Questions on leftover breastmilk - Need help badly

[ajrivers]

Hi ladies.

I'm away from DS for the first time (he's 7.5 mos) and DH and MIL have been left in charge with a stash of fresh and frozen BM. Since he is BF first thing in the a.m. and at night we aren't all that sure how much he eats and they are having some left over.

Once a fresh bottle of BM has been warmed up and there is some left do you put it back in fridge or leave it out? Can you warm it up again? I know they say it is good until "next feeding" so can I assume that's a couple of hours??

Do the same rules apply to defrosted BM?

What about formula? He gets 2 bottles a day and doesn't always finish. Should we just throw that away and make new?

Any help would really be appreciated as they are calling with questions that I don't know the answers to.

TIA!! Amy (a very sad mommy stuck in a hotel room watching videos of her munchkin!!)

[lmcnabbkv]

For the formula, once he has drank out of the bottle, it is good for 1 hour...then it needs to be tossed.


After BM has been thawed in the fridge, it is good for 24hrs then should be thrown away if not used.

For breastmilk, the remaining milk in the bottle after baby drinks out of it, may be used for the next feeding otherwise should be thrown away. This is because bacteria from the baby's mouth may have entered the milk during the feeding and can cause bacterial contamination if it sets too long (that is why the formula must be tossed after 1hour). The jury is still out on how long is too long for BM, but I would say no more than a couple hours, it's better safe than sorry. And I would just leave it at room temp rather than put back in fridge and rewarm, but LLL does say that "It is not known whether milk that is left in the bottle after a feeding can be safely kept until the next feeding or if it should be discarded." I personally keep it for a few hours then toss, hasn't been a problem so far...


I hope this helps and that I didn't confuse you :)