I found the following ... I think it depends on what type of freezer you have according to the length of storage time.
Storing Expressed Milk
Where to store? What container? How long?
How Much? Which should I use first?
Storage Choices- where to store
Breast Milk is a wonderful substance which is surprisingly easy to store. Because breast milk is a living fluid, storage does affect its properties. The 'order of preference' for using breast milk is:
1 .... Straight from the breast - Just the right temperature and always just right for baby!
2 .... Stored at room temperature - None of the active ingredients of breast milk, which protect against disease, are destroyed as no heating is required.
3 .... Stored in the fridge - None of the active ingredients are destroyed by storing it in the fridge, but care should be taken when reheating breast milk. Never microwave and do not heat above body temperature as this starts to break down that valuable protection. Breastmilk is safe to be stored in any fridge; there is not risk of it 'contaminating' normal food; this means that it is safe to store breast milk, appropriately labeled, in a fridge at work or at child care.
4 .... Stored in the freezer - the protection against disease offered by breast milk is destroyed by storing it in the freezer; however, it is still safer to use than formula milk, and much tastier for baby too!
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What Container?
You can store breast milk in any clean, sterilised sealed container. Many mums store their milk in the collection container(s) that are supplied with their pump, especially if the milk is going to be used fresh from the fridge. Other options include storing it in a feeding bottle, and storing it in plastic bags which are specially designed for breast milk (normal plastic bags may leach chemicals into the unfrozen milk).
Another option is to pour the expressed milk into a sterilised ice cube tray and store the milk cubes in a freezer bag.
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How long can breast milk be kept?
Breast milk is a complex substance, and the guidelines for storage are just that. When breast milk goes off, it smells, in much the same way as off cows milk smells.
Unrefridgerated: Breast milk should be fine at normal room temperature for 8 or more hours, in fact breast milk at room temperature may contain fewer bacteria after a couple of hours at room temperature than when it was first expressed.
Cool bag/boxThe length of time that breast milk can be stored in a cool bag depends on how cool it is; breast milk can be stored for 24 hours at an average temperature of 15 degrees C.
In the fridgeWhen storing breast milk in the fridge, keep it as far back as possible, away from the door. Fresh breast milk can be kept in the fridge for up to 8 days. If refridgerating milk prior to freezing, the breast milk can be kept in the fridge for up to 24 hours before being put into the freezer. Don't mix warm and cooled milk - you can add milk expressed later to earlier expressed milk, but the newer milk should be cooled down in the fridge first. The milk will keep as long as the oldest milk in the container.
In the Freezer Breast milk will keep for 3 to 6 months in freezer. To thaw, move to the fridge or to room temperature. Milk thawed in the fridge can be stored there for 24 hours after coming out of the freezer.
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How much breast milk should I store?
How much breast milk you need to store depends on how you are planning to use it. For the occasional night out, you may need as little as 4 oz for a 4 hour period, assuming that you feed just before going out; for a 10 hour working day including traveling you may need much more.
If baby is having expressed milk regularly then you will soon find out how much baby needs, but a rough guide would be 5 to 7 ounces every 3 hours for babies over 3 months.
It is best to store your milk in 2 to 4 oz quantities, so that only the amount that baby needs is warmed, as it can not be kept if baby doesn't finish it all. There is nothing more disheartening then finding that the whole 8 ounces which you had worked so hard to express were heated when baby only wanted a quick 3 ounces.
For women returning to work, it is a good idea to start expressing to build up a freezer stock from about 6 weeks. You may also find that you don't express all the milk that you baby needs while you are at work. This is perfectly normal as expressing milk is less efficient than baby at removing milk from the breast. Mums it that situation often find that adding an extra expression session at home and/or expressing at weekends lets them make up the difference.
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Which should I use first?
Use fresh breast milk first, then milk stored in the fridge, as both of these have valuable protection against disease. If you have neither of these, then use frozen breastmilk. Use the oldest milk of each type first.
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How should I heat it?
Breastmilk preferably should not be heated above body temperature. If the breast milk is already at room temperatrue, then your baby may very well happliy take it with out any heating at all.
The recommended way to heat breastmilk is to put it (in it's conatiner of course) in a jug of warm (not boiling) water.
There are several advantages to serving the milk at room temperature, or just above. There is less damage to the various active constituents of the milk. Milk at room temperature cools much slower than milk above body temperature, which means that the milk wont need reheating during a lengthy feed