Breast milk and issues to care about

According to Children’s Hospital 1

Breastfeeding tips for healthy term babies:

– Exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months.

– If you can’t breastfeed right away, breastfeed as soon as possible.

– Put the baby in skin-to-skin contact with the mother the day after birth and encourage breastfeeding at least 8 times/24 hours.

Do not give water or formula milk unless directed by your doctor.

– Complementary feeding when the baby is 6 months old, in parallel with continued breastfeeding for at least 24 months.

– Should be breastfed directly as soon as possible. In case the baby has to be isolated from the mother due to premature birth or illness, encourage the mother to pump, noting that the milk storage technique can affect the nutritional composition of the milk and the possibility of infection of the milk.

How to pump milk:

Breast stimulation with a breast pump attached to the breast (machine suction) or manual breast massage in the first few hours postpartum.

Pump by machine or by hand 8-10 times a day for 2 weeks to stimulate the growth of breast follicles and maximize milk production.

Pump 10-15 minutes at a time for the first few days until milk volume starts to increase, then increase pumping time every 2 minutes until milk volume stabilizes.

The volume of milk in the day at the end of the 2nd week is about 800-1000ml/day which is the best.

How to collect milk:

Instruct the mother to wash her hands and scrub her fingernails before each pumping session.

All milk-collecting equipment that comes into contact with the breast or with breast milk must be cleaned before and after each use.

Sterilize milk collection equipment once a day.

Collect the milk in a sterilized glass or hard plastic container. Plastic bags should not be used to store breast milk for premature babies.

Each bottle must be labeled with the child’s information, the date and time of pumping.

How to store breast milk:

Use fresh milk within 4 hours of pumping.

Refrigerate milk immediately after pumping if the baby will be breastfed within 72 hours.

Freeze milk if the baby is not fed or the mother cannot deliver the milk to the hospital within 24 hours of pumping.

Thaw milk slowly before feeding, do not use microwave to warm milk.