Storing expressed milk

[hereharehere33]

Hi there, I expressed some milk on sat, but I ended up not using it. Its still in the fridge - do you think that I could put it in the freezer now? Or is it too late?
Thanks

[CelticPromise]

Is it at the back of the fridge? You can fridge for five days if so. Strictly you should use it today but I would take a chance and freeze it.

[Dinosaursdontgrowontrees]

I would throw it away.. Sorry.

[hereharehere33]

Its in the fridge door that's stupid of me, isn't it...I just hate the thought of throwing it away, but maybe its better to be safe than make my little man poorly.

[Sgtmajormummy]

Don't put it in the freezer. I posted this a couple of days ago on another thread, but home freezing can carbonise (freezer burn) the calcium in your milk and turn it into chalk!

[CelticPromise]

In the fridge door I probably wouldn't risk using or freezing it. I feel for you, it's horrid chucking something so precious!

[hereharehere33]

Boo! Down the sink its gone. I blame it on the sleep deprivation - making me forget it was there!

[Sgtmajormummy]

Don't worry, your supply will be all the stronger for it.

[hereharehere33]

Thanks SgtMajor that's true - what do you mean re the carbonising? I haven't of that before. Is freezing generally not recommended then?

[hereharehere33]

haven't 'heard', that should read

[worldgonecrazy]

If it's off your baby will refuse to drink it.

I know it's probably too late for that batch, but maybe next time it will help.

I also froze loads of breastmilk and hadn't heard of the chalk thing (though some milk does need scalding - luck of the draw on how your body makes milk). I have a very bouncy young girl now so I think that the chalk thing is hookum.

[Steph0616]

Hi, a bit off topic, but are the electronic pumps worth getting? DS is nearly a month old and I haven't done any expressing yet

[Sgtmajormummy]

Yes, it's one of the things I do remember from my pre-natal course! Stuff left in the freezer can go dry and burn in the low temperature, plus you can't really control the conditions in a home freezer, so best just to refrigerate.

I went back to work when DS was less than 3 months old and for the first 2 weeks I expressed in my break time and took it to the babysitter for the following day. Turned out DS didn't like bottles! So it was a case of feeding him at drop-off and pick-up (6 hours so not TOO bad, but I went through large amounts of breast pads!). My babysitter, an older lady, was completely cool about it and we had some great chats! I still miss her 15 years later!

[hereharehere33]

Hi Steph I have the Medula swing pump and seems to work well for me. Didn't get much to start but now DS is almost 3mths old, I can get around 2oz each side in the mornings. Its expensive though...

[CelticPromise]

I froze plenty of milk with no problems, and NICU happily used my home frozen milk for DS. I have never heard of the chalk thing.

Re electric pumps; it depends. If you are going to be doing a lot of expressing they can be useful. Some women always do better with hand expressing regardless. And some women never express. So it's individual really.

[Sgtmajormummy]

Just to explain. Chalk is one form of Calcium Carbonate, and freezer burn is basically carbonising the food. So turning milk into chalk is a gross exaggeration, but it got the message across to me!

[seastargirl]

I'd second the fact that nicu encouraged freezing breast milk and they use frozen donor milk for prem babies too. Just use common sense if it doesn't look right once defrosted then don't use it. I found it far better to freeze in bottles than bags as it's easier to give it a good shake if it's separated a bit.

[hereharehere33]

So can you tell if freezer burn has happened, or prevent it taking place? And what happens if they do drink it?

I guess as sea says, if it doesn't look right then don't use it...

[McBaby]

Could you feed it to th today and then express and put in freezer than you don't have to bin any :) but you do have the hassle of expressing.

[Steph0616]

Thanks for the above, I'm going to look at breast pumps tomorrow x

[BreeVDKamp]

I have been expressing with the Medela Swing since Friday. First I couldn't even get enough to cover the bottom of the bottle but this morning I got 2oz in one session :) that's good for me! Trying to boost my supply.

So to confirm, if you're gonna freeze your milk should you do it as soon as you've pumped it, it can you freeze it after a couple of days in the fridge?

[Sgtmajormummy]

I would say freeze ASAP and use ASAP, then you maintain the nutrients. As I said above, I only have two weeks' experience of expressing and the longest mine went was Friday to Monday (not frozen).

[squizita]

Milk at the back of the fridge can be kept up to 5 days. When I was 1st pumping it took 2 or 3 days to get enough to freeze!
Unfortunately fridge door means use ASAP.

[squizita]

Oh and you 100% CAN FREEZE BREAST MILK.

Some women find it goes funny if they don't scald it first.
Read on Kelly mom, nct and la leche league. Those are reliable fact based sites.
Home freezing of milk is perfectly normal and safe.