We support you breastfeeding your baby and we can help you to store expressed milk for bub. Expressing also helps continue your milk supply. The first milk, colostrum, can be collected in labelled syringes to be fed to your baby.
We have experienced nurses and lactation consultants on hand to help and can provide you with a pump kit. We can help you begin expressing through a breast pump after 24 hours of hand expressing.
We keep mobile electric breast pumps in your baby’s room available for your use 24 hours a day. We also have a dedicated expressing room available 24 hours a day for additional privacy.
Expressed breast milk (EBM) must be stored correctly to be safe for your baby and to avoid mix ups.
Make sure you remember to:
- label the milk with a baby label, your name and the date and time of collection
- if you are storing your breast milk at home before bringing it in to the NICU make sure you store it in the body compartment of the fridge—never in the door
- never refreeze milk after it’s been thawed
- use a cooler bag when bringing milk from home
- give the milk to the nurse caring for your baby. Don’t put milk in or move milk from the fridges. Nurses oversee checking the labels and storing the milk in the fridge.
Your breast milk is collected from the fridge in the morning by our nutrition room technician. The milk is then poured into individual amounts for your baby’s feeds over the next 24 hours. The remaining milk is frozen for later use. If your baby is only taking small amounts of milk you can help the nutrition technician by dividing the milk into syringes.