Why breast feeding is important

BREASTFEEDING AWARENESS

Your baby gains many benefits from breastfeeding. Breast milk is easy to digest and has antibodies that can protect your baby from bacterial and viral infections. Breast milk handling and storage is an important area of concern for working mothers. By following safe handling and storage techniques, nursing mothers and caretakers of breastfed infants can maintain the high quality of expressed breast milk and the health of the baby.

Below are some tips:

·         Be sure to wash your hands before expressing or handling breast milk.

·         Milk may be stored and transported in refrigeration. Freshly expressed milk is safe for infant consumption even when stored at room temperature for up to 6–8 hours. Refrigerated milk can be stored for 5 days.

·         When collecting milk, be sure to store it in clean containers, such as screw cap bottles, hard plastic cups with tight caps. Avoid using ordinary plastic storage bags as these could easily leak or spill.

·         Expressed milk should be stored in a clean container that can be thoroughly cleaned with hot, soapy water and seals tightly.

·         If delivering breast milk to a child care provider, clearly label the container with the child's name and date.

·         Do not add fresh milk to already frozen milk within a storage container. It is best not to mix the two.

·         Avoid using a microwave oven to heat bottles of breast milk. Uneven heating could easily damage the milk. Excess heat can destroy the nutrient quality of the expressed milk.

·         A mother who has a flexible work schedule may take regular breaks to express her milk. Milk expression by the mother as per the frequency with which the infant or child typically nurses (generally every 2-3 hours for infants less than 6 months old) helps a mother maintain her milk supply.

·         A breastfeeding mother planning to be apart from her nursing infant may wish to express and store a supply of breast milk for use while she is away. Building one's supply of breast milk is most successful when begun gradually over many weeks in advance of the planned separation. Check with your doctor in such a scenario.

The World Breastfeeding Week is celebrated in the month of August by the WHO.

Source: http://www.cdc.gov/breastfeeding/

Courtesy: Marsh Insurance