Can a Bottle Be Used Again After Feeding

In some scenarios, it's not always clear whether breast milk is safe to requite to your baby or needs to be discarded. Hither are the most mutual "can I feed my baby this chest milk" questions, and answers according to the available guidelines and information.

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My baby didn't terminate a bottle. Can I reuse it and offering the bottle afterward?

If my infant drank some breast milk but didn't terminate the canteen, tin can I feed the leftover milk subsequently?

Yes. You lot can offer it again within ii hours.

Per the CDC, the guideline that we should follow is:

If your baby did not finish the bottle, the leftover breast milk can notwithstanding exist used inside two hours after the babe is finished feeding. After ii hours, leftover breast milk should exist discarded.

What's the reasoning behind this guideline? When your baby begins drinking from a bottle, at that place will be some bacterial contamination that occurs in the breast milk.

How quickly this will make the breast milk dangerous to consume depends on the room temperature, how long the milk has been stored, and the bacteria present.

As a general guideline (without knowing the individual circumstances of each bottle) the CDC states that offering once more within 2 hours should be safe for consumption. Afterward that, it may not exist, and so should exist discarded.

If I warmed a bottle and baby didn't drink from it, can I put it back in the refrigerator? How long does chest milk concluding after warming?

If I warmed a bottle of breast milk and my baby didn't potable any (she went back to sleep), can I put information technology back in the refrigerator and offering information technology again?

Yes. You tin can offer it again within the next two hours.

Per the CDC:

Once breast milk is brought to room temperature or warmed after storing in the refrigerator or freezer, it should be used within 2 hours.

The reasoning here is that bacteria starts to grow more than speedily when the milk is warmed.

Tin you reheat a bottle of breast milk?

If I'one thousand reusing a canteen within the ii hours, should I put it back in the fridge and rewarm it, or but leave it at room temperature?

Either rewarming or leaving it at room temperature is fine – whichever works best for you. Per Kellymom:

If yous exercise salve the milk for later use, some mothers re-refrigerate the milk and others leave it at room temperature – no studies have been done, so nosotros don't know whether 1 method is preferred. We practice know that for whatever food, refrigeration slows bacteria growth. Milk storage guidelines do not include any warnings against rewarming milk, and many moms rewarm with no issues.

Simply be sure to use or discard within two hours of the first warming.

Can I refreeze frozen chest milk?

My milk thawed in a power outage. I'm heartbroken! Tin I refreeze it?

This is the worst feeling – I've had all my milk thaw due to i of my older kids unplugging my deep freezer.

But unfortunately, you cannot refreeze thawed chest milk, and you lot need to use information technology inside 24 hours of when it has finished thawing (non from when the power outage started or y'all took information technology out of the freezer).

One important thing to annotation when considering this is that "finished thawing" means that all of the ice crystals are gone. If your breast milk notwithstanding has ice crystals, it is considered safe to put back in the freezer.

Can I take breast milk out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature?

Tin can I take my breast milk out of the refrigerator and permit it gradually warm up, instead of using a bottle warmer?

Yes, you tin. All the same, there is a time limit on how long y'all can leave it out.

Again, per the CDC:

Once breast milk is brought to room temperature or warmed after storing in the refrigerator or freezer, it should exist used within two hours.

So you accept two hours once your milk comes to room temperature to feed it to your babe. How long does it take breast milk to come to room temperature when sitting out? I dear experiments, so I tested information technology out.

It took well-nigh two hours when I tested it out (room temperature in my Chicago-in-January business firm was 66 degrees).

How long it volition take your breast milk to warm to room temperature will depend on how much milk is in the canteen, what the ambient temperature is, and the limerick of the milk. Withal, I retrieve 2 hours is a adept general guideline.

Can I get out refrigerated breast milk out, and feed it to baby in the center of the nighttime?

In the by, you've recommended letting freshly pumped milk sit out until baby'due south offset nighttime feeding (within iv-8 hours*). Can I practise this with previously refrigerated milk, or does it have to be freshly pumped?

You lot can, as long equally the feeding occurs with iv hours – two for it to come to room temperature, and the two that it can sit out according to the CDC guideline discussed above.

And then, if your babe goes to bed at 8pm, you take the milk out and go to bed at 11pm, and your infant normally wakes upward for a feeding before 3am, that will work fine.

*Notation: The guidelines on how long freshly pumped breast milk tin can be safely left out at room temperature vary. The CDC says 4 hours is the maximum; Kellymom says 4-eight, with 3-4 being platonic.

Tin can I accept thawed breast milk out of the fridge and let information technology come to room temperature?

I've weaned from the pump and am feeding my infant from my freezer stash. I want to have some breast milk with me on an outing with my baby. I know I can't thaw the milk at room temperature. Only can I thaw it, and then let previously frozen milk come up to room temperature in a my diaper bag before feeding it?

I could not discover a articulate answer to this question.

At that place are 2 parts to the question – a) tin can I let a bottle of previously frozen milk come up to room temperature over time, and b) can I let a bottle of previously frozen breast milk sit out at room temperature until baby is ready to drink information technology?

We have to respond to the second role of the question from the Department of Wellness and Human Services:

One time breastmilk is thawed to room temperature or warmed after being in the fridge or freezer, use it within ii hours.

And then yes, a bottle of previously frozen breast milk tin can sit at room temperature for 2 hours.

Withal, they practise not specify how the breast milk must become to room temperature. We know that we can't thaw milk at room temperature (information technology needs to exist done in the refrigerator or in h2o), only later it'southward thawed, can it sit at room temperature to warm, or does it need to be warmed to room temperature by putting information technology in a bowl of lukewarm h2o? I read through a lot of documentation, and was non able to find an answer.

So, if yous want to be on the prophylactic side, I would recommend keeping the previously frozen milk cold in a cooler (more options here) then warming it using one of the methods described here for warming breast milk outside the house.

What "can I feed my baby this breast milk" questions do you lot have that I missed? Share them in the comments, and I'll try to discover the answer!

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References

1. Bonyata, Kelly. "Breastmilk Storage & Handling." https://kellymom.com/bf/pumpingmoms/milkstorage/milkstorage/
2. Bonyata, Kelly. "My power went out and I have breastmilk in the freezer – Help!" https://kellymom.com/hot-topics/frozen-milk-power-outage/
3. Bonyata, Kelly. "Reusing Expressing Chest Milk." https://kellymom.com/bf/pumpingmoms/milkstorage/reusing-expressedmilk/
4. CDC. "Proper Storage and Preparation of Breast Milk." https://www.cdc.gov/breastfeeding/recommendations/handling_breastmilk.htm
5. Department of Wellness and Human Services. "Pumping and storing breastmilk." https://www.womenshealth.gov/breastfeeding/pumping-and-storing-breastmilk
6. Englash, Anne, and Simon, Liliana. "ABM Clinical Protocol #8: Human Milk Storage Data for Dwelling house Use for Full-Term Infants, Revised 2017. https://abm.memberclicks.net/assets/DOCUMENTS/PROTOCOLS/viii-human-milk-storage-protocol-english.pdf

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