I have just subscribed to lactnet and I work as a midwife on a neonatal
intensive care unit in Christchurch NZ. One of my three days of work on
this unit is spent working with mothers and breastfeeding issues and
staff education. Hopefully after I sit my lactation consultants exam in
July my work will all become breastfeeding and feeding related. (I hope
this is what you mean by an introduction )
Have been trying to find articles on breastmilk storage. We keep milk in
the fridge here for 48hrs and then freeze it if it has not been used.
One of our paeds has been doing research into the effect of storage on
nutrients (mainly Vit C). We have found numerous articles which give
length of storage times in fridge and freezer etc but very little on the
references for this. We presume that the storage times are based on
bacterial growth counts. Does anyone know of any references based on
effects on nutrients? The research into Vit C does seem to indicate that
storage does have a detrimental effect on Vit C. This has implications
for our prems as they are all put on Vitadol C and until now they have
all had the same prescribed dosage regardless of their other intakes. We
do try and give fresh breastmilk when possible but invariably most women
do go through some times when lactation is reduced and this is the time
we need to defrost milk for feedings.
Would be very interested in comments. Thank you
Carol Bartle

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