warming breast milk

[cyssie]

It takes long time for my baby to finish a feed (sometimes up to an hour) so I am wondering that after breast milk is taken out from the fridge (not freezer) and is warmed to feed baby (i put the bottle in hot water to warm), if the baby does not finish immediately, must put the bottle back in the hot water to keep warm? how long can this milk be kept in the hot water or room temperature ? if this milk cools down during the feed, can put back to hot water to warm the second time?

also, wondering like if i thought my baby would wake up at 6:30 so that i bring the milk out from the fridge and warm up 15 mins before that, but my baby sleeps until 7:30 or even 8, can the milk be kept in hot water for so long?

thanks

 

[Spring]

live span of a milk in room temp is 1 hr.

 

[NG HO]

sometimes my baby also drink halfway then stopped, can I put the leftover in the fridge for max 2hrs?

If life span of milk is one hour.. and I took 30mins to express, kept it in fridge. Does it means that the milk only have another 30mins lifespan in room temp after warming?

 

[DodoTan]

I know definitely cannot warm up already then put back in the fridge and then warm up again later. But drink halfway put back in the hot water then an hour or so later drink again.... I don't know.... like not so good leh... not fresh liao. Might as well prepare just a little bit of milk let your bb finish, then 1 hour later want somemore then make somemore.

 

[cyssie]

my baby is very impatient...and putting the bottle in hot water to warm takes ages...baby aways cries his head off before the milk is warmed and ready..sigh.. will a bottle warmer be better? faster?

 

[NG HO]

Thanks DodoTan.. will try not to be so stingy with the milk then.. haaha..

Cyssie, I have a warmer. All it does help is that I dont have to change the cooled water but the time is the same. The reason is, you cant use very hot water to warm the milk so whether warmer or not, its still slow..

The best you can do let him latch on while warming the milk, or you can try to divert his attention by playing with him, walk him around etc..

 

[DodoTan]

My son also very impatient. Will cry bloody murder if I'm too slow. So I try to pre-ampt. Roughly before he needs to feed, I'll warm it up first. But most times still too late la, so no choice got to carry him and talk to him to buy time lor.

 

[callieseah]

I hv been expressing BM since my DD was born cos she hate to latch on, maybe my milk flow too fast that she got choke What I did was use a mini pot (with handle) to boil water, after boiled I turn the fire to small then put in the bottle containing EBM and let it stand for 5 min, after which I transfer the heated EBM to bb's milk bottle. It's pretty fast and easy! During feeding, if bb can't finish then only I let it stand in a mug of hot water (with cover) but not more than 1 hr. Usually my DD can finish all in 30min, but even if can't finish and the leftover is not alot, I will throw away. No need stingy on BM la, free one ma...

 

[janellechew]

i have one question,if i buy the avent milk warmer, must i only can use avent milk bottles?

 

[isabelandrew]

hi, im using avent wamer also. but usig pigeon bottles. so no problem one.

 

[snowbear]

It takes long time for my baby to finish a feed (sometimes up to an hour) so I am wondering that after breast milk is taken out from the fridge (not freezer) and is warmed to feed baby (i put the bottle in hot water to warm), if the baby does not finish immediately, must put the bottle back in the hot water to keep warm? how long can this milk be kept in the hot water or room temperature ? if this milk cools down during the feed, can put back to hot water to warm the second time?

also, wondering like if i thought my baby would wake up at 6:30 so that i bring the milk out from the fridge and warm up 15 mins before that, but my baby sleeps until 7:30 or even 8, can the milk be kept in hot water for so long?

thanks

Once the bb's saliva touches the milk, it must be used within an hour coz bacteria has been introduced to the milk. So if your bb does not finish it within an hour, you'd have to throw away the milk.

It'd be preferable for you to only warm the milk when you need it rather than keep it in the warmer for so long. Just carry your bb in the meanwhile to pacify him/her. I'd rather my bb cry than risk having the chance of her drinking rancid milk...

 

[hymseah]

I am almost done with breastfeeding now. Have done it 100% for 5 months and producing enough for 50% and planning to slowing reduce it to two feeds a day - my spoilt little child is still insisting on 10 small feeds daily... can you imagine that?

Just thought that before I go away, I will share some of my experience. Fresh breast milk can keep in the fridge for 8 days if you have a very good fridge and make sure you don't open and close the fridge too often. After heating up the milk, this will stay fresh in the warmer for 1 and half to 2 hours. If baby does not finish the milk, you can put it back in the fridge and continue keeping it for an appropriate length of time. E.g. if the milk is already 7 days old, then you probably don't want to keep it for over a few hours. If the milk is only one day old, then you can keep it for another one or two days. Saliva will contaminate the milk but not as much as you think. I speak from experience but I have also read some research articles which also said this. I have topped up frozen milk with fresh warm milk and have no problems with this but common sense tells us that this will cause the frozen milk to thaw slightly and refreeze again, so you may want to cool the fresh milk before adding it to the frozen bag.

Lastly, babies will spit out any milk which has turned bad, so you don't have to worry too much as long as you don't force your baby to drink when she does not want to.

PM me if you have any questions. It took me a long time to become this confident about breastfeeding... so a bit sad to be weaning my baby now and that is why I am checking out these threads.

 

[aliana]

I am almost done with breastfeeding now. Have done it 100% for 5 months and producing enough for 50% and planning to slowing reduce it to two feeds a day - my spoilt little child is still insisting on 10 small feeds daily... can you imagine that?

Just thought that before I go away, I will share some of my experience. Fresh breast milk can keep in the fridge for 8 days if you have a very good fridge and make sure you don't open and close the fridge too often. After heating up the milk, this will stay fresh in the warmer for 1 and half to 2 hours. If baby does not finish the milk, you can put it back in the fridge and continue keeping it for an appropriate length of time. E.g. if the milk is already 7 days old, then you probably don't want to keep it for over a few hours. If the milk is only one day old, then you can keep it for another one or two days. Saliva will contaminate the milk but not as much as you think. I speak from experience but I have also read some research articles which also said this. I have topped up frozen milk with fresh warm milk and have no problems with this but common sense tells us that this will cause the frozen milk to thaw slightly and refreeze again, so you may want to cool the fresh milk before adding it to the frozen bag.

Lastly, babies will spit out any milk which has turned bad, so you don't have to worry too much as long as you don't force your baby to drink when she does not want to.

PM me if you have any questions. It took me a long time to become this confident about breastfeeding... so a bit sad to be weaning my baby now and that is why I am checking out these threads.

Wow!! I'm so envious of you! Having difficulties in latching baby and he is so impatient! Will cry the whole house down if he doesn't get his milk NOW. Expressing milk and storing in the fridge. I thought breast milk can last about 4 hours in a room temperature?

 

[hymseah]

Aliana,
The "room temperature" that is talked about on websites that you may have read refers to room temperatures in temperate countries, i.e. about 18-20 degree celcius. In Singapore where the room temperatures can reach 32 degrees, the milk don't last very long at room termperature. From my experience, the milk last about two and half hours in air conditioned environment. My dad who looks after my boy likes to leave it in the warmer so that it is ready-to-drink, but that means a shorter-lifespan for the milk. Good luck!

 

[sleepymama]

Hihi all

I recently stopped breastfeeding/expressing my boy after 30 months. There are many schools of thought, here are what I've gathered through various people and reliable sources...and some of my sharing as well:

- frozen breastmilk once thawed, should never be refrozen/stored. Once thawed, it should be consumed within 24 hrs

- breastmilk kept in a cold fridge of at least 5deg.cel. (not too often opening & closing of doors) can be kept for 2-3 days... some say longer. Give it a sniff or taste, if it tastes/smells bad, then better not take the chance. Having said that, note some fresh bm do have a rancid smell and that's normal.

- what i do to try and keep bm fresh in the fridge: I put two pcs of ice bricks IN FRONT of the bottles/packs of bm in the fridge, to prevent too much warm air from reaching the bottles/packs during opening/closing of fridge door. I find this very effective as my bm can maintain a constant temp this way.

- once you have warmed your bm - whether in warm water or using a warmer, you can keep it for 2-3 hrs in an air-con environment. For formula milk, max 1 hr. Bm can last longer cos of the antibodies in them.

- warming up bm - DO NOT USE VERY HOT WATER, this is because VERY HOT WATER will kill all the antibodies in the bm, which help your babies fight viruses and sickness. However, note that if you've used VERY HOT water, the bm is still good, in fact, still BETTER than fm, because of bm's goodness as we all know.

- warming up bm: what I do: I use a warmer (any brand) but I monitor the temp closely. Turn to the lowest temp and once I feel the water is hot (does not burn/scald my finger), i switch it off! I give the bottle a gentle swirl and put it back to the warmer for another 1-2 mins. I repeat this until the bm is warm. Very time consuming and tedious, but that's how I ensure my bm's antibodies are not destroyed by too hot water.

- if your baby can't finish a bottle of bm in one go, you can replace the teat with a clean one and give the remaining bm to baby later, but not after more than 1-2 hrs - again, taste/sniff it to test its freshness

- lastly, baby has to wait while waiting for bm to be warmed up, no choice. If your baby cries for milk at quite regular intervals, you can prepare to warm up your bm about 15 mins in advance. Else, have to try to distract him/her while waiting for milk to be ready

Hope this helps. Keep up with breastfeeding, the best milk for yourbaby!

 

[snowbear]

I thought breast milk can last about 4 hours in a room temperature?

Yup, that's what the lactation consultant at KKH told me. Read somewhere that in colder countries it can last up to 8 hours, but in ours, I guess it's only 4.