Just a quick response to your questions about breastmilk storage for the NICU
baby.  In our particular facility, initially we place mom's milk in
sterilized urine (never used--dont' panic) cups.  Once mother is discharged
from the hospital, we request that she purchase the disposable nurser bags &
bring her milk (doubled bagged and properly labeled with the date & time of
collection) to store in our freezer.  We, of course, do have a supply of
nurser bags for use in special situations.  For the mother with the extremely
tiny baby, if she pumps fresh milk while she is visiting her baby, we
pre-measure each feeding directly from her collection bottle into an
appropriate size syringe (properly labeled and dated) because for
intermittent gavage feedings, we administer them by pump over 30-40 minutes
at the prescribed interval feeding.  For those infants receiving a breastmilk
fortifier or other additives, such as microlipids & NACL we premix a 24 hour
volume and store it in the refrigerator in a glass bottle.  About 1/2 hour
prior to the feeding, we measure the exact volume into a syringe or take the
prefilled syringe from the refrigerator and place it directly into the
infant's isolette near the air jet flow fan so that it is heated to the
baby's exact environmental temperature just before the feeding.  Our mothers
take responsibility for labeling and storing their milk in our breastmilk
freezer in the NICU.    There seems to be lots of competition among our
mothers concerning who has the most milk in the freezer.  We, of course, are
fortunate, that our physicians and nursing staff are strong advocates of
breastfeeding & breastmilk.  It is not unusual to have 100% of our NICU
mothers pumping & storing their milk for their tiny babies.  We are proud of
their success.


Mary Lou McGee, RNC, IBCLC
El Paso, Texas