Breast milk

[hippyhoppy]

this is a bit 'out there' but for a college course so any help would be useful...how long can you keep expressed breast milk for a) in a fridge and b) in freezer. Any info greatly appreciated, thanks.

[somebyrd]

Hi there,

You can store milk:

• At room temperature - not warmer than 77 degrees F/25 degrees C - for up to four hours

• In a coldbox with refreezable ice packs for up to 24 hours

• In a refrigerator with a temperature of 39 degrees F/4 degrees C or colder for three to five days

• In an older model single-door refrigerator with freezer compartment inside for two weeks.

You can store milk in a freezer for various lengths of time depending on the kind you have. Always keep the milk in the back of the freezer away from the door, because items stored towards the front are more susceptible to changing temperatures when you open the freezer.

You can store milk:

• In a fridge freezer with a separate door for each, for three months

• In a freezer with a temperature of -20�C, that doesn't have a defrost cycle, for six to 12 months.

In addition to these guidelines from ABM, it's useful to know that:

• You may combine milk you collected that day with frozen milk as long as it's chilled for at least an hour first, and the amount that you are freezing is less than half of the frozen amount. Fresh milk retains more of its protective properties than frozen milk, so whenever possible, use refrigerated rather than frozen milk for feeding your baby. But note that frozen breast milk still has more health benefits than formula milk.

• If you are going to freeze breastmilk, do so within 24 hours

• Milk that has been moved into the refrigerator from the freezer can be stored there for up to 24 hours

HTH

SB x x x

[winny]

just to add to all that. Breast milk you produce changes to acomodate the needs of a growing baby. Ie milk froduced in the first month has a different constitution to milk produced in the 6th month. Therefore freezing milk in the early days is fine but feeding it to a baby 6 months later will probably not satisify baby. Ok it wont do it any harm but it is advised to turn milk around quickly. Not quite sure if this is useful for project or not.