There are situations when, for one reason or another, it is not possible to attach the baby to the mother's breast. This may be due to the illness of the mother, deep prematurity, difficult childbirth, or simply an urgent departure from home. In this case, the baby is fed expressed breast milk.
Instructions
Step 1
In order to keep the baby's sucking reflex, expressed milk must be given not from a bottle, but from a cup. To do this, take the child in your arms, bring the cup to your mouth, positioning it so that its edge lies on the child's lower lip, touching the corners of the mouth slightly, gently tilt the cup so that the liquid level only touches the child's lips and tongue a little, but do not pour milk in the mouth. Feeding expressed milk from a cup has its advantages: the baby does not develop the wrong stereotype of sucking and does not wean from the breast, as when feeding from a bottle. In addition, the cup is easy to clean and sterilize.
Step 2
Express breast milk with your hands, not with a breast pump - it can injure the nipple. Do this need to be done in an inclined position to the chest? hanging down. Before expressing, be sure to gently massage your breasts. Grasp your chest with your hand so that the thumb is above the areola, and the index finger is below, opposite the thumb, the rest of the fingers should support the chest. Squeeze the index and thumb, press on the lactiferous sinuses under the areola. Avoid pressing on the nipple, it is painful and ineffective. Express milk alternately from both breasts for 6-7 minutes. The entire pumping procedure takes approximately 30 minutes. Repeat pumping after 2-3 hours.
Step 3
To prevent expressed milk from losing its healing properties, keep it in a sealed container at room temperature for about 30 minutes. Then place it in the refrigerator. The shelf life of breast milk in the refrigerator should not exceed 1 day.
Step 4
Warm expressed milk in a water bath before feeding your baby. Never heat it on gas.
Step 5
It is recommended to feed your baby with breast milk throughout the first year, since breast milk is not only a source of essential nutrients, but also protects the baby from various diseases.
