Brief instructions for storing and feeding breast milk

How long can breast milk keep?

First, let's consider the specifics of storing breast milk.

Breast milk can be kept for a very long time as long as it is kept closed in a sterilized airtight container and cooled at a constant temperature. How long it lasts depends on where it is stored. Here is a brief overview:

Refrigerator: up to 5 days at a temperature not exceeding 4 ° C
Freezer: up to 2 weeks
Freezer: up to 6 months
Room temperature: up to 4 hours

That might sound complicated at first, but don't worry. You can label your bottles and containers with the best before date and then use the oldest milk first to avoid mix-ups.

Of course, you will need to take milk with you on occasion. Have an insulated cooling bag ready for these occasions.

You may be wondering if you can let milk stand and then refrigerate it. Unfortunately that is not possible. In order not to waste breast milk, you should keep it at an even temperature. So if you want to chill or freeze the milk, you should do so as soon as possible.

What is the ideal temperature for breast milk from the bottle?

Now let's look at warming up breast milk.

Breast milk should be warmed to room or body temperature, although some babies like to drink slightly cooler milk as well.

The easiest and safest way to warm milk is in a baby bottle warmer. Microwaves are not recommended as important ingredients are also destroyed. They often heat the milk irregularly and create single hot spots where your little one can burn their mouth. Instead, you can use a bottle warmer to gently thaw the milk and / or heat it quickly and evenly, which improves the quality

the milk preserved. Breast milk does not belong in the microwave

Frozen milk can be thawed in the baby bottle warmer (which in turn preserves the quality of the milk), in the refrigerator, under running water or in a bowl of warm water. Once thawed, you should not refreeze the milk. It must be discarded.

If you don't have a baby bottle warmer on hand, you can warm up the milk in a bowl of warm water. Test the temperature of the bottle on your skin before feeding it to your little one.