Using expressed milk

[BlueRaincoat89]

My baby is 6 months old and I've recently started expressing in preparation for a night out/a bit of pampering. I'm finding it hard to get the answers to a few things about using the milk.

I think I'm right it saying that frozen milk can be kept in the fridge for 24hrs after defrosting.

Milk that's gone straight into the fridge can be kept at room temp for 4-6hrs? Is this the same for milk that's been defrosted?

So tomorrow I'll be leaving DD with my DH for about 4hr and he'll be taking her to a cafe and to the shops. Would it be best to take the milk from the fridge and just carry in the bag or does it need to go in the insulated bottle holder? And should he warm it whilst out?

[BlueRaincoat89]

Also, if she starts drinking out of a bottle do we have to throw away what she doesn't drink or will it last for a few hours? How much do people tend to put in a bottle? I'm so clueless

[Bluebelltulip]

A rule I was told about breast milk was 6 hours at room temp, 6 days in the fridge, 6 months in freezer. I think after defrost 24 hours in fridge. So your DH doesn't need to keep the milk cold if only out for hours but you could use an insulated bag if you want. If a bottle has been drank out of I was told 2 hours then chuck same as with formula.

[BlueRaincoat89]

Thanks @Bluebelltulip that's really useful. Is it 6hours at room temp for milk that has been thawed too?

[Bluebelltulip]

I believe so.

[Megasaur5keeper]

There's a helpful calculator on the Kellymom site which will give you a rough idea of how much an expressed feed could be: kellymom.com/bf/pumpingmoms/pumping/milkcalc/

I think we found out through trial and error what our baby's maximum capacity for milk was (sad tale of extra coming back up, worried husband phoning 111 and us taking our content, full, sleeping baby to the out of hours at 3am. In his defence it was the same day as first lot of imms).
Good luck with the pampering!

[SpaceDinosaur]

I wouldn't advise defrosting until minutes before baby is fed.

Take the bag of frozen milk and hold it out of a warm running tap for a few minutes until it's totally liquid. Much less risk of wastage!

If you have to take it out of the freezer then 6,6,6
6 hours at room temp
6 days in the fridge
6months in the freezer
This is based on the proviso you froze your milk very shortly after pumping (not a few days!)