How to heat breast milk from the refrigerator

The life of modern women is filled with a huge number of events. Many active mothers do not want to die after childbirth and stay with the baby all the time. They have to combine work, family, child care, household chores. Fortunately, a huge number of useful household appliances allows them. You can throw dirty diapers into a washing machine, products in a slow cooker, start a robot vacuum cleaner and that’s all. All household chores are done on their own. However, taking care of children is not so simple. If a young mother goes away from home, she must take care that her little child will eat, staying with her grandmother or nanny.

Of course, the easiest way to feed your child an adapted mixture. However, why do this if mom has a lot of her healthy and irreplaceable milk. Everyone knows that breast milk is involved in the emergence of strong immunity, protects against the development of various allergic reactions. Anyway, if a woman is not going to finish breastfeeding, why give the mixture? You only need to know how to properly express, store and heat milk.

How to collect and store breast milk

If a woman leaves home and leaves her baby for no more than 6 hours, she can pre-filter fresh milk and leave it at room temperature. Such milk does not lose its properties and is absolutely safe. If the mother is absent from the crumbs for a longer period of time, milk should be placed in the refrigerator. Such milk is stored for no more than four days. Before giving milk to a child, it must be warmed up.

It happens that a mother will have a long treatment, surgery and other reasons why she will not be able to feed her child for some time. Then she needs to stock up on a large amount of breast milk in advance for several weeks. To do this, you need to buy special containers in a pharmacy of a small size, about 100-150 ml. The size is not accidental - children eat up to six months exactly that much at one feeding, and since milk cannot be reheated, this container volume is very convenient. In addition, special containers are made of safe plastic, which does not change the taste and smell of the product.

You can express milk by hand or with a breast pump. Women who go to work do this during the lunch break to empty their full breasts. Strained milk should be placed in the freezer. There it can be stored up to several months. In this way, you can make decent supplies, especially if a woman has a lot of milk. This allows you to feed the baby, regardless of maternal presence.

How to warm breast milk

Breast milk should not be boiled. At the same time, it loses its vitamins, becomes useless. If milk is frozen, it should be thawed gradually, without sudden temperature changes. Just put a container of milk from the freezer into the refrigerator. When it has completely melted, it can be heated. You can do this in various ways.

Hot water
This is the easiest and best way to warm a bottle of milk. Just put it under running hot water and shake occasionally. Milk will become warm in a couple of minutes. It happens that you need to urgently heat frozen milk, but there is no time for a long thawing in the refrigerator. In this case, you need to place a container of milk under a stream of cool water. And only after the milk has completely melted, it can be heated with hot running water.This is done in order to preserve beneficial enzymes.

Water bath
You can warm breast milk with a water bath. To do this, put a pot of water on the fire, wait for it to boil. After that, place the smaller dishes on top so that their bottom is above the steam. The pan should not boil too much, otherwise the milk will warm unevenly. This is the safest way to heat food, because there are no extremely high temperatures in a water bath.

Special heater
There is a special device that works on steam. It is multifunctional and very useful for a young mother. It can be used as a sterilizer for bottles, as well as for warming cold milk. In the future, when the baby begins to eat complementary foods, this device can be used as a double boiler for preparing lean food.

The bottle warmer heats milk very quickly and safely. The main thing is that it does not allow overheating and gives a signal that milk is ready when its temperature reaches the norm.

Stir the milk thoroughly, because it may not be fully warmed up. Whichever way you use breast milk, do not forget to check it before you give the bottle to the baby. Put a few drops of liquid on your wrist - the milk should be warm and comfortable.

Is it possible to heat breast milk in the microwave?

There is a lot of controversy on this subject. Milk, when heated in a microwave, loses all its beneficial properties, vitamins, enzymes. Such milk, of course, is not harmful, but absolutely useless. In addition, the microwave may warm up the food unevenly, which can lead to overheating if it is not shaken well before feeding. Watch the time carefully. Do not keep milk in the microwave for more than a minute - it may curdle, which will lead to problems with the baby's stool. Let warming up in a microwave oven be possible for you only in the most acute situation - when the baby demands to eat here and now.

Board for storage and heating of breast milk

There are a few tips that are useful when storing and heating milk.

1. Do not store breast milk on the refrigerator door. The temperature there is higher, moreover, the door is constantly opening, and milk is filled with hot air. This degrades its properties. It is best to store breast milk deep in the refrigerator.
2. Thawed milk can be used not only for self-eating. They can breed porridge, add it in mashed potatoes. This is not only useful - breast milk in food allows the baby to feel the familiar taste and begin to eat complementary foods with pleasure.
3. Sometimes after thawing, milk loses its usual taste and color. This is normal, there’s nothing wrong with that.
4. If you notice that the milk is divided into layers, do not worry, this is also normal. So, by the way, you can determine the fat content of your milk. The thicker the top layer, the fatter the milk.
5. If you are afraid that you will give your baby too hot milk, measure the temperature of the liquid with a thermometer. The temperature should not be higher than 37 degrees.
6. Milk must not be reheated or frozen.

Breast milk for a child is both food and drink. With proper freezing, milk retains 95% of its beneficial properties. Proper milk heating will help you not deprive your child of valuable vitamins, even if you are not nearby.

Video: freezing and storing breast milk