Let’s say I pump 3 oz. of breast milk into a bottle. Let’s say the baby eats 2oz of that. Can I safely store the remaining 1oz in the fridge for a brief time (3 hrs)?
Can I then safely add that 1oz to the next pumped bottle? And if that bottle (1oz + new pumped amount) isn’t completely emptied, should I toss the remainder of the breast milk, or can I save it in the fridge to add to pumped bottle #3?
I’m looking for safety from a bacterial / food safety perspective. I’m not finding the info I need on this in my books or online right now.
Sorry if this isn’t worded very well. It’s 3 am. And take 3 guesses what I’m up doing at this hour…
We will put the leftovers back in the fridge. But we never add more to a bottle. Just in case we end up leaving it for a few days and forget that some of it is older. If it only holds an ounce, then that’s all it holds. Bottles are cheap enough that it’s not worth the risk.
So, I seem to remember the 3-3-3 rule on this… you could store in the open for 3 hours, frig for 3 days, freezer for 3 weeks.
So if you had some that was 2 days old, and added to a bottle that was new, that whole bottle should be thrown out one day later. You should use the oldest milk in a bottle as your guideline, since if it goes bad, the bacteria will grow to the newer milk also.
Might as well use multiple bottles, like Balduran said.
I’ve seen a lot of information about the anti-inffective and microphagal properties of breastmilk (did I just invent a word?) but I’ve not seen good information about how well that good stuff retards bacterial and viral growth that might arise from coming in contact with a baby’s mouth.
I think Balduran’s guidelines are sound. It’s more bottles to wash, but seems like the safest way to handle “leftovers.”
We likely will use multiple bottles. But the storage wouldn’t go beyond 9 hours for all 3 bottles. We have an often-feeding preemie newborn, who eats variably. God, I’m making no sense. Ignore me. The baby is sucking out my brains with the milk.
I am pretty sure that inkleberry’s frustration stems from the fact that guidelines like these are for freshly expressed human breastmilk. Information on that abounds. There is less information on what is “safe” to do with breastmilk that has been partly consumed.
Medela, interestingly, flatout says they have “no stance on it” and moms should ask their doctor.
I have to confess we’ve reheated bottles if baby doesn’t take the whole bottle the first time around–it’s so frustrating to have to throw out breastmilk. I would hesitate to add leftover milk to a new bottle, especially if any of the milk was previously frozen. I did a lot of reading with my first kiddo about the anti-bacterial properties of breastmilk (unfortunately can’t find the cites now ) and as a result I’m a lot less paranoid about following all the official stringent guidelines. For pete’s sake, the stuff is so anti-microbial it can kill WARTS , so I think leaving it out for a couple of hours or reheating would be pretty safe.
Not only kills warts, but it’s effective in reducing ‘cradle cap’ (an inflamitory skin reaction that looks like scab on the baby’s scalp) - Just ‘spray’ it on and rub it in. Works a champ! Intaglio has even used it as a temporary treatment for conjunctivitis (pinkeye) whilst waiting for me to get home with the eye-goop. It works better than you’d expect…
We generally don’t warm refrigerated milk too much, just enough that the Boyo won’t make rude faces at us. This has had zero adverse results, save the occasional cold splash when Ian’s a little sloppy in his drinking, and it allows the milk back in the reefer without doing much to it. We’ll use the same bottle of expressed milk until it’s gone, or until it’s been in and out of the reefer a few times, but the Boyo drinks so much a go that even the nine-ounce bottles are getting a little small, making the 'cycling issue moot for us. For babies with a smaller hunger, using smaller bottles to refrigerate the milk will reduce waste. The storage issue isn’t too much of a problem for us, as we’re ususually sitting on no more than a 24 hour supply. All excess beyond that goes immediately into the freezer.
) and as a result I’m a lot less paranoid about following all the official stringent guidelines. For pete’s sake, the stuff is so anti-microbial it can 