Adding expressed milk into already EBM

[ubba82]

Hi,
Hope my question makes sense! I expressed 50ml of breastmilk at 1pm and put it in the fridge. I am ready to express again - Can I add this EBM to the milk I expressed earlier?
This is all pretty new to me so there may be more expressing questions to come.
Thanks

[~MummaBear~]

Hey!

once the milk that you are about to express is cooled you can add it to th stuff that you already have in the fridge!
Well this is what i got told anyway and it makes sence to me lol
Hope that helps a little bit!

Good Job on Expressing too! its not as easy as it seems lol!

[briggsy's girl]

i always cool the second lot to the same temp (fridge) before mixing them - never had a drama

[Frangipani]

:yeahthat:
Well thats how I did it last time round with my first baby, having only just started to express this time, but I've been stocking them up in the freezer til I really need them.

So I was wondering what the rule is when adding more expressed milk to the freezer supply. I thought I'd read somewhere to put it in fridge first to cool, then add it to the freezer one. Is this right or does it not matter or should not be done at all?

[briggsy's girl]

i freeze in ice cube trays - then take the cubes out and defrost together - then i'm not mixing fresh and frozen. even the coolest of milk may defrost some that is already frozen which then has to be re-frozen - i wouldn't risk it

[Early Kids]

I did the same as Briggy's Girl as told to me by the NICU the boys were in

[Dansta]

ditto the above. but i was also told BM could be stored a room temp for upto 4hrs (in a sterile container) which i did when freezing the EBM - i'd fridge upto a full bottle then freeze at once for later use.

[sirenz]

Definately cool the new ebm in the fridge before adding it to already cooled ebm.

As for adding cold ebm to already frozen ebm - Not a good idea as briggsys girl mentioned, it can defrost some of the frozen milk and this is how bacteria can form.

Its a good idea to store your ebm in ice cube trays because then you can just get out what you want and defrost it in the fridge.

When I expressed for my ds, if I didn't have enough fresh ebm, all I would needed to do was add a few cubes of the frozen ebm to the fresh ebm (after it had cooled in the fridge). It worked out really well for us