World Breastfeeding Week is celebrated every year from 1 to 7 August in more than 170 countries to encourage breastfeeding and improve the health of babies around the world. PAHO/WHO actively promotes breastfeeding as the best source of nourishment for infants and young children.

Meena delivered normally a healthy female baby few months back. First 3 months passed by easily and then came the time for Meena to go back to her work. She was upset about leaving her little one home and also worried about the breastfeeding here onwards. Meena is not only a single mother but like lot of mothers who are planning to join work full-time, she was worried about the feeding timings of her baby get worked out keeping in mind her work schedule and unavailability throughout the day.

But yes there is a solution to this and mothers can manage breastfeeding their babies in their own absence.

A mother can express her milk by hands or breast pump for storage. This breast milk can be stored at a maintained temperature in refrigerator.

• After pumping or expressing the breast milk, it can be stored in a storage container which may be bottle, bottle liner or plastic storage bag (pre-sterilized).
• Approximately 2-4 ounces of milk can be stored in a single bag.
• A small amount of this milk can be thawed and warmed quickly and the baby can be fed this milk at the feeding time.
• Before storing the milk, always remember to label the date and time on the container so that the person who is going to feed the baby can get the duration of safe consumption.
• Use the oldest milk first.
• If you are feeding the baby on same day after expressing it then it can be kept at room temperature for maximum 10 hours.
• The breast milk can be stored in the refrigerator for at least 8 days.
• If the milk is frozen within 24 hours of pumping, it can be stored in the freezer for up to 3 months.

So now the busy or working mothers don’t need to worry about the feeding their babies during their busy schedule as they can feed their babies as and how required, after storing the breast milk properly.

Always remember few things about reusing the stored milk –

• Once taken out from the freezer for use, don’t re-freeze the milk again.
• Before feeding the baby, let the milk come to room temperature or that of baby’s body temperature.
• To make milk warm, just put the storage bag in the container of warm water or under the running water.
• Do not use a microwave to heat baby’s milk.

It has been seen that mothers who feed formulas to their babies stay absent twice as more days to take care of their sick children as compared to mothers who breastfeed.

Know the benefits of Breastfeeding as explained by Dr. Nidhi Desai in this video.

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