The preservation of breast milk should not be neglected! It’s important to know how to store it in the best possible conditions, so that it retains its immune and nutritional properties for as long as possible.
Here are a few details on how to store breast milk, but you should always heed the advice of health professionals if your baby was born prematurely or is hospitalized, as storage times may change in these circumstances.
To this end, Public Health has studied the various aspects of storing breast milk for a healthy, full-term baby. Here are the guidelines:
- Room-temperature breast milk can be stored for 4 hours at 26°C (79°F) and up to 24 hours with a nearby ice source (15°C), in a cooler.
- In the fridge, you can easily tolerate a good week(8 days) before giving it to your baby. If you don’t plan to give it to your baby within this timeframe, freeze it immediately to preserve better quality.
- In the freezer of a mini-fridge (1 door), it will keep for 2 weeks.
- In the freezer of a refrigerator (2 doors), you can count on 4 months, and even 6 months, if your freezer is well-stocked. In this case, freezing will be optimal if the bags of milk are placed at the very bottom, where the temperature is the most stable and coldest (don’t put the milk in the freezer door).
- In a chest, tomb or freezer, your milk can be kept for 1 year. Even if it loses some of its properties, it’s still the best milk for your baby.
When defrosting milk:
- If thawed at room temperature, it will keep for 4 hours,
- If it has been thawed in the refrigerator, it will keep for 24 hours,
- and if the milk has been heated, it will keep for only 1 hour.
- If the milk has been heated and the baby has not touched the bottle, the shelf life is 4 hours.
- Any milk remaining after drinking must be discarded.
- It’s very important to know that breast milk cannot be refrozen.
Can I add pumped milk to the milk in the fridge?
Marie
The Baby Expert
