Safely prepare and store breast milk. Use clean containers. Breast milk can be stored in glass or hard BPA-free plastic bottles with tight fitting lids and milk storage bags, which are sterile and made for freezing human milk. Do not use disposable bottle liners to store breast milk.
After pumping:
- It is best to refrigerate or chill milk right after it is expressed.
- Label the date on the storage container and always use the oldest dated milk first.
- Stored breast milk tends to separate in its container into two parts, what looks like cream rising to the top and then lighter colored milk. Human milk can look clear, bluish, yellowish, or brownish. Gently swirl the container to mix the cream back into the rest of the milk. Shaking the milk is not recommended as it can cause a breakdown of some of the milk's valuable components.
When freezing milk:
- Wait to tighten bottle caps or lids until the milk is completely frozen.
- Try to leave an inch or so from the milk to the top of the container because it will expand when freezing.
- Freeze the milk in small amounts, such as 2 to 4 ounce servings, to reduce waste if the baby does not finish all of it.
Thawing and warming up milk:
- Breast milk does not necessarily need to be warmed. Some moms prefer to take the chill off and serve at room temperature. Some moms serve it cold.
- If you want to warm the milk, never put a bottle or bag of breast milk in the microwave. Microwaving creates hot spots that could burn your baby and damage the components of the milk.
- Hold the bottle or frozen bag of milk under cool and then warm water for a few minutes until it thaws, then warm to a comfortable temperature.
- You also can allow frozen milk to thaw to room temperature on a counter or other clean surface.
- Or, heat a pan of water on the stove, remove from the heat and place the container into the warm water.
- Swirl the milk and test the temperature by dropping some on your wrist. It should be comfortably warm.
- Cool fresh milk in the refrigerator before adding it to milk that has been frozen.
There are several methods that one can use to store fresh Breast Milk, for use with healthy full term infants, depending upon the duration which they would like to save it for. Breast milk can be saved for 6-8 hours at room temperate (77 degrees f) in covered cool containers and 24 hours if kept inside an insulated cooler bag at 5-39 degrees F. It will last up to a week if kept at the back of a refrigerator (39 degrees F), 2 weeks if kept in a freezer (5 degrees F), 3-6 months in a freezer with separate doors(0 degrees F), and 6-12 months in a deep freezer (-4 degrees F). Previously Thawed milk, on the other hand, can be stored for up to an hour at room temperature, 24 hours in a refrigerator, and should not be refrozen.
