Abstract
Background
There is an increasing number of mothers expressing their breastmilk, which presents
new issues for infant feeding. A primary concern is handling, storage, and warming
of expressed breastmilk.
Methods
A scoping review was undertaken to explore online guidelines for handling and storage
of expressed human breastmilk which are readily accessible to Australian mothers.
Six common terms and questions regarding expressed breastmilk handling and storage
were run through Google, Bing, and Yahoo search engines, and government health websites,
informal milk sharing sites, and other sites frequently referenced on social media
breastfeeding support pages.
Results
The top ten most cited resources were comparatively analysed. Only two of the resources
were Australian based. There was a great variance in the guidelines offered for both
handling and storage of expressed breastmilk. The most conservative storage recommendations
for fresh breastmilk were up to 4 h at room temperature and 72 h in the refrigerator. The least conservative recommendations allowed fresh breastmilk
to be stored at room temperature for up to 10 h and in the refrigerator for up to 8 days, albeit strictly dependent on the temperature
of the room and cleanliness of the expression. The majority of recommendations cited
the same primary source. All resources stated that thawed milk should never be refrozen.
Conclusions
There are minimal Australian-based guidelines, and even less primary research, in
the expressed breastmilk handling and storage space. The resources readily available
to women in the community setting vary in ease of comprehension and can cause confusion.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: October 20, 2019
Accepted:
September 30,
2019
Received in revised form:
September 30,
2019
Received:
August 14,
2019
Identification
Copyright
© 2019 Australian College of Midwives. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
