the baby. The product must not be heated in the microwave. To bring the contents of the bottle to a pleasant temperature, you can use a special device to warm baby food or use the method of heating in water:
• in a water bath;
• under warm running water.
In a water bath, you can put only the bottle that has already stood for some time in the room and has warmed enough. A sharp temperature drop is unacceptable, it reduces the value of breast milk.
The milk remaining after feeding must not be frozen again. But do not throw it away. You can put the bottle in the refrigerator and offer the baby again the next feeding.
