A dilemma many mothers face is what to do with breastmilk after it’s been expressed. Most find that they store it in their freezers (which is great and an excellent way to preserve your breastmilk) but what happens when your freezer starts to overflow? Or if your baby becomes a bottle refuser? Or you’re travelling overseas? Or you’re breastmilk has been sitting in the freezer for so long that it’s about to reach its expiration date?
The fact is that frozen breastmilk can be stored in the freezer for up to 12 months, but is recommended to be used within 6 months. And the truth is, no one wants to throw out their hard work of expressed liquid gold. So that’s why HydroBump has teamed up with Nourishy, Australia’s first breastmilk freeze-drying service that can transform your milk stash into breastmilk powder that has a shelf life of 3 YEARS!
At HydroBump, we believe in innovation. And Nourishy is quite literally the definition of that.
What are the benefits of freeze drying my breastmilk?
- The freeze dried milk weighs a tenth of the milk it was created from, making it much lighter and easier to transport, especially when travelling
- Each bag of frozen milk you provide is processed individually inside a specially designed freeze-drying pouch
- Contact-free process: your milk never comes in contact with anyone else’s milk or any equipment
- Its Aussie owned and Aussie processed in a custom-built facility located in Brisbane Queensland.
Does Freeze drying change the nutritional benefits of my breastmilk?
At HydroBump our aim is to nourish our breastfeeding women with essential electrolytes to reach their optimal hydration levels for breastmilk production for their babies. So it’s natural for us to ask – does the nutritional benefits of breastmilk change after we’ve worked tirelessly to build our stash? The answer is that research has shown that freeze-drying is a safe and effective way to preserve the nutritional, immunological and probiotic properties of breastmilk that make it the gold standard of nutrition.
Is it safe?
We’re glad to say that Nourishy operates out of a custom-built facility using sterile techniques throughout their process. Each customer is assigned a unique tracking ID which allows their milk to be individually tracked throughout the process. The milk is stored, processed, and packaged separately from other customers. Each customer's milk undergoes a water activity test to ensure industry-standard levels are achieved to safeguard against bacterial growth.
The pouches have been tested to guarantee the three-year shelf life of your breast milk.
Nourishy follow a bag-by-bag process which means that a customer's milk is never touched or comes into contact with any equipment or milk pooling. And even more impressively, their facility only processes breastmilk and nothing else whilst also performing environmental testing at the facility on a regular basis – honestly, they’ve ticked every box for safety!
One of the benefits of breastmilk is that you produce antibodies (so proteins in your blood that make up part of your immune system) that is passed onto your baby. Freeze-drying results in the retention of 75% of IgA antibodies and 80% of IgG and IgM antibodies. The overall caloric density of breastmilk is not altered by freeze drying. Research also shows that proteins, fats and carbohydrates are protected by freeze-drying!
Hydration and breastmilk supply – what’s the connection?
Hydration is key in breastmilk supply and output. Poor hydration will lead to decrease breastmilk output.
Breastmilk output (whether expressed or direct feeding) leads to fluid loss from your body, and you need to replace that fluid loss to ensure you are optimally hydrated and you can maintain that milk supply. Breastmilk is made of 87% water. A breastfeeding woman produces (on average) 780ml per day for the first 6 months which is about 700ml of water (almost 3 cups!). So this means you not only need to drink 700ml above the normal daily requirements but you need additional nutrients to replace the ones lost in breastmilk.
This is where HydroBump comes in. HydroBump has been curated with these specific electrolyte and hydration increased requirements during breastfeeding in mind. Being formulated by Aussie Doctors and Pharmacists, we have included electrolytes that enhance the water absorption process in the body by utilising the body’s natural cell mechanism.
Why the collaboration of HydroBump and Nourishy?
Incorporating HydroBump’s Hydration Boosters into your daily routine to ensure you have optimal hydration for times when you’re just not quite getting enough fluids. The unique electrolyte blend allows you to utilise your body’s natural cell mechanisms to enhance water absorption and hence boost your milk supply to its optimal levels. This in turn ensures appropriate output of breastmilk. However, we know the struggles of keeping an overflowing breastmilk stash in the freezer, so by using Nourishy, you can freeze-dry your breastmilk for future convenience. Whether it’s to actually use your freezer as a freezer for food for your family (we all know how precious freezer space is!), have an emergency breastmilk stash with a prolonged expiry date of 3 years, using your breastmilk for your next baby, incooperating powdered breastmilk into your baby’s solids or diet, or if you’re travelling and you can’t quite carry 10 litres of frozen breastmilk without compromising its safety and integrity – Nourishy and HydroBump got your back.
We aim to target any roadblocks to breastfeeding. From hydration to preservation. We want to support you until the end of your breastfeeding journey.
