Feeding your baby

Feeding Your Baby on the Neonatal Unit

Breastmilk is especially important for premature and unwell babies. Your breastmilk acts like medicine for your premature baby, giving them powerful protection and support as they grow. It contains antibodies, is easier to digest, and is uniquely tailored to meet your baby’s needs at this stage.

We encourage you to start expressing as soon as possible after birth, ideally within the first two hours, as this helps establish your milk supply. To build and maintain supply, you must express 8–10 times in 24 hours, including once overnight and with no long gaps. Keeping to a regular expressing routine helps your body produce more milk ready for when your baby begins breastfeeding.

If your baby is not yet taking milk, or if you are producing more than they currently need, we will safely freeze your expressed milk for later use. Milk can be stored frozen for up to 3 months on the Neonatal Unit, or for up to 6 months at home in a freezer kept at –18°C or below.

UNICEF Baby Friendly Accredition

We are proud to have achieved the UNICEF Baby Friendly Accreditation and we continue to follow these high standards every day. Our team is currently working towards our reaccreditation due in February 2026, ensuring that our care remains fully aligned with Baby Friendly principles and best practice.

Our staff work closely with mothers and use the Expressing & Breastfeeding Assessment Tool to check that expressing is progressing well and to identify any areas where we can offer support. Once your baby begins breastfeeding, we will also start using the breastfeeding assessment tool to guide and support you.

Donor Breast Milk

Donor breast milk is sometimes recommended for premature babies in the early days or weeks, especially if a mother’s milk supply is still ‘coming in’. Mothers milk supply is commonly affected by illness, stress, or difficulty expressing. Our team will support you with your milk supply and guide you if donor milk is needed. We work closely with the St George’s Neonatal Unit Milk Bank, which provides screened, pasteurised donor milk that is safely stored and considered the next best option when a baby cannot receive their own mother’s milk. The milk bank follows national UKAMB and NICE standards to ensure safety and quality.

Storage, Transport and Thawing of Breast Milk

After expressing, place your milk in a sterile, labelled bottle (name, date and time) and fill no more than 100ml. Milk can be stored in a fridge at 2–4°C for up to 48 hours, or frozen for 3 months on the unit or 6 months at home at –18°C or below. When transporting milk, keep it in a cool bag with ice packs to maintain temperature.

Frozen milk can be thawed in the fridge or at room temperature, but once thawed it must be refrigerated and used within 24 hours. Please do not use a microwave to thaw or warm breast milk.