Best Way To Store Breastmilk in Freezer, How About Refrigerator?
All of us know that babies always need breast milk for their growth. We often think about what is the best way to store breastmilk in freezer. But actually there is another way to store breastmilk. Maybe the best way to store breastmilk in freezer but actually you can store it in another way.
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Store Your Breast Milk In Refrigerator
Other than keeping your milk in the freezer, you also can keep your breast milk in the refrigerator. If you plan to use the expressed breast milk immediately, store it in the refrigerator to avoid thawing. But how long does breast milk last in the refrigerator?
The refrigerator should be considered a short-term storage solution for breast milk. Refrigerated breast milk is best used within 24 hours, but properly stored breast milk can be kept for up to 4 days. Here’s how to store breast milk in the refrigerator.
We start with a suitable container. Use clean containers to store breast milk. You can use bottles with screw caps, hard plastic cups with tight caps, or sturdy breast milk storage bags. Regular plastic storage bags are not recommended to store breast milk. That is because regular plastic storage is prone to leaks and spills.
Second, you need to choose the right place to store the breast milk. The space you allocate for storing breast milk is important. Especially when you store your breast milk in the refrigerator. Freshly expressed milk is the coldest part of the refrigerator, so always keep it in the back of the refrigerator.
A door that changes temperature every time you open and close it is the worst place to store breast milk in your refrigerator. That is because if you put them in any place they can last a long time.
You might be confused whether you can mix the milk from multiple pumps or not? Actually mixing milk from multiple pumps is no problem. Many mums wonder if a single pumping may not produce enough milk. Can fresh milk be added to chilled milk? Answer Yes, it is okay to combine expressed milk from multiple sessions, but there is one caveat.
You need to always chill new milk before adding it to old milk. A better idea is to put both, new chill milk and old milk in the refrigerator for a few hours before mixing in the milk. If the milk is not going to be used immediately, label it with the old milk date and put it in the freezer.
Do not reheat milk once it has been heated. This is because repeated reheating of breast milk increases the risk of bacterial growth. Therefore we should avoid our babies to drink breast milk that has been reheated multiple times. So you must offer fresh breast milk at your next feed for your babies to make sure they’re healthy.
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How To Warm Your Milk?
The last thing you want to do when your baby is crying for milk is wait for those breast milk to warm up. But actually you can do it sooner than you think. Gently stir the milk in the bottle. For sachets, massage the milk while immersing it in warm running water for a few minutes.
You can also warm the milk by filling a bowl with lukewarm water. Use lukewarm, not hot, water to avoid overheating the milk. Another way to warm your milk is to use a bottle warmer. Again, stay away from the microwave. This is because uneven heating can burn your baby or damage your milk, Clark says.
Whichever method you choose, always make sure your milk is the right temperature for your baby. Try putting a drop on the inside of your forearm before feeding your baby. You need to make sure the milk feels warm and not hot.