can i finish bottle of bm later or does it need to be binned??

[louloupoo]

If my ds feeds expressed bm but doesnt finish the bottle is it then ok to finish the bottle later? Ans does the bottle have to be reheated or is it ok left on the side at room temp?

It seems a waste to throw away unused expressed milk...

Stricly speaking you should throw it away, but if its in an hour or so it should be ok to use. I wouldn't re-heat it though.

Try looking on the BfN website for professional advice. BreastfeedingNetwork.co.uk

I disagree,. Formula needs to be binned, but the anitbacterial properties of BM make it different. Not used milk can be put back in the fridge and heated for the next use. It doesn't have to be reheated (in fact this makes it less good) nor refrigerated but I would use within 4 hours. Defrosted milk I would be a more cautious with, more use of the sniff test and store it in the fridge rather than room temp.

there's some info here and at the bottom of this www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/milkstorage.html, but I have also seen similar information elsewhere. A lot of places are conservative in the estimates as well. The link here is good as it shows papers where information was concluded from.

Agree with ClimberChick. kellymom especially good as ebm recognised as liquid gold.

The kellymom 'Quick Reference card' is really helpful - a BIG practical advantage of breastmilk over formula is that you can leave it at (warm) room temperature for 4-6 hours, unlike formula which needs to be binned after 1 hour. And younger babies in particular are much more likely to feed little and often, rather than 'chugging' a large amount in under an hour.

And if you have a baby who is happy to take milk from a bottle at room temperature, that also makes life easier with no reheating,so it's worth offering and seeing how it's received.