A friend once told me that when her nanny threw away breastmilk left over from a feeding, she cried because it took her several pumping sessions just to get enough for one bottle. Breastmilk is like liquid gold — it’s hard work pumping and you don’t want to waste a single drop! Hopefully these tips will help you in storing and feeding expressed breastmilk.
The biggest unknown surrounds what to do with milk that is left over from a feeding. Dr. Sears says to use it for the next feeding and then discard. La Leche League says that bacteria could have entered the bottle, and that there hasn’t been enough research done on reusing breastmilk from a previous feeding. My lactation consultant says that those conservative guidelines were designed to protect immuno-compromised babies, and refrigerating and reheating milk left over from a feeding is ok. Most of my friends just leave the milk out at room temperature and then use it again at the next feeding.
In the beginning I was super conservative about giving Charlie milk from a previous feeding. I’d usually keep it warm and feed it to him within the hour, or I’d toss it. But as he got a little older, I refrigerated any leftover milk and reheated it at his next feeding. It was just too precious to waste!
What do you do with unfinished bottles of breastmilk?
Pumping & Increasing Milk Supply part 11 of 11
1. Increasing Your Milk Supply by Checklists2. Pumping Up the Volume by Mrs. Bee
3. My Pumping System by mrs. wagon
4. Don't Pay for a Breast Pump Until You Read This by Mrs. Tricycle
5. More milk, more milk, more milk! by Mrs. Hopscotch
6. Building up a Breastmilk Freezer Stash by mrs. wagon
7. Exclusive Pumping vs. Breastfeeding by Mrs. Bee
8. How To Clean a Medela Pump by Mrs. Bee
9. My Pumping, Freezing, and Defrosting Strategy by Mrs. Bee
10. Project Milk by Mrs. Bee
11. Feeding and Storing Expressed Breastmilk by Checklists
hostess / wonderful honeydew / 32460 posts
man. in the first few weeks of nursing/pumping, i used to call my milk liquid gold too. i remember spilling some and nearly having a breakdown. my husband said he’s NEVER seen/heard me so upset before. HAHA. thank God those days are over.
honeydew / 7917 posts
I didn’t know that I could refrigerate his leftover bottle until a month or two ago, and I felt so stupid for not finding out sooner. Since all of his breast milk comes from the bottle, a lot of milk has been wasted.
apricot / 464 posts
We go by the use at the next feeding or toss rule. I think it would probably be fine longer though!
pomegranate / 3053 posts
I had no idea you could store fresh BM at room temperature past 4 hours. I guess I was told by someone (nurse/lactation consultant) and I just followed up to 4 hours. Good to know.
kiwi / 500 posts
This leftover milk information is great.
olive / 70 posts
I would refrigerate the leftover milk, and use it for the next feeding. I never let it go beyond a few hours. If my baby’s lips never touched the bottle, I would leave the extra milk for longer. I only stored several ounces at a time so I wouldn’t have to waste any.
olive / 54 posts
You’re lucky… I wasn’t producing enough milk to have any leftovers.
apricot / 321 posts
In the beginning I would throw it away but after a while I started re-using it. I treated it like regular milk – as long as it smelled ok I would feed it to him.
kiwi / 718 posts
such good information! breast feeding & everything that goes with it is one area that I really feel I need to research more.
cherry / 207 posts
I was a low volume pumper so I definitely reused leftover breast milk so long as it smells/taste ok. If I were to do it all over again, I will do the same
guest
After pumping religiously for THREE days while I was away, we SADLY discovered that I was one of those “enzyme” milk ladies. I had to leave the house while my husband poured THREE DAYS of lovingly pumped and stored milk DOWN. THE. DRAIN. Two years later, it still hurts to think about. Sigh…..
guest
I’ve read that you should follow the rule of 6… 6 hours at room temp, 6 days in the fridge, 6 months in the freezer. Seems easy to remember.
guest
I know this is an old topic, but I’m researching it after my sons daycare threw out a whole bottle of his milk after he ‘refused’ his feed the first day of daycare. It was so upsetting!! I discovered they were treating it like formula and following the discard 15mins after feeding guide! I have since told my sons daycare to keep the unused milk for 1-2 hours and try him again on it. 9 times out of 10 he’ll take it on 2nd offer! Pumping mums should be applauded as it’s no easy task and it’s just devestating to learn your hard won pumped milk is going down the drain!
wonderful clementine / 24134 posts
I wish there were clearer rules for reusing!!