Recommendations for handling of mother's own milk

M R Tully1

  • 1Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA.

Often, mothers must express their milk so it can be fed to their babies in their absence or at a later time. Research has shown that human milk is remarkably resilient as long as good food-handling techniques are used. There are some measures that can be taken to optimize both the nutritional value and the immunologic protection if the milk is to be fed to a preterm or sick infant rather than to a healthy baby who is primarily breastfeeding. Keeping milk-handling and storage instructions simple and clear can encourage a mother to provide milk for her baby when she cannot breastfeed.