According to the literature, breast milk can be stored:
- for up to six months in deep freezer
- for three to four months in the freezer
- for a week in the fridge
- for ten hours at room temperature (22 degrees celcius)
And breast milk that has been defrosted, heated up and partially consumed by baby can be returned to the refrigerator for another two days before it has to be disposed of.
Since putting theory into practice, I think that we need to revise some of these time frames. For instance, the milk I had expressed for Gavin and kept in the fridge for almost a week smelled rather sour and tasted quite horrid. The milk I defrosted from the freezer that Gavin partially drank had to be thrown out by the time Gavin was done with it.
Frozen breast milk is suppose to keep fresh but somehow after defrosting it doesn’t quite taste the same as freshly expressed milk. It didn’t smell or taste sour, but it had a sort of oily taste and it didn’t smell quite the same as freshly expressed milk. Is that normal or does that mean it has to be disposed? I would love some feedback from anyone with any experience.
I’m also wondering if the shelf-life is shortened because I live in a tropical country where the weather is humid everyday and normal room temperature hovers around thirty degrees celcius. Although that shouldn’t affect something that has been frozen or refrigerated - does it?
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I remember reading that breastmilk only stays fresh in the fridge for not more than 48 hours. So I’ve always stayed with that. And for freezer- not more than 3 months, although I have never passed the 2 month mark.
As for re-defrosting breastmilk after baby has consumed some, regardless of whether there was contact with baby’s saliva or not, my rule of thumb was never to give it to baby anymore. I usually threw away the unused portion.
I read somewhere that once you defrost food, especially meats (I suppose this will apply to breastmilk, too?) and then you freeze it again, or put it into the fridge, it’s really not that fresh anymore. You’d be better off throwing it away. It IS a waste though, so I try to eat it myself (not for Hubby and certainly not for baby!) More often than not, I throw it away. Quite wasteful lah.
Thanks for the info.
Actually, the re-refrigerating milk after baby’s had some I read from Baby Center. It seems there is a study that shows that milk that has been heated up to 37 degrees and consumed by baby and then refrigerated again is not much different to milk that has been heated up for the first time.
The other storage conditions I quoted were from the La Leche League book.