The commonest reason for a mother being separated from her baby for part of the day is because she is employed outside the home.

She should be encouraged to breastfeed the baby as much as possible when she is at home, and to consider expressing her milk to leave for someone else to give to her baby.

Breastfeed her baby whenever she is at home, such as at night and weekends.
Sleep with her baby, so that she can breastfeed at night and early in the morning.
Express milk in the morning before she leaves for work.
Express her milk while she is at work to keep up the supply.
She can refrigerate the milk if this is possible, or keep it for up to 8 hours at room temperature and bring it home.
If this is not possible, she may have to discard it. She needs to understand that the milk is not lost – her breasts will make more. If a mother does not express when at work, her milk production will decrease.

Eats On Feets

Breastmilk Storage Information

Location of storage	Temp	Maximum recommended storage time	Notes
Room temperature	16-29ºC (60-85ºF)	3-4 hours optimal 6-8 hours acceptable under very clean conditions	Covered containers
Insulated cooler bag	15ºC (59ºF)	24 hours	Keep ice packs in contact with milk container
Refrigerator	≤4ºC (39ºF)	72 hours optimal 5-8 days under very clean conditions	Store milk in the back of the main body of the refrigerator
Freezer compartment of refrigerator	-15ºC (5ºF)	2 weeks
Freezer	≤-17ºC (0ºF)	Up to 6 months is best Up to 12 months is acceptable	Store milk toward the back of the freezer

Freezer foods are kept safe almost indefinitely. These recommendations are for quality only.

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