Given the complications and busyness of modern life, expressing breastmilk for storage has become increasingly common. Particularly after maternity leave as women re-enter the workforce, it is common for them to pump and store their breastmilk. How you store breastmilk, however, depends on how you want to use it and when.
There are two common ways to store breastmilk: bottle and bag. More specifically, most women will choose to store breastmilk either in a plastic or glass bottle, or in a sterile, sealable bag. These will then get placed into the refrigerator or the freezer, where they will remain until used for feeding.
It is recommended that most women only store the amount of breastmilk that they are going to use in a given feeding session. For instance, if your baby consumes roughly five ounces of breastmilk during a given feeding session, you should store that amount in each container. In general, most women will need to store milk in small quantities between one and five ounces. This is particularly important if you are freezing breastmilk, as it does not make sense to unthaw breastmilk and store it again.
It is important that breastmilk does not go bad and lose the many health benefits it provides. Because of this, there are many guidelines for the storage of breastmilk, particularly with respect to breastmilk storage time. There is also a difference between expressed breastmilk storage and pumped breastmilk storage.
The following guidelines apply for how to store breastmilk at home in both refrigerated and frozen environments:
Table 1: Breast Milk Storage Chart
Freshly expressed milk | ||
Warm room | 80-90°F/27-32°C | Up to 4 hours |
Room temperature | 61-79°F/16-26°C | Up to 8 hours (less is better) |
Insulated cooler with ice packs | 59°F/15°C | Up to 24 hours |
Refrigerated milk (Store away from door) | ||
Refrigerator (fresh milk) | 32-39°F/0-4°C | Up to 8 days (under 3 days is best) |
Refrigerator (thawed milk) | 32-39°F / 0-4°C | Up to 24 hours |
Frozen milk (Store at back, away from door) | ||
Freezer compartment of small refrigerator | Varies | Up to 2 weeks |
Self-contained freezer unit of a refrigerator/freezer | Up to 6 months | |
Separate deep freeze | 0°F / -18°C | Up to 12 months (6 months ideal) |
Breastmilk should be frozen as soon as possible after it has been expressed, and stored at temperatures of around -18 degrees Celsius.
The following rules and recommendations apply for breastmilk that is being frozen:
To thaw breastmilk, you should keep the breastmilk in the refrigerator and let it sit for around 12 hours. This is usually best done overnight and in advance of the day where you will need to feed your baby, given the time involved in the thawing process.
The following rules and recommendations apply to the thawing of breastmilk:
To warm breastmilk, you should place it in a container of hot water where it can absorb heat from some of the surrounding liquid. First, heat up the water, that you are going to use, in a small container. Then, place the container of frozen milk in the container to warm up.
The following rules and recommendations apply for the thawing of breastmilk:
Thawed breastmilk should be stored in the refrigerator, as it is usually best to keep the milk at cooler temperatures at all times.
Breastmilk has generally not gone bad unless it tastes sour or smells particularly bad. Most children will not notice smell or odour, and they would react more to a sour taste than to smell. Some milk will specifically go bad because of lipase, a normal breastmilk enzyme that some mothers will produce in higher quantities than others. When thawed, this can cause the breastmilk to smell rancid or soapy, but this will often go unnoticed by infants (though some will refuse to drink it). Changes in the smell and odour of breastmilk can also be the result of changes in the mother’s diet or health (such as through medications, diet, drinking or smoking).
You can store breastmilk at work by refrigerating it in sealed containers and then transporting it to your home in small coolers that are refrigerated with ice packs. You should always make sure to clearly label it, both so that it is easier to store when you get home, and so that it is not confused if in public storage. You should always try to store transported breastmilk as soon as possible after arriving home.
You can add recently expressed breastmilk to frozen or refrigerated milk, but only if you expressed it earlier in the same day. Nevertheless, you should cool the expressed breastmilk before adding it to frozen or chilled breastmilk that you had already expressed. You should never add warm breastmilk to frozen milk, as this will cause it to thaw and affect its lifespan.
The following are some other general tips for the storage and use of breastmilk:
Breastmilk storage is an important reality of life for modern mothers, particularly those in the workplace. While it can be a complicated and time-consuming process, mothers should take care to ensure breastmilk is stored correctly and safely. There are many guidelines for how to do this, and they depend on the method of storage, the location of the storage unit and how much breastmilk you are storing. Paying attention to these conditions will allow the breastmilk to be kept for the longest amount of time possible, and allow for no degradation in quality for your child.
Also read: Most Common Breastfeeding Problems & Their Solutions