Advice - expressing overnight.

[Gemmamuk]

Ok I need advice ladies, seems like years since I last did this and I've forgotten everything.

I'm taking my 5 week old on the train tomorrow to London to meet a friend. Breastfeeding may be a bit inconvenient and hv said I need to start expressing a bit and trying him on a bottle so he can get used to both bottle and breast.

Basically when I'm expressing I can only get 1-3oz a time but I'll need more than that tomorrow. So my question is about sterilising I guess.

If I pump each time he wakes for a feed, how do I store the milk, and do I need to sterilise the manual pump each time in between??
And do I keep a bottle in the fridge and add keep adding the newly expressed milk to it?? Do I then need to transfer the milk in the morning to a newly sterilised bottle???

It's all a bit of a minefield and I don't really understand it so sorry if my questions seem really dumb!

I've just managed to pump 3oz so there's a start! Just need to know what to do with it now!

 

[Pearls18]

I don't know what the official advice is, but I too can't express a whole feed in one go. I sterilise a bottle and just add to it, it only takes me 2 sittings. I read that BM can be stored in the fridge for 5 days so I just make sure the first lot of expressed milk is drank in that time, although I have only kept a bottle in the fridge for 2 days max.

If you're worried you could buy BM freezer bags and just freeze each batch you manage to express and defrost together and put into a new sterilised bottle.

I do sterilise my pump before each use, but have recently learned sterilising is more important for formula as the powder isn't sterile, in some parts of the world like parts of the US they don't sterilise at all. But I like to just to be extra safe and doesn't take a minute.

 

[MommyJogger]

If you're going to use the milk within 1 week, it should go straight in the refrigerator, if you're going to use it later than that, it should go into the freezer. If you have facilities available, in the US the guidelines are that it's sufficient to wash the pump/bottles in hot water and soap, but I understand that water in the UK might be mildly less safe and perhaps you guys have different guidelines?
Either way, pump parts are okay at room temp to re-use without washing for 3-4h after first use, longer if you put them in a plastic bag and refrigerate the parts between uses (in that case, it's usually sufficient to use all day and then clean/sterilize at the end of each day).
For adding milk to other milk, the rule of thumb is not to add warm milk to cold milk. So if you have a bottle in the fridge, you'll need to put freshly pumped milk in a different bottle in the fridge until it cools and then you can mix it together.
If you're going to use all of the milk in a bottle for a feed, you don't need to transfer it to a new bottle, you can just feed it from the bottle it was stored in in the fridge. If you're not going to use the whole bottle, you'll need to separate out what you're going to use and keep the rest in the fridge. A bottle of warmed bm is good for about an hour (is the most stringent guideline) after the baby has sucked on the nipple. If the baby will take the milk cold and there's some left over in the bottle, it can be put back in the fridge for a couple of hours and then safely re-offered, but should never be re-heated a second time.
There's no dumb question about milk pumping and storage. There's a pretty steep learning curve and you can't learn too much about food safety. I've been brushing back up on it myself with the next one on the way.

 

[Gemmamuk]

Thanks ladies!!!

 

[Pearls18]

Thank you mommyjogger that was really useful for me too

 

[Gemmamuk]

How long can you leave breast milk out of the fridge for? X

 

[MommyJogger]

How long can you leave breast milk out of the fridge for? X

For fresh breast milk at room temperature, the ideal is 3-4h, but up to 6 hours is considered safe. For bm that's already been refrigerated and you're taking it out to have with out and about, I've never actually seen a published guideline and I've never carried previously cooled milk around outside of a cooler. But if you have a little cooled storage bag with you:
https://www.amazon.com/Bottle-Breastmilk-Storage-Lansinoh-Storage/sim/B0052PM09M/2
with the frozen cooler pack in it, it will keep them cool for about 24 hours and doesn't take up all that much extra space than the bottles themselves in the diaper bag.
ETA: you can also put freshly pumped milk in the storage cooler and it's good to go into the fridge 24h later.

 

[HopefulPony]

I'm quite relaxed about my milk storage, I pump it and then leave it out for as long as he takes to drink it. I add fresh milk to refrigerated milk - the La Leche League have recently stated it's ok to do this. I don't warm it as he takes it cold. And I give him the same bottle until he's done. I know my milk has a really long life, I just sniff it to check and if it smells ok I give it to him, you know when breast milk has gone off. I also just rinse my pump between uses and wipe the cones.