How to freeze breast milk at home?

Moms are very sensitive to their children, especially to newborns. This is the period when the child is not yet able to explain what is wrong, and Mom needs to be extremely careful to respond to the baby's needs in time. The question of breastfeeding right now does not cause reasoning on the topic: to feed or not to breast-feed? In the minds of modern moms there is a clear understanding that breast milk is necessary for a child. This understanding has come from the knowledge and understanding of biological processes due to a large number of written articles and footage on this topic.

Very briefly about the benefits of breast milk

Scientists were able to prove the use of mother's milk for babies, it's all about the immune system. A small man who has come into the world does not yet have enough internal resources to deal with the aggressive influence of the environment, his immunity is weak. At the first stages of life, mother's milk helps to strengthen the protective mechanisms of the newborn. The benefits of breast milk became obvious to modern moms, and they even figured out how to freeze breast milk, which undoubtedly succeeded. No mixture today is capable of becoming a 100% alternative to a natural product. Why? Yes, because mother's milk is able to protect the child from almost all types of infections. Since such a product as milk quickly deteriorates, it became necessary to come up with ways to store it. In this article we will tell you how to freeze breast milk, how to store it, so that it does not lose its properties and does not deteriorate.

Why store breast milk if you can feed your baby fresh?

It would seem - that's Mom, here's the baby. What problems can there be with feeding, what are these preparations for? But such a need arose not on an equal footing, it is conditioned by the experience of many mothers who had to face non-standard situations. Now it's hard to say who first thought to freeze breast milk in a bottle, but many women successfully practice this experience. It is worth saying that it is not only frosted, but simply stored in the refrigerator (very short term). Why is this necessary?

- Health problems. No one is waiting for this, but still it sometimes happens. The nursing mother becomes ill and she has to take medication that can be unsafe for the baby. In this case, you can feed the child with a frozen product, until the health is restored.

- Long absence is a weighty reason. Urgent business trip, not enduring the end of maternity leave, the need for treatment in the hospital and so on. The reasons can be many and to such situations it is necessary to be ready.

- Excess milk. It happens that a child does not need as much food as his mother can provide, and the excess simply pours out. When the lactation period ends, and this sometimes happens very unpredictably and unexpectedly, women think that they would like to feed the baby longer, but this is already impossible. The problem is solved by those women who had time to think about how to freeze breast milk. In what It must be stored and properly frozen - these are the main issues when preparing milk for future use.

Is it possible to freeze milk, and what are the useful substances in it that will remain after such treatment?

Parents will not give their children products that they are not sure of. That's the question of the quality of frozen milk, you need to dot all the "i". Independently it is not necessary to conduct experiments, pediatricians have long investigated this issue and approved this method of storing a perishable product. For yourself, you can choose a convenient option of what to freeze breast milk and do it in every possible case, because useful unique properties are preserved almost completely. Such a stock can be stored for several months.

I need to freeze the milk. With what to begin?

If there is a possibility to freeze the product, why not do it? Now only the question arises as to how to freeze breast milk at home. In some maternity homes there are banks of milk, where this process is worked out, but what to do at home? In this process, nothing is complicated, you need to create your own personal milk bank. He will help to solve small everyday issues that arise in the life of a young mother, whether it is going to the store or passing the exam. A dairy bank is nothing more than a personal stock of milk stored in special bags, plastic bottles or other suitable containers.

Correctly organized collection of breast milk

You can collect milk at any time, but it is advisable not to do this before you need to go somewhere. Mother experiences because of separation and this can provoke a decrease in milk, then you will not be able to store it for future use. In other cases, there are no restrictions. Expressing should be done when the child has already eaten, the mother is healthy, and the freezing containers are available. What can be frozen breast milk? In children's bottles, food plastic bags, glass vessels, not filling them to the end, so that in the freezer they do not burst after the expansion of the liquid. All containers must be hermetically sealed.

How correctly to express to collect milk for freezing?

The fastest way to do this job is with a breast pump. The process itself is short-lived, less traumatic than pumping your hands. But there are women who are more comfortable doing this procedure manually. The chosen method has no effect on the result. What to freeze breast milk, is also not a matter of principle, to whom it is convenient.

The main thing is to wash your hands, sterilize the dishes for storage, if it is reusable (there are special sterile bags for collecting milk), and the breast pump itself. For sterilization, you can use a microwave or boiling. Milk is preferably immediately expressed in the container in which it will be stored. Having done such simple actions, you can easily freeze breast milk without problems. Mom's comments very convincingly prove that this is a very practical method.

Determined with the container - put the supplies in the freezer

Some firms produce disposable bags that are designed specifically for storing breast milk. They are compact and do not take up much space. If it is a solid plastic or glass, the containers should be designed for baby food. Do not forget about the labeling. It is very important to specify the date when the milk was frozen. How to freeze breast milk - it's up to you. Plastic and glass can be reused, and packages will have to be discarded.

Particular attention should be given to freezing and storage

Freeze raw materials in small portions, because after thawing everything that the child does not eat, you need to pour. You can make blanks of different volumes and use if necessary for pre-feeding or give as a full-fledged portion. It may be that you will need to freeze breast milk after a refrigerator. In this case, it is better to freeze it in the same container in which it was standing in the refrigerator for not more than a day. If it needs to be poured into another container, then sterile containers should be used. Also, before freezing, you need to make sure that it has not deteriorated, has a pleasant smell and color.

When freezing all liquids expand, this should be remembered when filling the tanks and leave free space. It is not necessary to add fresh milk to frozen milk, even if there is room left in the container, because the fresh one will unfrozen some of the frozen milk and, if it is frozen again, it will lose its useful properties. Different portions of milk, collected in one day, can be stored in one container. These are the basic tips on how to properly freeze breast milk at home in packages, in glass and plastic containers.

Features of storage of breast milk in the freezer

When it comes to freezing conventional products, you can and not be so scrupulous, but it's worthy of treating children's food with all responsibility.

In different sources, you can find some differences, here it is worth paying attention to why the milk is stored. There are blanks for premature babies, and there are simply milk banks. But there may also be differences due to the fact that different refrigerators are used. At home, you can follow simple recommendations and successfully store a valuable product for 6 or more months.

Some valuable tips for caring moms

If you decide to freeze breast milk in a container, try to remove excess air from it. Keep all containers closer to the rear wall, because if you place them on the door or close to the door, then each time you open the freezer, the product will be exposed to a temperature difference.

If feeding is supposed to be harvested product during the day or the next day, it is better not to freeze it. When stored in the refrigerator in it more useful substances will be preserved.

If the product has already been thawed, it can not be frozen again. If necessary, it can still be kept in the refrigerator, but not more than a day.

How to properly defrost the milk in order to keep all the useful substances in it?

If it is supposed to feed the child with workpieces, it is better to get one container in advance and transfer it to the refrigerator to thaw gradually. If there is no time to wait, then you can hold the package or container under a stream of warm water. Next, you need to bring the dish in a water bath to the desired temperature. Mom's milk has the same temperature as the body, so before you feed your baby, you need to check the degree of its heating on your wrist.

Preheated milk, which the child has not eaten, you need to pour, there is no point in storing it anymore.

To reheat the microwave can not be used, otherwise all your laborious work on harvesting and storage will go wrong. Most of the useful substances from radio waves are simply destroyed.

As the child grows up, its needs change in the number of different vitamins and trace elements, and the composition of the milk also changes. Therefore, the ideal option will be the rapid use of blanks, so that the baby gets fresh portions. But if you managed to save a lot of milk before the time when normal feeding is no longer possible, then such stocks will be worth their weight in gold. No baby food is able to replace breastfeeding.

What does fresh milk look like and what happens to it if it is frozen?

Fresh milk has a pleasant sweetish smell. Can have a white or slightly creamy color, depending on the fat content. Has a sweetish taste. You can choose at your own discretion what to freeze breast milk at home, but after defrosting a specific odor may appear. This is the norm, this does not affect the quality of the product. In rare cases it happens that because of this smell the baby refuses to drink it.

After decanting, the liquid looks homogeneous. If you leave it, then after a while you will notice that it has become exfoliated: the fat part rises, and the liquid part remains below. If it is shaken in a bowl, it will again become homogeneous.

If it suddenly turns out that the product has a sour taste or smell, it should be thrown away. This indicates that the billet has disappeared, it is impossible to give it to the baby.

Features of short-term storage of the product

Short-term storage of milk is possible even without freezing, but its period is significantly reduced. This situation can arise if you have to go away for a few hours. Then it is better to express the milk immediately into a bottle, from which the baby will be fed.

The bottle will need to be tightly closed, if necessary, put in the refrigerator. Nearby should not be raw meat or fish, raw vegetables with fruits or medicines.