Storing and Feeding Your Child Pumped Milk at Seattle Children’s

The hospital’s milk management system keeps your breastmilk/chestmilk, and your child, safe. We ask you to place labels on each bottle of milk you pump.

The label includes your child’s name as well as a unique barcode. Scanning the barcode tells us that the milk your child gets is always yours, and ensures the milk matches your child’s recommended feeding plan.

Breastmilk/chestmilk that needs to be frozen or fortified during your stay will be kept in the Milk Lab. Staff who specialize in storing and preparing your milk in the cleanest possible environment manage the Milk Lab.

Your child’s nurse will print collection labels for you that have your child’s name and barcode on them. The nurse will double-check them with you to make sure they are your child’s labels. Store the labels with your pumping equipment.

• How many times a day you pump and for how long depends on your specific situation and your goals.
• Please pump into and store your milk in 80ml (milliliters) Medela containers. Fill up to 70ml to allow room for expansion if freezing milk.
• You can combine milk into one bottle from both sides, but do not combine milk from different pumping sessions.

On the barcode label write the time (with AM or PM), and date you pumped the milk and the estimated amount in milliliters (ml).

• Place the milk in your child’s hospital room refrigerator or give to your child’s nurse who will place it in the unit refrigerator.
• Freshly pumped milk is safe at room temperature for 4 to 6 hours. After 6 hours, it must be refrigerated. If it will not be used within 4 days, it should be frozen. Milk Lab staff will collect and freeze milk in the Milk Lab until you need it. Frozen milk can be stored in the hospital’s freezers for 12 months.

• If you are pumping and feeding milk within the hour, label the milk, and then feed. The milk does not need to be scanned before feeding. Please tell the nurse how much you fed so the amount can be recorded.
• If you are pumping and storing your milk in the refrigerator, label the milk. Before feeding, tell your nurse, so the milk can be scanned, and volume recorded.
• As long as you stay at your child’s bedside, nurses can scan the milk for feeding up to 1 hour before a feeding.

• Your child’s nurse or your lactation consultant can tell you how much milk you have stored in the Milk Lab.
• All your milk will be brought to you in bags for you to take home. Your child’s nurse will scan the bags to make sure you go home with all your milk. If you are traveling more than 2 hours, or in hot weather, you may want to bring a cooler to transport the milk.
• If you would like to donate your milk for other babies (requires a minimum of 150 ounces), please call Northwest Mother’s Milk Bank to start the screening process (1-503-469-0955) and tell your child’s nurse or your lactation consultant. Donation to NWMMB requires paperwork and a blood draw.
• If you leave your milk behind without meaning to, we will try to contact you 3 times. If we do not reach you, we will dispose of your milk.