Warming up refrigerated milk more than once

[vs011]

I pump and give my milk, keep it in the fridge, warm it and give to baby when she wants it. Sometimes she wont finish. For example, I pump 90ml, she's ready to feed, I warm it, and she finishes 80ml. So I place the 10ml back in the fridge, warm it and give again to her when she wants it avain (usually an hour later but sometimes it can even go into 3hrs later which carries into the next feeding time).

Is it ok to refrigerate, warm, repeatedly the mom's milk like this? Today my baby did exactly the above and I already warmed up the last 10ml twice now and finally just left it at room temp for now until she wants it again. I think it's a lazy day for her today. It's been 12hrs since I pumped that milk.

 

[AP]

Good question. I know the advice given to us was never to reheat once it's been heated, and I know it's certainly the advice for formula feeding too. One of the reasons is the growth of bacteria once the bottle has been used.

However, this is breast milk we're talk about and we know it has some great properties. I wonder if anyone knows the clear answer.

In the meantime maybe it's worth dividing your pumping session into several bottles. But I can understand your predicament, no one wants to throw liquid gold out

 

[noon_child]

Heating breastmilk is a gentle process used for the preference of the baby and shouldn't be done at hot enough temperatures to destroy the milks benefits, but this obviously means it won't destroy bacteria from the baby's mouth if the milk has been part of an unfinished feed. Milk that hasn't been used yet can be at room temp for 4-6hrs so I think I wouldn't bother to put "used" milk back in the fridge if she is likely to want it quite soon within an hour, unless it was a really warm room; but then I wasn't using expressed milk all the time so I guess I could afford to be more slapdash about it all.

Kellymom says it is "probably safe" to refrigerate the end of a feed and offer again within 2hrs, but says nothing about reheating.

I think if the milk has been in a bottle that baby has fed from, you'd be better not to still be using that 12hrs later, so don't combine it with milk for the next feed but offer it first (if it's within a few hours) then move to the next "clean" bottle.

This doesn't quite answer your question but is useful info for all aspects of storing and heating https://kellymom.com/bf/pumpingmoms/milkstorage/milkstorage/

 

[vs011]

I agree the nipple can harbor bacteria, but one can just replace the reheated milk with a clean nipple for a future feed and that would solve some of that, unless the baby backwashes into the bottle. I searched the net a bit and looks like there hasnt been a study done on repeated reheating of breastmilk yet.

 

[AP]

It's the backwash that is the issue too. You're right - there just hasnt been enough study on it yet.