Many breast-feeding mothers may become “breast-feeding” because they want to return to work.
It is especially important to master the skills of sucking and storing milk when one cannot give up one’s job and breastfeeding at the same time. With this knowledge, it is no longer difficult to balance work and breastfeeding.
Little knowledge of milking and sucking milk
Manual milking
Every mother should master how to squeeze milk with her hands.
The best way is to consult hospital nurses or experienced mothers around and let them teach you hand in hand.
No matter who you are, you may be clumsy at the beginning and need many exercises to be handy. Therefore, don’t be discouraged at the beginning because you don’t do well enough.
Breast pump
If you often need milking, you need to prepare a high-quality breast pump first.
If you feel nipple pain when sucking milk, you can adjust the suction force and choose the right gear, and do not let the nipple rub against the contact surface when sucking milk.
Precautions for Milking and Sucking Milk
1. Time to start milking and sucking
If you are going back to work, you’d better start preparing to practice sucking milk 1 ~ 2 weeks in advance.
Before sucking milk, you must learn to use the breast pump and practice more at home. You can find a time to suck after each meal or between meals.
2. Amount of milk sucked
At first, the amount of milk sucked was not very large. After several days of regular milk sucking, the amount of milk would gradually increase, and as the amount of milk sucked increased, the amount of breast milk would also increase. This was a virtuous circle.
If milk production increases more, mothers need to increase the amount of drinking water to replenish water.
3. Duration of sucking milk
After proficiency, the time for each milk suction should be basically the same as that for each breast feeding, at least 10-15 minutes on one side. Of course, the premise is that the breast pump is of good quality and comfortable to use.
After starting to work, we should also insist on sucking milk every 2-3 hours and at least 10-15 minutes on each side, so as to better simulate the frequency of baby feeding.
After returning home, you must have more contact with your baby, insist on direct breast-feeding, and increase the stimulation of baby sucking on lactation, which helps to produce more breast milk.
4. Not enough breast milk prepared
If the baby’s milk volume increases rapidly, the prepared breast milk may not be enough, so it is necessary to increase the number of times of milk sucking or direct breast feeding. This is to stimulate lactation and increase milk yield.
Mothers can take breast pumps to work, suck milk several times during work intervals, or adjust the interval time, feeding milk more frequently at home, once every 2-3 hours, and sucking milk less frequently at work, once every 3-4 hours.
How to store and thaw the extruded breast milk?
Attention should be paid when storing:
- Breast milk cannot be stored in an environment exceeding 37 ℃, and can only be stored for 4 ~ 6 hours at room temperature (25 ℃). Breast milk refrigerated in the refrigerator can be stored for 6-8 days at 2-4 ℃. If it is a single-door refrigerator (i.e. There is no separation between the refrigerating chamber and the freezing chamber), breast milk can be stored in the freezing chamber for 2 weeks; If it is a two-door refrigerator (i.e. The refrigerating chamber and the freezing chamber are separated), breast milk can be stored in the freezing chamber for 3-4 months; It can be stored for 6 months in a constant temperature freezer (about-19 ℃).
Note: Although breast milk can be stored for a relatively long time in the freezer, the fresher the breast milk, the better.
Attention should be paid when thawing:
- Put frozen breast milk into a container containing hot water to raise the temperature and heat it to an appropriate feeding temperature; If conditions permit, it is more convenient to use the milk warmer. Thawed breast milk cannot be frozen again.
Responsible Editor: BruceLi