Breast milk seperated - off or still good?

[Boobycino]

I expressed milk yesterday afternoon because bub is dropping one feed so I expressed while he ate afternoon tea - with the intention of using that breast milk on his cereal today, thinking thats a good use of a dropped feed, cutting back on the use of formula.

So that was about 16 hours ago and the milk has seperated - its that clear almost greeny colour underneath and thick and creamy on top.

Has it gone off? whats the deal with that?

I wont use it, already given bub cereal with forumla, but I'm curious what's happened to it, its not happened before than I can think of.

[JLeesmum]

hmm im pretty sure that used to happen when i expressed, its just because its been sitting.

.. i think..

[lozie2]

im pretty sure thats what mine does 2.

[sweetseven]

Whenever I expressed, if I put it in the fridge instead of the freezer, it would separate. I would just give it a good shake before using it.

[Seacretsquirrel]

It is normal it is like cows milk in that the "cream" rises to the top. If you give it a shake it will mix together and be fine I used to find that my BM did that whenever I expressed and left it for a while.
As for the greeny for the liquidy bit is what I would get too it freaked me out the first time I noticed it but I had only just expressed and popped it straight in the fridge so I think it is just the colour (I think we are so used to the colour of cows milk we are a bit weirded out when we notice BM is slightly different)
HTH:D

[The Fox]

breast milk seperates when you store it in the fridge its completely normal, just warm the milk a little and it will go back together, the top part is the thick fatty creamy part of the milk

im not sure about the greeny colour though maybe someone can help you out with that but im 100% sure that it is normal for the milk to seperate

ETA:i think its better to stir the milk gently or even just roll the bottle to get it to combine, i have read quite a few times not to shake breastmilk as it damages some of the proteins or something like that

[Boobycino]

Oh good.

I normally freeze milk, not put it in the fridge, so thats probably why I've never seen it before.

I'll give it a gentle turn around when its lunch time and maybe mix up some banana and farax with breast milk for a bit of a treat after lunch (ah, what passes as a treat now probably wont have much sway once he's learnt about sugar and crap, but right now, bananas are pretty darn exciting!)

Out of interest, how long can fresh breast milk last in the fridge?

[luvmyboys]

ABA recommends 3-5 days at 4degrees, further guidelines here http://www.breastfeeding.asn.au/bfinfo/express.html
Natural, unhomogenised cows milk also seperates, it's perfectly natural.