Feeding with Breastmilk in Early Care

Feeding with Breastmilk in Early Care and Education Programs Mothers may choose to have their breastfed infants fed in one of several ways when the infant is in child care including:

1. mother uses her breaks to come to the child care site at feeding times to nurse her infant;

2. child care provider gives the infant the breastmilk that the mother has expressed on a previous day. Follow the feeding method that the mother chooses. Feeding advice such as the use of infant formula should come from the infant’s doctor or clinic. Expressed breastmilk needs to be stored and handled safely to keep it from spoiling. Remind mothers to label, date, and chill or refrigerate their breastmilk right after they express it. Ask mothers to bring the milk in hard plastic bottles. Ask mothers to bring in enough breastmilk to feed the infant each day. Be sure that each bottle or other container of breastmilk is labeled with the infant’s name and the date the milk was expressed. Bottles should have just the amount both you and the mother think the infant will take at each feeding. This amount will be about 2 to 4 ounces of breastmilk for the younger infant. As the infant gets older, the mother can put more breastmilk in each bottle. Keep breastmilk in the refrigerator or freezer until ready to use. Breastmilk that is not frozen, should be disposed of if not eaten within 72 hours. Thaw frozen breastmilk by running the container under cool water. Do not set breastmilk out to thaw at room temperature. Do not thaw breastmilk by heating on the stove or in a microwave.8 See below for instructions on how to bottle feed an infant. Although breast milk is ideal for almost all infants, not all mothers will be able to breastfeed and some mothers should not breastfeed (including women with HIV, who are being treated for cancer, or who are taking drugs that are not safe while breastfeeding).