Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be upset when DD wastes my expressed milk?

28 replies

Frasersmum123 · 29/01/2009 16:36

Im not upset with DD in the slightest, but its so depressing having to tip my expressed BM away because I warmed it up from the fridge .

OP posts:
tumtumtetum · 29/01/2009 16:41

I remember that feeling.

I used to freeze it in tiny quantities in freezer bags from boots which made me feel a bit less sad.

She never did take a bottle in the end though!

DrowningInClutter · 29/01/2009 16:41

YANBU I dropped the bottle as I was trying to get it into the freezer bag the other night. DP felt the need to point out there was no point crying over spilt milk but it is so frustrating when all that effort is for nothing!

IwishIwasmoreorganised · 29/01/2009 16:41

I know what you mean - that stuff is more valuable than gold!

IwishIwasmoreorganised · 29/01/2009 16:42

and YANBU!

WorzselMummage · 29/01/2009 16:42

Yanbu.. I had to tip a bottle down the sink yesterday after the dog stuck his nose in it.

horrible feeling

mm22bys · 29/01/2009 16:55

(Thick emoticon) - what's wrong with warming it up from the fridge?

Wouldn't it be too cold to give her if you took it straight out of the fridge for her?

FattipuffsandThinnifers · 29/01/2009 16:58

YANBU. I shudder at the days I used to sit in a cold kitchen at 4am expressing cos it was the only time I could ever produce enough. Galling when it's rejected!

FattipuffsandThinnifers · 29/01/2009 17:00

WorzelMummage, how are you and your ds doing? You prob won't know me but I followed your pg & birth story and was so happy at the outcome

BouncingTurtle · 29/01/2009 17:05

DrowningInClutter - I spilt 4oz that took me a day to express once and I cried too. I think maybe that's where the phrase originates!!!

Frasersmum - it is upsetting so no YANBU!

lalalonglegs · 29/01/2009 17:36

My children all had reflux and I used to hate it if they threw up any expressed milk - the effort that had gone into producing it... Did feel a bit like the Royals berating a bulimic Di for "wasting" her food .

ChopsTheDuck · 29/01/2009 17:38

i h ated that too. I used to express int he morning then leave it out. I can't remember what the exact guidelines were, but I remember I could use it through the day and so not worry about chucking it because it had been chilled then reheated.

IamLeticiaDean · 29/01/2009 17:46

I know exactly how you feel. It is such a mission to to express on top of everything else you have to do. Are you trying to get your DD to take a bottle? Good luck.

nickymorris · 29/01/2009 20:40

Definitely NBU. Of all the milk I've ever expressed - and we're talking litres - DS has only ever drunk about 300ml of it and the rest has been thrown away (or I've drunk it)

He just won't take a bottle - don't know why I keep trying....sigh

SweetEm · 29/01/2009 20:45

YANBU. I was gutted when the bag containing the milk I was defrosting sprung a leak.

Pennies · 29/01/2009 20:49

Oh god - I so know how you feel. YANBU. It's not breast milk, it's gold juice.

Qally · 29/01/2009 21:44

I knocked a whole 120ml over the other day. I cried and cried. And my DH managed to freeze two batches of 400ml, which meant 600 was wasted right off... just for the record though, it's frozen milk you have to bin right after defrosting? My son can't breastfeed well and as a result gets almost all his feeds via a pump - so I was hugely cheered to get told that breastmilk is so antibacterial the guidelines go:

Milk can be left at room temp. for 6 hours before binning

Milk can be left 4 hours before refrigerating, after whch normal guidelines apply

Milk can be safely kept in the fridge for 5 days, after which you're fine to freeze it

Milk can be kept in the freezer for 4 months, but must be used immediately after being defrosted

Fresh milk or refrigerated milk can be heated up twice before it needs to be binned

Some nights we feed a fresh bottle, he has 50ml, then we just reheat - still in bed, warmer next to bed - till he's finished the second. It's bliss. I used to have to throw so much away, it was horrible. Especially the week when I began pumping, and supply didn't meet demand, so any he wasted meant the next bottle was formula. And for three weeks after he was off formula he threw up entire feeds in one go. It was hell.

Original poster
Frasersmum123 · 30/01/2009 07:12

Fresh milk or refrigerated milk can be heated up twice before it needs to be binned

What

I never knew this - if I had I would have not had to throw away pints and pints of milk over the last few weeks

OP posts:
Qally · 30/01/2009 09:31

Yeah, breastmilk can, because it's so full of disease and bacteria fighting properties. In fact one study apparently showed that breastmilk left to stand had less nasties in it 3 hours after being pumped than when first pumped, because the small amount of bacteria in the container (home sterilisation is never going to be perfect) had been annihilated! Takes a while for that to fade and the bacteria to get a grip.

I wish I'd known that at the start, too. I binned lots for the same reason. I just assumed it was impossible, especially as you aren't even meant to let formula stand for any time at all.

WorzselMummage · 30/01/2009 12:57

The scbu ds is in doesnt throw away bm that has been defrosted if not used immediatly, they get a bottle out when they need it and keep it in the fridge for several feeds.. maybe a days worth if i have frozen a bottle.

Fattipuffs (fab name !) Ds and i are fine thanks.. he's getting fat now

Qally · 30/01/2009 18:15

SCBU breastmilk is heat-treated first, though, does that make any difference? I've always been told to bin home-frozen if hot-tap defrosted, and to use as soon as possible once fully defrosted if fridge defrosted.

TBH I hate fridge defrosting, because it always leaves loads of the the fat behind, and I worry what's left is too hind-milky. It's probably complete nonsense, I know, but colic is such a nightmare I'll try anything to avoid it. So I always hot tap the bags, anyway.

Qally · 30/01/2009 18:16

Oh, your own milk? Can I be really cheeky and ask you to ask them how long you can keep it post-defosting, then? I'd be so grateful.

WorzselMummage · 30/01/2009 18:28

24 hours i think.. well i know because they make up ds's feed for 24 hours with all his added bits and decant it in to a smaller pot frr 4 hours worth which they leave by the incubator, any extra then goes in the bin.

I have found with milk that i have had in the fridge that a good shake mixes the fat back in

Dominique07 · 30/01/2009 18:28

It is a horrible horrible feeling to waste your own pumped milk.

Useful info Qally! Really really helpful.

Qally · 30/01/2009 23:29

THANK YOU! Seriously. You are one of the people who will know how truly grateful I am for that info. Just wish I'd known it before 400ml went down the drain....

I've been told not to shake, just to gently swirl? Something to do with breaking protein chains (whatever the hell that means). But if not shaking means losing the fat, I think sod it. It's still breastmilk, and still ace for him, and the fat is more important than protein chains, surely.

MavisG · 01/02/2009 07:46

Qally - if you use the cold tap to defrost it takes a little longer but isn't raised above fridge temp.