Breast Milk 101: How to Store and Use Breast Milk Efficiently
Figuring out how to store and use breast milk can be a challenge at first. For us, we were not planning on pumping and bottle feeding right away. However, our daughter was born with a severe lip and tongue tie and was not physically able to breast feed at first. We had to feed expressed milk with a syringe for several days. It was not until after her frenectomy and several sessions with a lactation consultant before our daughter was able to breast feed. Even then, she was not efficient with it until about three months old.
Through our circumstances, we had to learn how to collect and store breast milk right away. Six months later, I am glad we took the time to figure out a good system. Here are our tips on how to store and use breast milk efficiently.
Collecting and Storing Breast Milk
After expressing breast milk, you can either store in bags, collection and storage bottles, or in a pitcher. I choose to store my expressed breast milk first in the five-ounce collection and storage bottles. If we did not use the milk by the third or fourth day, I would freeze four or five ounces at a time in bags. I liked the idea of using a pitcher because you can mix milk from different times of the day with breast milk having the highest fat content at night. However, I ultimately chose not to get a pitcher because I thought it would get confusing to track when I would have to freeze the excess milk. If I did mix breast milk from multiple sessions, I labeled the milk by the oldest date.
Freezing Breast Milk
On the freezer bags, I wrote my baby’s name, date, time, and how many ounces. In the first couple months when my body was supplying an abundance of excess milk, I would start at assembly line every three days to store the milk. With my husband, our parents, and me, one of us would label the bags, another would measure the milk by four or five ounces and pour into the bags, and then we would wash the collection and storage bottles. When storing in the bags, we found it best to close half the bag after the milk was poured in, get the air out, then seal the rest of bag in order to prevent milk from getting in the seal and getting the most air out of the bag as possible before freezing.
Pro Tip
In order to keep our breast milk organized in the deep freezer, we bought plastic baskets from the dollar store to store the breast milk. We first would lay the bags flat to freeze, then turn them upright to see the date more readily and fit more in. You can also write the dates on the plastic basket with a dry erase marker.
Timeframe for Using Expressed Breast Milk
For optimal use of breast milk, we have found that it must be used within four to six hours at room temperature after expression, within four to seven days in the fridge, within six months in freezer, and within twelve months in deep freezer. After thawing out frozen breast milk from the freezer to room temperature, it should be used within one to two hours. If thawing out the breast milk from the freezer to fridge, it should be used within twenty four hours.
Breast milk cannot be refrozen, and it must not be warmed directly in the microwave. It is not necessary to buy a bottle warmer. Just put a cup of water in the microwave for ninety seconds, then put the bottle with the breast milk in the hot water for two to three minutes until lukewarm. If the baby does not finish the bottle, it should be used or tossed within two hours.
Cleaning Breast Milk Bottles and Pump
The collection and storage bottles and the baby’s feeding bottles will develop a film from fat content of breast milk. Every week or two, I would boil a small stock pot of water and add a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar and boil everything for 5 minutes. This is a good habit to prevent thrush. I did also boil my pump parts; however, I would check with your manufacture first. My Elvie pump bottles started to crack with the heat.