Families attending child care may choose to provide expressed breast milk or formula for their child(ren). When this is the case, staff must ensure that they are storing and serving these items safely and hygienically.
According to p.7 of How Does Learning Happen?, “Families love their children and want the best for them. Families are experts on their children. They are the first and most powerful influence on children’s learning, development, health, and well-being. Families bring diverse social, cultural, and linguistic perspectives. Families should feel that they belong, are valuable contributors to their children’s learning, and deserve to be engaged in a meaningful way.” Supporting families’ decisions around feeding fosters all of the Four Foundations (Belonging, Well-Being, Engagement, Expression).
Below are two resources that can be shared with all staff who may serve breast milk to children about how to safely and hygienically store and serve breast milk. These resources can easily be posted in the programs as a visual reminder for educators on the guidelines around storing and preparing breast-milk. The source of this information is the Best Start resource Breastfeeding Matters (L’allaitement ça compte) and the second resource is also from Best Start, Expressing and Storing Breast Milk.
Families may also choose to provide infant formula for their child at child care. The instructions for preparing and serving formula are included on the packaging. Here is a resource from Best Start called Infant Formula: What You Need to Know. This resource has information about safely and hygienically preparing, serving, and storing formula.
If programs or staff have additional questions about feeding, how to safely store breast milk, they can view the above PDFs for free at the link provided, or contact the Thunder Bay District Health Unit. Be sure to also check out the Best Start website for other resources for families at your centre on child health and development.