Storing Breast Milk

Any breastfeeding Mom knows the importance of pumped breast milk. This 'liquid gold' can be the product of hard earned and time consuming breast pumping sessions. Having a good supply of stored breast milk is essential for the Mom who wants to go back to work or for the couple who desires a date night away from their baby.

Proper storage of breast milk is necessary for its safety and longevity. You may have found a wide range of allowable times in your search on this. Following the time frames conservatively is probably the safest. The guidelines belwo adhere to the Food and Drug Administration's recommendations.

Contents 1 How long breast milk lasts at room temperature 2 How long breast milk lasts in the refrigerator 3 How long breast milk lasts in the freezer 4 How do you know if the milk is bad? 5 References 6 Related Articles

How long breast milk lasts at room temperature

Breast milk behaves differently than cow's milk. It has incredible anti-bacertial, anti-microbrial properties. This is what contributes to its effectiveness in bolster your baby's immune system. As a result, breast milk has a much longer life span out of the refridgerator than animal milk and even longer than many cooked foods.

How long breast milk will stay good out of the refridgerator depends on the temperature of the room and its freshness. Freshly pumped breast milk is more resilient than older breast milk. Breast milk can survive out of the refrigerator from 4-24 hours; make sure you are familiar with the temperature of the room. If you do not know this, then be conservative and put it in the refrigerator within 4 hours of taking it out or pumping it.

Room Temperature	Storage Time
60 degrees F:	24 hours
66-72 degrees F:	10 hours
79 degrees F:	4-6 hours
86-100 degrees F:	4 hours

*Table from the FDA.gov website

How long breast milk lasts in the refrigerator

In a refrigerator that is 32-29 degrees Farenheit, breast milk can be stored for up to 8 days.

Take precautions to store the bottles of milk towards the back or in the cooling compartments. Milk that is stored in the door will be exposed to greater variance in temperature due to opening and closing of the door and may not last as long.

How long breast milk lasts in the freezer

Compartment	Storage Time
Refrigerator with freezer compartment with single door	Up to 2 weeks
Refrigerator with freezer with separate door:	3-4 months
Deep freezer (0 degrees constant temp):	6-12 months

If you are freezing breast milk, make sure you use containers that are freezer friendly. Many of the breast milk bottle brands (such as Dr. Browns and Avent) make milk storage bags. It is best to place the frozen milk at the back of the freezer and as much as possible, minimize the amount of times the freezer is opened.

If you have enough space, it is recommended to store the milk in single serving sizes, such as 3-4 ounce servings. Once the bag of milk is thawed you will need to use it within a few days. It is also faster to thaw a smaller, single serving size bag of milk.

How do you know if the milk is bad?

It is generally fairly obvious when breastmilk has gone bad- it will taste and smell funny. The good news is that babies generally reject milk that has gone bad.

Note that some women produce an enzyme in their milk that makes it taste sour within a few hours after being expressed. This lipase enzyme does not necessarily turn the milk bad but it does make it taste bad so the baby is likely to reject it. If you are doing lots of pumping and saving, it is wise to taste the milk before collecting too many stores.

If you find you are a carrier of this enzyme, you can quickly scald (not boil) the milk prior to storing. This will deactivate the enzyme so it will not acquire the bad, soapy taste.

References

• FDA.gov
• Kellymom.com

Related Articles

• Breastfeeding