Is it possible to freeze breast milk and how to do it correctly?

Content

The reasons
Is it useful?
Choosing capacity
Stages of freezing
Tips

Breastmilk is the best food for an infant. It provides a growing children's body with nutrients that are important to it. And if circumstances force a mother to be away from the crumb for a long time, the woman begins to wonder if it is possible to save breastfeeding. Freezing seems like a good way out. Is it really possible to freeze breast milk and how to do it correctly?

The reasons

You can decide to freeze breast milk for a variety of reasons. For example, mom is going to have a trip, treatment, or will have to temporarily stop breastfeeding for another reason. Having made a reserve in a frozen form, the child can be fed with expressed breast milk for the time of the absence of her mother's breast.

Breast milk can be frozen — Frozen breast milk is a wonderful way for mothers who cannot stay with their baby for more than 48 hours.

Is it useful?

Of course, milk, which directly goes to the baby from her mother's breast, is the most useful, but the difference in the composition is insignificant. As shown by a study of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, proper freezing had practically no effect on its qualitative composition, content of biologically active and mineral substances.

If you need to choose - a mixture or expressed milk that was frozen by mom, then the answer is obvious. Partially, minerals and vitamins are destroyed when frozen, but useful proteins and other components that cannot be found even in the best adapted mixtures remain.

Be sure that breast milk retains its beneficial properties not only by direct feeding of the crumbs, but also during storage. At the same time storage periods depend on the way you want to save it. If it will stand at room temperature, then drink such a product should be within three to six hours.

Having sent the tank with expressed milk to the refrigerator, you can store it for up to 48 hours. During this time, his antibodies will not spoil him. This method of storage is preferred because it retains macrophage cells that help the crumbs resist diseases. If you have to keep the milk longer, it should be frozen.

Breast milk in the fridge — If you will be absent next to the baby for less than 24 hours, it is better to put the milk in the refrigerator, since this will preserve much more nutrients.

In a conventional freezer it can be stored for up to three months, and in freezers with deep freezing it can last for six months or more.

Note: you can not re-freeze the milk, if after feeding it you have left.

Choosing capacity

Capacities in which you can freeze mother's milk can be:

glass bottles;
plastic containers;
special packages for freezing.

Glass is considered to be a more preferred and environmentally friendly material, and when selecting plastic containers, it should be ensured that the containers are safe for children (they should not contain phthalates and should be labeled with the words “BPA free”).

Freezing bags are a very practical and convenient way of storage. In addition, they take up little space in the freezer.

milk freezing bags — Special packages for freezing milk are very convenient.

Stages of freezing

Do not freeze milk:

stood for 2 hours at room temperature;

from the refrigerator to extend the shelf life;

thawed (for example, remaining after feeding).

The first stage - pumping. Usually for this purpose they use a breast pump and express breast milk into special containers that go to it in a set. However, you can express it with your hands. Write on the jar the date of decanting.

The second stage is cooling in the refrigerator. You can not put just expressed milk directly into the freezer. Let it cool first in the refrigerator, but not more than 12 hours.

The third stage is the freezing of containers with milk. Put them in a conventional freezer, or better - in a device that provides a temperature of minus 18-20 degrees. So it can be stored longer.

Date of decanting on the tank with breast milk — The date of decanting indicated on the container will save you from drinking milk with a finished shelf life.

Defrosting is a very crucial stage on which its nutritional value depends. Proper defrosting of breast milk discussed in another article.

Tips

Do not fill containers completely. Always leave about a centimeter of free space or 3/4 of the volume, since the milk expands when frozen.
It is important to wash your hands before decanting.
On each tank write the date of decanting. So it will be convenient for you to first use the containers, the date on which is earlier.
Freshly expressed milk can be added to the already frozen milk, if its amount is less than the volume of the frozen product.
If the milk is frozen, you can not freeze it again.