Can you reuse unfinished breast milk

See all in Life as a Parent. See all in Video. Get the BabyCenter app. Contact us Community guidelines Email subscriptions Account details Family information. Canada Germany India UK. Connect with us. This Internet site provides information of a general nature and is designed for educational purposes only. If you have any concerns about your own health or the health of your child, you should always consult with a doctor or other healthcare professional.

Please review the Terms of Use before using this site. Your use of the site indicates your agreement to be bound by the Terms of Use. This site is published by BabyCenter, L. The BabyCenter Bulletin Get the latest parenting news, plus expert advice and real-world wisdom. Again, per the CDC :. So you have two hours once your milk comes to room temperature to feed it to your baby.

How long does it take breast milk to come to room temperature when sitting out? I love experiments, so I tested it out. It took about two hours when I tested it out room temperature in my Chicago-in-January house was 66 degrees. How long it will take your breast milk to warm to room temperature will depend on how much milk is in the bottle, what the ambient temperature is, and the composition of the milk. However, I think two hours is a good general guideline.

Can I do this with previously refrigerated milk, or does it have to be freshly pumped? You can, as long as the feeding occurs with four hours — two for it to come to room temperature, and the two that it can sit out according to the CDC guideline discussed above. So, if your baby goes to bed at 8pm, you take the milk out and go to bed at 11pm, and your baby normally wakes up for a feeding before 3am, that will work fine. The CDC says 4 hours is the maximum; Kellymom says , with being ideal.

Microwaving may also destroy important nutrients in your breast milk before it even reaches your little one. Download our storage guidelines infographic - also available in Spanish - for a convenient printable resource that you can keep on hand, stick on your fridge, or store in your pump bag!

Clearly labeling your stored breast milk with the date it was pumped can help you remember to always use the oldest milk first, while keeping your refrigerated and frozen supplies organized. This is also beneficial because the quality of your breast milk can decrease over time. You may also wish to download a printable feeding and pumping log to help you record your baby's feedings and your pumping sessions, so you can stay as organized as possible during those early days and nights at home - Doing so can also help you remember which pumped milk to use or freeze, so none of that precious liquid gold goes to waste!

Finally, breast milk can be stored in an insulated cooler bag with ice packs for up to 24 hours if you are traveling or away from home. Tests were performed to identify total colony counts, pathogenic Staphylococci, coliforms and b-hemolytic Streptococci. 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.

This provides some evidence that different standards need to be made for healthy full-term infants. More on Breastmilk Storage and Handling. What is Normal? Can I Breastfeed if…?