How to deal with leftover breast milk

For the sake of nipple health, some parents will squeeze breast milk into a bottle while breastfeeding their baby and then feed it to the baby. However, parents generally do not have an accurate idea of ​​their baby's food intake, which results in some parents finding that their babies simply cannot finish the food when they are breastfeeding. If you continue to heat up the breast milk for your baby to drink next time, many bacteria will grow in it, which will have a great impact on the baby's body. So how should you deal with the breast milk that you can't finish?

Pour

Some mothers think that excess breast milk is useless and just throw it away. In fact, it is quite a waste. However, it is okay to pour it out directly in the following situations: when you are out and cannot store breast milk, you have to pour it out yourself if you don't want to drink it; it is not recommended to re-freeze and store breast milk that has been thawed but not finished by the baby or continue to feed it to the baby; breast milk that has been left for too long will easily deteriorate and is not recommended to be fed to the baby.

Drink

If there is excess milk, drinking it is actually a good choice. Because breast milk is rich in nutrients, it would be a shame to throw it away. As long as you are not afraid of the fishy smell of breast milk, just drink it. Many of my friends choose to let their family members drink it. Some drink it themselves, some give it to their husbands, some give it to their parents, and some give it to their parents-in-law. No matter who drinks it, as long as it is not wasted.

Frozen storage

Frozen storage is a method chosen by many mothers and is also one of the best methods. Dr. Hu Changli from the Functional Dairy Laboratory of China Agricultural University recommends that breastfeeding mothers use a breast pump to extract the leftover breast milk and freeze it for their baby to eat later. Breast milk can be frozen for up to 6 months, but can only be refrigerated for 24 hours. Low-temperature freezing conditions can protect the various beneficial nutrients in breast milk from being destroyed and lost to the greatest extent, and are the best way to preserve breast milk. Especially for working mothers, they have to go back to work after maternity leave and cannot breastfeed their babies during the day. This is when the breast milk that was frozen before can come in handy.

Breastfeeding mothers should be reminded that the milk-sucking process must be kept clean and hygienic, and the breast pumps, bottles, etc. used must be sterilized at high temperature. Before freezing, choose a container of appropriate size, clean and hygienic. You can use a sterile milk storage bag, or a steam-sterilized container that can withstand heat and low temperatures. Avoid choosing thin-walled glass containers to prevent cracking due to freezing. When storing milk, be careful not to overfill the container, as breast milk will expand when frozen. Place fresh breast milk in a -18°C refrigerator and mark the date, amount of milk and other information on the container. Then take it according to the date.

Donate to a breast milk bank

In the previous survey, there was no donation option, which may be related to the small number of breast milk banks in my country and insufficient publicity. It is understood that the Iowa Breast Milk Bank in the United States, which was one of the earliest breast milk banks in the world, has mobile milk collection trucks that follow a fixed route and drive to various residential areas on a regular basis every day to collect milk. Qualified volunteers pour the milk they express at home into milk storage tanks and mix them. They then sterilize and package them uniformly to supply hungry children.

China's first breast milk bank was established in 2013 at the Zhujiang New Town branch of Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center, followed by breast milk banks in other cities across the country. Breast milk banks are completely non-profit and provide free breast milk to children in need, such as premature babies whose families cannot provide breast milk, babies after surgery, babies with milk protein allergies, children after chemotherapy, critically ill children, etc. So, if your baby cannot finish all the breast milk and there happens to be a breast milk bank in your city, go and donate the milk so that babies in need can also have breast milk.

Wash your face, apply a mask, and make breast milk soap

Some mothers may say, "I have frozen a lot of milk, but there is still some." Some mothers are full-time mothers and can feed their babies themselves throughout the whole process without freezing milk. In fact, excess milk has many other uses, such as washing your face, applying facial masks, and making breast milk soap.

Because breast milk has a certain moisturizing effect, it is suitable for washing your face, applying facial masks, and making breast milk soap. However, remember to rinse it off with clean water after use to prevent residue. However, it should be noted that some people sell homemade breast milk soap online, but since there is no sanitary supervision on the source and production process of the breast milk, it is not recommended for use.

In addition, some mothers believe that breast milk is good for the skin, so they will apply breast milk directly on the baby's face when feeding, thinking that this will make the baby's skin better. Some mothers also believe that breast milk can cure baby's eczema. In fact, this is not the case. Pediatric experts say that newborns have delicate skin, rich blood vessels, and weaker resistance than adults. Breast milk applied to the face can easily cause blockage of sweat gland openings and pores, which can hinder the secretion and excretion of sweat and sebum and cause hidradenitis, sebaceous adenitis and folliculitis, and is also prone to breeding bacteria. Moreover, eczema is mostly caused by allergies. Breast milk does not contain any effective ingredients for treating allergies. The skin barrier of babies with eczema is already damaged, and applying breast milk will only make the rash worse.