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Reusing expressed breastmilk
Q: Should breastmilk left over from a feeding be dumped
immediately (like formula), or can you save it and give it to baby
later?
A: It should be safe to save the left-over milk and use
it at the next feeding.
Per Breastfeeding,
A Guide for the Medical Profession by Ruth Lawrence, MD (p.
438):
Breastmilk
can safely stand at room temperature for 6 to 8 hours and need
not be discarded if the first feeding attempt is incomplete. In
contrast, formula must be refrigerated and discarded after the
first feeding attempt because it contains no antibodies or infection
protection factors.
Can
I 're-use' pumped breastmilk? Q&A by Ruth Lawrence, MD
"... If the milk is warmed up but not used,
it is OK to reheat the milk once. But the more you reheat the
more you decrease some of the valuable immunologic properties
of the milk..."
If
my baby doesn't finish a bottle of pumped breast milk can I save
it for later? by Jan Barger, R.N., M.A., IBCLC
"...Based on this study, which admittedly
needs to be done on a larger scale, it would seem to me that expressed
breast milk, fed to the baby, partially consumed, and then refrigerated,
could be used for one more feeding no more than four hours later.
That's probably fairly conservative. One of the best tests of
whether the milk is spoiled is to do what you do with cow's milk:
Smell it and taste it!"
Brusseau R. Bacterial Analysis of Refrigerated Human Milk Following
Infant Feeding. May 1998.
"Summary: The number of infants who are breastfed
is on the rise, as is the number of women in the workforce. Many
women who choose breastfeeding after returning to work, express
milk during the day and store this milk for a future feeding.
When infants do not finish a bottle of expressed breastmilk, doctors
recommend unfinished portions be thrown away. This study examined
bacterial levels in expressed, partially consumed breastmilk that
was stored for 48 hours at 4-6° C. A portion of unconsumed
milk was examined as a control. Samples were taken every 12 hours
for bacterial analysis. Tests were performed to identify total
colony counts, pathogenic Staphylococci, coliforms and b-hemolytic
Streptococci. This study showed no significant difference between
bottles that were partially consumed and those that were not exposed
to the baby’s mouth for 5 out of 6 participants. All milk
samples had colony counts in the acceptable range of < 105
colony forming units per milliliter (CFU/ml). Although this project
provides evidence that it may be safe to refeed a child a bottle
of breastmilk, due to the small sample size, further tests should
be performed."
Page last modified:
10/10/2005
