Breast Milk Handling and Storage
Milk storage guidelines vary. These are research-based and apply to full-term, healthy babies. If they differ from your hospital’s guidelines, follow its guidelines.
Milk Storage Guidelines for Full-Term Healthy Babies
Milk Storage Basics
• Glass or hard plastic containers can be used. Milk freezer bags are also an option. Avoid thin bottle liners, which can rip.
• If you follow the recommended storage times, you can keep your milk at room temperature, then refrigerate it, and then freeze it.
• Store only as much milk in a container as your baby might take. This means less waste. It also makes the milk faster to warm. If the baby wants more, more milk can be added.
• If a baby takes some milk from a bottle and there is milk left, don’t save it. The baby’s saliva mixes with the milk during feedings, and that affects storage recommendations.
• Write the date and time on your milk container with a sticky label or non-toxic marker. Add baby’s name if your baby is in daycare or in the hospital.
• You can combine milk pumped at different times, even if one batch is cooled. If you combine milk from different days, use the date of the oldest milk.
• If your milk will be used within 8 days, keep it in the fridge. Otherwise, plan to freeze it in the coldest part of the freezer. Avoid the door.
• You can add fresh milk to cooled milk. And you can add fresh milk to frozen milk if it’s cooled first and is less than the amount frozen.
• Your milk is not “homogenized” like the milk in the store. So it may separate into layers. This does not mean it’s spoiled. If this happens, just gently swirl it to mix.
• Before freezing lots of milk, freeze a batch or two and then thaw and see if baby will take it. Some women have milk high in a substance called lipase, an enzyme that digests the fat in the milk. This is normal for these women, but can cause their milk to smell soapy after freezing. If this happens, and the baby refuses the milk (this milk is safe to feed), to prevent frozen milk from developing this smell, scald it briefly before freezing. This is done by heating it in a pot on the stove until bubbles form around the edges. Then cool the milk before freezing. Heating expressed milk to this temperature is not usually recommended, but if the baby won’t take it otherwise, it may be necessary. Nothing can be done to change the soapy taste after the enzyme has had this effect.
Warming or Thawing Human Milk
Although an older baby may be happy to drink cold milk right from the refrigerator, if cold milk is fed to a newborn, it can bring down body temperature. Milk fed to a newborn should be warmed to between room temperature and body temperature.
• Whether warming or thawing milk, keep the heat low. High heat destroys the parts of the milk that keep your baby healthy.
• To warm mother’s milk, run warm water over the sides of the bottle. Keep the warm water away from the lid so that it doesn’t mix with the milk.
• One way to do this is to put the bottle in a bowl with sides lower than the bottle’s lid. Run warm water in the bowl. The warm water against the bottle warms the milk. The milk is ready when it is between room and body temperature.
Here are some milk-warming don’ts:
• Don’t warm milk in the microwave. It changes the milk and causes hot spots that can burn your baby’s throat.
• Unless your milk smells soapy after freezing (see previous section), don’t heat your milk in a pot on the stove. High heat can make the milk too hot for your baby, and it can destroy parts of your milk that protects your baby from illness.
By Nancy Mohrbacher, IBCLC, FILCA, Lactation Consultant, Ameda Breastfeeding Products Co-author, Breastfeeding Made Simple: Seven Natural Laws for Nursing Mothers
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