Fresh breast milk is best for your baby. When you are expressing, the milk you express should be chilled or frozen as quickly as possible.
If your baby is due a feed within 4 hours, you can store expressed breast milk at room temperature (less than 20 degrees Celsius) in a sealed container.
Defrosting frozen breast milk
Follow these guidelines for defrosting breast milk when you remove it from a freezer:
- You can defrost breast milk in the fridge, normally in around 12 hours.
- You can also hold the bottle or bag of frozen milk under lukewarm running water (no more than 37 degrees Celsius).
- When fully thawed, you can keep breast milk at room temperature for a maximum of 2 hours - or in the fridge for up to 24 hours.
Don't:
-
do not freeze breast milk twice
-
do not add freshly-expressed warm milk to already cooled or frozen milk - it's best to cool it down first
Warming breast milk
Healthy, full-term babies can drink breast milk at room temperature or warmed to body temperature.
Some healthy full-term and older babies can drink chilled milk when it is removed directly from the fridge. This is considered the safest choice.
To warm your milk:
- Place the breast milk bottle or bag into a cup, jug or bowl of lukewarm water.
- Leave it for a few minutes to bring it to body temperature (37 degrees Celsius).
Or you could use a bottle warmer.
Do not allow the temperature to go above 40 degrees Celsius.
Important
Never heat breast milk in a microwave or saucepan. Heating breast milk until it is hot can destroy some of the good properties in the milk.
Using a microwave to heat any fluids for your baby can lead to uneven heating. These hot spots can scald your baby's mouth.
If milk has separated
You may notice that the milk has separated into layers, with the creamier content at the top.
It's better to swirl the milk in the container to mix the layers again rather than shaking the container. Shaking the container may damage some of the proteins and other components in the milk, reducing its nutritional value.