Storing Breastmilk

 

Breast milk is a magical substance, specially designed to feed little humans. It contains anti-bodies and anti-microbial substances, this means that the rules for storing breast milk is a little different to storing formula or pasteurised cows/goats milk.
These guidelines below are widely accepted as the correct and proper way to keep your precious expressed milk free from bacterial growth and contamination.

Immediate Use of Fresh Milk

If you are planning to use the milk right away, freshly expressed milk is good at room temperature for 4-6 hours. If the room is a warmer temperature it is best to discard the milk after 4 hours.

Stored in a sterilised bottle/container in the back of the fridge, the milk is safe for 3-5 days.

Using Frozen Milk

If you don't think you will use your liquid gold within the3-5 day time frame - cool it to room temperature, add a date label and pop in the freezer. By gradually cooling down the milk before freezing you are able to maintain a lot of the natural proteins found in breast milk. Milk pumped within 3-4 hours of each other can be mixed and frozen together. Milk stored in the freezer is good for up to 6 months. If you have a deep freezer, milk can keep for up to a year. 

Once breast milk is frozen, many of the immunological properties it contains are destroyed. These are the same properties that help prevent bacterial growth, which means previously frozen breast milk will go bad faster than freshly expressed breast milk.

When thawing frozen milk the same rules apply from the cooling down process: in order to maintain the composition of breast milk proteins you should gradually heat it. If possible, take the milk out from the freezer and place it in the fridge to thaw overnight. You can use running water to thaw the milk prior to use, gradually increasing the water temperature to warm the milk making sure to massage the bag for an even temperature. Never place breast milk in the microwave to heat up, it de-natures the proteins.

Previously frozen milk can keep in the fridge for up to 24 hours. If a bottle has been heated for a feeding, it can be used withing two hours before discarding.

Can I Refreeze Thawed Milk?

Depending on how cold you keep your fridge/freezer, you may be able to pop the bag back in the freezer. If your breast milk still has ice crystals it is not technically thawed. Milk that has been left in the fridge, but still has ice crystals, is fine to place back in the freezer.

If your milk is completely liquid, however, you can not refreeze it.

Once you know how to properly express and freeze your breast milk, you will need to know how long it will stay good after you take it out of the freezer. So how long will thawed breast milk last?

If you let the breast milk thaw out in the fridge, you can keep it in the fridge up to 24 hours after it has finished thawing. (Note that it can take around 12 hours to thaw depending on how much milk is in the container and how cold your fridge is). If you warmed the thawed breast milk, do not try to hang on to it. Warmed milk is far more likely to have been exposed to bacterial growth.

You can add freshly expressed milk to thawed milk as long as the freshly expressed milk is cooled first and the milk is still used within 24 hours.

If your breast milk ever smells sour or “off”, throw it out. Double-bag your milk if you’re going to be storing it with something that smells strongly, such as peppers, as the breast milk may pick up the strong smell.