When you're storing breast milk, you can use it fresh, or you can freeze it for use later. Either way, there are things you should keep in mind to keep the milk safe for your baby.
These guidelines change depending on whether you're storing fresh breast milk or thawing frozen breast milk. Ask your WIC breastfeeding staff what storing options make the most sense for you and your baby.
If you are storing fresh breast milk, follow these guidelines for how long the milk can be safely stored. When storing in the refrigerator or freezer, store the milk in the back, where the temperature is most constant.
If you're thawing frozen breast milk, follow these guidelines for how long the milk can be safely used. Remember: Thawed breast milk cannot be re-frozen. Planning to be apart from baby? Find tips for feeding baby with expressed milk. Many moms worry about low milk supply, even though most make exactly what baby needs. Any use of this site constitutes your agreement to the Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy linked below. A single copy of these materials may be reprinted for noncommercial personal use only.
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Products and services. Breast milk storage: Do's and don'ts Breast milk storage can be confusing. By Mayo Clinic Staff. Thank you for Subscribing Our Housecall e-newsletter will keep you up-to-date on the latest health information. Please try again. Something went wrong on our side, please try again. Show references Your guide to breastfeeding. Office on Women's Health. Accessed Feb. Pumping and storing breastmilk. Gleason CA, et al. In: Avery's Diseases of the Newborn. Elsevier; Eglash A, et al.
ABM clinical protocol 8: Human milk storage information for home use for full-term infants, revised Breastfeeding Medicine. Gao C, et al. Changes to breast milk fatty acid composition during storage, handling and processing: A systematic review. Prostaglandins, Leukotrienes and Essential Fatty Acids. Steel C. Best practices for handling and administration of expressed human milk and donor human milk for hospitalized preterm infants. If you have a self-defrosting freezer, keep the milk away from the freezer walls.
Store the frozen breast milk in tightly sealed containers labeled with the date. Ready to use your frozen breast milk? Start with the oldest milk, so you use it up before it goes bad. The safest and easiest way to thaw the milk is to move it from the freezer to the fridge. Keeping it in the fridge minimizes the chances of bacteria growing in the milk as it thaws.
This method also minimizes fat loss from the milk. Get into the habit of moving breast milk from the freezer to the fridge at night, so it's thawed and ready the following day. Thawing in a pinch. Sometimes you might forget to transfer the frozen milk to the fridge.
Or you suddenly realize you don't have any thawed milk when you need it. An alternative for faster thawing is running warm water over the bottle or storage bag. You can also put the container into a bowl of warm water. Never thaw or heat breast milk in the microwave. Not only does it heat unevenly with the potential for dangerous hot spots, but it can also mess up the antibodies in the milk. Heating bottles in a pan of hot water on the stove can also break down the nutrients in the milk, including decreasing the fat content.
Gentle heating is best to keep as much of the nutritional value of the milk as possible. Serving temperature.
You can serve the thawed breast milk at any temperature. It's perfectly fine for your baby right out of the fridge. But if your little one prefers a little warmth, use the warm water trick to heat it up. Let the thawed milk sit in a bowl of warm water until it reaches a temperature your baby likes.
Swirl the milk gently to help it warm evenly. You can also use a bottle warmer to safely heat the thawed breast milk.
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