The national guidelines in brief
The 2017 guidelines set out a tiered system. Comprehensive Lactation Management Centres collect, screen, pasteurise, store and distribute donor human milk. Lactation Management Units collect and store mothers' own milk for their babies. Lactation support units provide support at delivery points.
Each tier needs refrigeration matched to its job. The guidelines define a refrigerator as maintaining +2 to +8 °C and a deep freezer as maintaining −20 °C or below.
Refrigeration equipment the guidelines describe
| Equipment | Role |
|---|---|
| Dedicated refrigerator for human milk | Short-term storage; used exclusively for milk, not shared with medicines or food |
| Deep freezer (−20 °C or below) for raw donor milk | Holds raw milk awaiting processing, in the processing area |
| Deep freezer for pasteurised milk awaiting test results | Kept locked so milk can't be used before release |
| Deep freezer for released pasteurised milk | Holds milk cleared for distribution, in the storage area |
| Separate compartments or racks | Separate mothers' own milk, and preterm and term milk |
Monitoring and alarms
The guidelines ask for freezers with a recording thermometer and an audible and visual temperature alarm, a digital display of internal temperature where possible, and temperature records for refrigerators and freezers kept twice a day. Freezer temperature logs are listed among the quality checks for comprehensive centres.
In practice, an independent data logger with a remote alert adds protection overnight and at weekends, when NICUs and milk banks are often busiest and least able to check.
Power backup
The guidelines say dedicated power backup must be ensured to maintain storage temperatures, and their hazard analysis points to automatic switching to a generator or UPS. That matches the wider lesson for medical refrigeration in India: plan for outages before they happen.
Size any inverter or UPS for each freezer's starting current, not just its running power, and check that freezers restart cleanly after changeover.
Choosing the equipment
- Chest (horizontal) deep freezers hold temperature well when opened and during power cuts; the guidelines mention a horizontal deep freezer for the storage area.
- Choose freezers that run comfortably colder than −20 °C so door openings don't push contents above the limit.
- Look for lockable lids where milk must be quarantined.
- Pick a refrigerator with even temperature and an alarm, sized for daily volume with room for airflow between containers.
- Plan separate units rather than one large shared cabinet, so raw, quarantined and released milk can never mix.
Layout follows the milk's journey
The guidelines separate frozen raw donor milk from pasteurised milk by placing deep freezers in different rooms — one in the processing area, others in the storage area. Planning the room layout around that flow prevents mix-ups better than any label: raw milk arrives, waits in its own freezer, is processed, waits locked in quarantine, and only then moves to the release freezer.
When sizing equipment, count containers rather than litres. Milk is stored in many small bottles with tight-fitting lids, and a freezer full of loosely stacked bottles is hard to search quickly. Baskets or labelled racks per category keep door-open time short and make the twice-daily checks faster.
Site and hygiene
Milk storage areas need cleaning routines that don't compromise temperature: clean quickly, one unit at a time, with contents moved to another unit if a full clean is needed. Keep condensers clear of dust, leave ventilation clearances and avoid placing freezers in hot corridors or next to sterilisers.
Label every unit clearly with its purpose and the milk category it holds.
Frequently asked questions
- Can breast milk be stored in the ward's medicine refrigerator?
- India's national guidelines call for a refrigerator used exclusively for human milk. Follow your hospital's policy and the guidelines.
- What freezer temperature is used for donor milk?
- The 2017 national guidelines describe deep freezers at −20 °C or below for donor human milk. Storage durations and handling are set by the guidelines and hospital policy.
