MUST discard unfinished bottle of breastmilk?

[mother2B]

what is your understanding of the risks of breastmilk spoilage once baby has begun drinking it from a bottle then not finished? how long can it last, and can it be re-refrigerated? i've read one hour at room temp is okay but then discard... has anyone found other info or had a different experience?

tah!

[rynosmum]

Absolutely discard.

I know it seems like such a waste as EBM is like liquid gold but it has to be thrown away. Unfortunately a lot of bacteria love the conditions of EBM which isn't a good thing.

[veve]

I was soo upset with the waste of EBM that I wuold make 2 bottles of 100mls instead of one bottle of 200ml s... just so that if he DIDN" T finish the first bottle .. I didn't waste the rest .. lol

I agree.. throw it out .. not worth the risk..

xx
JEn

[annsam]

Throw it for sure.:thumbsdown:

[AM]

yep, definitely get rid of it, and it is a really good idea to use smaller amounts to try to reduce the amount which is wasted. I used to just about cry having to throw it away sometimes, the effort it took me to express, it was heartbreaking! :)

[littlepickle]

I have started to store it in those little breast milk bags in small amounts, that way if bub decides tha she is still hungry, I can just warm up another little bag of milk. Also, I find the bags much easier to heat up than the bottles

[SilverStarfish]

I went to Big W and bought a pack of the cheapest little bottles they had - about $4 for 3 of them, I think - and stored the milk in the fridge in them. They are cheaper than the bags, and you can use them over and over. DD certainly prefers her milk straight from the source, so she only drinks a enough to take the edge off when I'm not home.

I hate throwing it out too, seems like such a waste!! But like the others said, its just not worth the risk :no:

[spiritedfamily]

I thought that you can keep breastmilk for a little longer in the fridge...I can't quote the hours as I'm not 100% sure but I remember putting it the fridge and using it later and this was ok...I know someone that could tell me...so I'll get back to you on that!!

[rynosmum]

A CHN once told me that you could keep EBM in the fridge for up to 4 days. After once experience with curdled EBM, I kept if for up to 48 hours only.

[spiritedfamily]

it can be put in the freezer too

[Goosie22]

Hi,
Fresh Breastmilk has living cells( a little like white blood cells), which distroy bacteria it can be stored for 48+ in the fridge and 3 months in the body of your fridge frezzer or longer in deep frezzer. Once its been frozen those cells are damaged though some probably make it through, then the heating process will nock a few more off.

If its fresh expressed you would have more time from expressing and feeding before discarding. I read in ABA mag a few years back that BM left on a bench was tested for bacteria and then left 4 hours and tested again, the ammount of bacteria had decreased in that time.

*NB* it was fresh not heated milk.

[Mischief]

Goosie - Would that mean that if I am giving Oliver freshly expressed milk and he doesnt finish it all, it would be okay to pop the feed in the fridge and give it to him a couple of hours later?

[xkwzit]

Hi Mischeif

I think the issue with that is that the milk in a bottle is now contaminated (potentially) because you've fed from it. If it was an absolutey unused bottle, yes that would be fine - but once they've started drinking from it, if you have not used it within say an hour or so, I would throw it out.

I think that the test Goosie quotes would have been from a fresh expressed bottle not fed from.

Cheers

[Mischief]

Thanks X!

I really have to start making Oliver smaller bottles since he seems to want to take 2 hours to feed! ARRGGG!!! LOL