breastmilk questions

[nina]

New mom wondering:
1) if you pump some milk one day, and some the next day, can you mix these together for one feeding?

2) once you bring breastmilk to room temperature, how long does it keep? can you re-refrigerate it?

THANKS !!

[MinnieMouse]

Here are two quick answers...but if you check out the link to parentsplace.com's message boards...the month of July is devoted to breastfeeding...all their links are smack on the top of the page (and also occur halfway down on the right as well). I lurk/post at both the breastfeeding and working and pumping boards. Both are EXCELLENT resources, have great FAQ's that will answer most of your questions and great people for support and ideas.

http://www.parentsplace.com/messageboards

1. As long as they are both chilled yes you can mix milk together for one bottle. They usually don't recommend mixing just pumped milk with chilled milk though.

2. If thawed in the fridge (from frozen) it will last 24hrs in the fridge. But they recommend using warmed milk (that has been frozen or chilled previously) immediately and if not used to toss it.

On the other hand if you have freshly expressed milk...that will stay good without chilling for 6-10 hours depending on who you talk to.

Again...please check out the above link.... I have learned soooo much from them.

Christine
with dd 11months still nursing and still working and pumping!!

[egoldber]

1) There is nothing wrong with mixing 2 days of milk together for a feeding.
2) I have always read 2 hours. You are not suppsoed to re-refrigerate it.

Here's a link to the La Leche League site. They have an excellent FAQ on their site and a lot of other very useful info as well.
http://www.lalecheleague.org/FAQ/milkstorage.html

FYI, I have never been to a LLL meeting nor am I a member of their group, but this site has an incredible amount of useful info on it. Also, I think it is better organized than their book. I found the book very hard to use.

HTH,