chatwithketch

Do you have children who are adolescents or do you have adolescents that look up to you? Have you had cause to answer their questions on menstruation? How did you fare? Here’s a guide for the next time it happens.

Q: How long does extracted breast milk stay before it expires for a working class lady?

A: Well, breast milk does not quite distinguish between a working class lady and a stay-at-home lady 😀 It’s the same duration before expiry for everyone. Don’t mind me…I’m just pulling your legs 😀

To express milk for your baby, first, you have to be committed to be hygienic because you don’t want to introduce germs into your baby, do you? Always scrub your hands with soap and water whether you are using the breast pump or your hands.

Having expressed the milk, when stored at room temperature, be sure to use up the milk within 6 hours.

When stored in the fridge,
• Ensure that the temperature in the refrigerator is below 5 degrees centigrade.
• Do not store on the door of the fridge. Please store on the shelf towards the back of the refrigerator where it’s cooler
• At this temperature, you can store milk for up to 5 days.

When stored in the ice compartment of the refrigerator, you can store milk up to 2 weeks

When stored in the deep freezer, you can store milk up to 6 months.

To thaw frozen milk, please put it in the fridge. When it’s thawed, you may feed your baby with it but if your baby prefers it warm, you can run some warm water over the bottle until it’s just right. Do not microwave it as this may create some hot spots in the bottle which may cause scalding of your baby.

Once thawed, please don’t re-freeze the milk as this might encourage the growth of micro-organisms.

Make sure that the container used for storing milk is sterilized to prevent any potential introduction of germs into the milk. Use small containers that hold just about the amount that your baby finishes per feed.

If you express a lot of milk, be sure to label the different containers and use the oldest pack first. Please stick with the duration of storage guideline we’ve given.

Now, it goes without saying that you should not store milk close to contaminants like meat, fish or even strong smelling foods like onions 😉

Have a good evening y’all 😀

Q: Dear Dr. Ketch,I wish to use this medium to appreciate your program on TV and your Blog. I’m a fan. 

Please I have an issue that has been bothering me of late. I use to have a kind of rashes in between my pelvics and it scratches me often, I try to clean dry the area after bath but it still didn’t stop there until I started applying Sulphur ointment on it for a couple of days and the irritation stopped. 

So I stopped applying the sulphur on it. After a while, the scratches resumed again. I feel serious pain like cuts between my pelvics whenever I’m taking my bath but as I started applying the ointment again, it stopped. 

Please what is the possible cause of this and what can I do to get rid of it finally? I can’t be applying the ointment all my life. 

I look forward to your response.

A: Thanks for your kind words and for following our show and blog. If I were white, I’d blush 😀 Thank you so much.

Now to your issue, it does  sound like tinea cruris (jock itch) which is a fungal infection that can affect hair, skin or nails. I assume between your ‘pelvics’ refers to between your thighs or around your groin. It is a form of ringworm and is usually seen as a red, rash with a clear, distinct edge and oftentimes, ring-shaped. It can affect the buttocks, skin fold and inner thighs, as appears to be happening in this case.

As is common with fungal infections, this infection thrives in warm, moist environment. And so, if you sweat a lot, wear tight/nylon underpants, if you’re a man, overweight or have a compromised immune system (an immune system that is not functioning properly which may be due to some diseases or taking some drugs eg antibiotic abuse), then you are more at risk of this condition. If you have athletes’ foot (a fungal infection of the foot which may occur, for example, in people who wear covered shoes a lot), get it treated because when you’re wearing your underpants, there is the possibility of passing the infection on to the underpants and subsequently , the groin.

Ordinarily, this can be treated without necessarily seeing a doctor. An anti-fungal cream that contains clotrimazone or miconazole used diligently over the course of two weeks should produce results.  However, I suggest you see your doctor, so that the diagnosis of fungal infection (tinea cruris) is confirmed before starting on treatment.

Prevention is focused on ensuring that you keep your groin as dry as possible (if you sweat heavily, try taking a bath as frequently as possible; change out of wet clothes as soon as you can; dry your groin area thoroughly after a bath, forget the tight fitting underpants and stick with boxers or cotton underpants etc) and personal hygiene (don’t share personal items of clothing…who shares underpants or boxers, anyway? 😉 wash your underwear often)

Remember that fungal infections usually require patience to treat. You’ve got to keep using the medication/ointment faithfully for the period prescribed.

We’re in the second half of the year, people! Don’t waste any time. Go out and make those dreams come true. Y’all have got what it takes 😀

Have a fruitful week ahead 🙂