Storing breast milk question

I am an expressing newbie, so forgive me for the silly questions I may ask lol!

Last night I managed to get 50ml and after expressing put it straight in the fridge in an air tight container. I've just gone to get it out of the fridge to add the other 50ml I just expressed to it and the milk I expressed last night looks, well, a little curdled I guess. All the "fatty" bits are sitting at the top of the milk. This isn't normal is it? Not sure what I did wrong?

Also, is it ok to be adding ebm to previous ebm in a 24 hour period?

Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks!

Its normal for it to separate, just shake it up.
As long as the milk is the same temperature you can mix it but don't add room temp milk to fridge cold milk.
Can't remember the exact timings for how long to keep it I will check breastfeeding naturally tonight if no-one else can advise

It's totally normal for it to split, just shake really well before using to mix it up again. I would only add them together if you were freezing it but even then having smaller amounts is easier as they may not always want 100ml and then it's wasted.

Yeah, that ^^ except DON'T shake it. Swirl it gently until it mixes back together. Shaking it kills some of the good stuff in BM :)


Sent from my iPhone so forgive the speelung misstacks ;)

You have to freeze it within 24 hours. Well, thats what Royal Children's told me.
After its been defrosted it needs to be used within 12 hours. And can't be re-frozen.

Thanks for the replies, see told ya I'm a complete newbie!

What is best used to freeze ebm in?

You could check out the ABA website - they have a lot of information about expressing and storing breastmilk. You could also call them on 1800 MUM 2 MUM and they can answer any questions that you may have.

Also - what the others said - it is completely normal for BM to separate, so from the sounds of things you did nothing wrong. GL. :)

RE what to freeze it in. You can buy some special bags for storing EBM from chemists, but I find that an ice cube tray with a lid is easiest - you can them defrost one ice cube at a time as necessary.

Hi,

Breastmilk lasts for 3-5 days in the fridge and up to 3 mnths in the freezer part of the fridge. (12mnths in deep freez)
As others have identified, it's normal for it to separate - the "cream" rises to the top and often forms little blobs

At Bendigo SCN, I was given jars that looked exactly like urine jars from the dr!!! Hilarious, but worked well when I wasn't expressing alot.

:

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Hi,

Breastmilk lasts for 3-5 days in the fridge and up to 3 mnths in the freezer part of the fridge. (12mnths in deep freez)
As others have identified, it's normal for it to separate - the "cream" rises to the top and often forms little blobs

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I was told this, but also told that after 24 hours the 'goodness' in the milk starts to leave. So, although it lasts that long, its ideal to freeze it as soon as possible.
In fact, RCH (royal children's hospital) wouldn't take my milk if it wasn't frozen within 24 hours.

Another question - how do you warm the breastmilk? Obviously not in a microwave?

And to what temperature? Ive never bottle fed before!

Thanks again for your help it's really appreciated!

Cup or jug of warm water, stick the bottle in the cup or jug.

It takes a few minutes, but its the best way.

Hi,

It's a bit like any food - if you know you aren't going to use it straight away then freeze it, but if you "think" you'll use it then don't you can still freeze it. It's still great for your baby and much better than the alternative!

ABA guidelines HERE

I froze loads of milk after 24 hours, and the milk bank here took it no worries, it certainly doesn't spoil it.
you can buy EBM bags to freeze milk in but they can be exxy; as Starfish suggested, freezing in trays or cubes first is good, then you can store in normal snaplock bags.

And yep, you can mix fresh milk with previously frozen or refrigerated milk, as long as they are the same temp.

Another question on storage - when you say the ice cube trays, is this the specific breastmilk ones? (or can you use normal ones). where do you buy them?

can the cubes of milk be stored in normal sandwich snaplock bags?

would you still put 100ml in a bag (or whatever for one feed) or can you put more in and just get blocks out as needed?

What sort of amounts would a 4 month old drink? I have just discovered my DS will drink EBM (DD would only spit it out).

Is washing bottles in the dishwasher ok? I know you don't need to, but DH put them in and i felt like i had to wash them again, but not sure why.

I just use breastmilk storage bags I bought from e bay. They're sterile and cheap.. No idea about using ice cube trays?? Not sure how much a 4 month old drinks, but my DS has 150mls down his NG tube.. This has been built up gradually though because he wasn't taking that much from my breast.. I started giving him 120ml and built it up from there. I have no idea how much they 'should' be having. i am pretty sure you can wash bottles in the dishwasher.. I don't have one, so I just wash them in hot soapy water then chuck them in a steam steriliser.

Re ice trays - I used the sensible lines (30ml sticks) for a while then moved to the quibies (?sp) brand (30ml blocks). I changed because it was easier to remove them from the tray and they smaller square blocks fit in my smaller bottles better; the sticks fit but it was always a tight squeeze.

Re volume for 4mth old - this is when ds1 started cc and I had no idea how much he'd drink so I started with 60ml bottles but he wanted more than that so I upped it to 90ml and he seemed happy with that according to cc staff. They told me he was going through a bottle & a half per feed when it was 60ml. Later I upped it to 120ml (I think this was about 9mths but can't quite remember) we stayed at this level until he stopped having bottles of milk at about 1yr 9mths.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk so may be slightly confusing :)

I just left my 4.5 month old at home when I went to work on wed and he has 140mls one feed 120mls another feed and 100mls for the last feed. I think it's hard to predict so I feel u need to leave a little extra to be safe.

I use Swisspers breast milk storage bags (MUCH cheaper than the Medela ones, only $5 for 20 at many chemists) and the Happy Baby ice cube trays when I was freezing smaller amounts. I'd be reluctant to use normal zip lock bags as the plastic is no where near as thick as the breast milk bags. They could split and I'm sure I also read that the milk could be exposed to freezer smells and lose a lot of goodies.

I freeze in 100ml lots now and that's generally enough for DD2 (just gone 5 mths). Sometimes she'd like more though but usually it's given between feeds like when she's in the crèche while DD1 has swimming or if my parents or DH are watching her while I'm out.

The size of a feed is very baby-dependent. A 4 month old will drink anything from 800ml to 1-and-a-bit-litres of BM a day. But some will have 5 big feeds and some will have 10 little ones and some will have a mixture of both.
How you freeze depends on how hard it is for you to express (and therefore how much "wasting" is a problem). And also how willing your baby is to wait while the second instalment of their milk is defrosted! It also changes once solids are involved and you can put the leftover milk into cereal or dinner or whatever...