random formular question, i think i should know the answer but i dont!

[nannyl]

The question is...
if you buy a carton of ready made baby formular and only use an oz or 2 can you freeze the rest? (it seems a shame to tip it down sink etc)

Im just thinking.... im really really hoping and planning to breast feed my baby, but in the event that baby has a little top up or something is there any reason why i couldnt freeze the rest (in breast milk storage bags)?

I think its ok in the fridge for 24 hours isnt it?

Am just wondering?

Thanks!

No but the side says it will fridge for a day or two i think, read the carton if you haven't thrown it out?

Thanks for clarifying
Baby has not been born yet, so I havent got a carton to read!

Am just thinking ahead, as only 28 weeks pg at the moment!

Now im wondering why you cant freeze it

I'm sure you can freeze it, mind you your baby will prob wolf the lot anyway, so a bit academic!

No you can't freeze it as i am sure the fats separate and it goes grainy and funny in taste. Or thin and weird. I think.

I don't know OSD, you can freeze milk and it doesn't separate, but not Philadelphia! So don't know really

Well, milk can explode with pressure, so i have always been to scared to try. But formula because of the process making it and the fact its for a baby with an immature digestive system, i don't know and i have bought the odd carton during weaning for porridge etc. but i can't remember reading its suitable for freezing, so i would still guess not and err on the side of caution and fridge.

like most liquids milk expands on freezing.
It doesnt explode (unless in a container with no room to expand)

But yes, perhaps a teeny tiny babies digestive system needs it not frozen, in case freezing does something to it?

But then breast milk can be frozen and so can cows / goats etc..... but then they dont have fish oil and vitamins and wierd powders and stuff added to them do they, so perhaps its the ingrediants in formular which make it unsuitable?]

(Or, formular companies wanting to make yet more money out of parents!?)

thats me thinking aloud!

"(Or, formular companies wanting to make yet more money out of parents!?)"

- You're probably not far off the mark there nannyl.

Actually going on the quick search I've done on this, I think it's more to do with the fact that freezing it changes the composition of the milk, as OSD mentioned.

Going off on a tangent....
if for some reason you use formular as an ingrediant, say in a white / cheese sauce, or rice pudding etc, can you freeze that?

Babies are allowed cows milk cooked in food from six months anyway. So unless you have been advised to wean early you may as well use cows milk and make it for all the family.

please someone tell me if i'm wrong about that. It seems so long ago i can barely remember! And ds is only 16m!

you're right! used ebm for about one lot of porridge then got out the cow milk myself. :) less faff.

Cheers jaggy.

Yeah Moonface you are right. We used cow's milk when weaning for both of ours as I found expressing to be a faff and didn't want to line the formula company's pockets. Perfectly safe from 6 months.

nannyl if you are thinking ahead, don't forget to find out where all your local Bfing Support Groups are and go along to then before you have the baby. There is some info on the ABM website and if you do top up your baby it doesn't have to be formula you could express or collect your BM and top up with that. There is some information on Hand Expressing here and you could talk to your local Bfing Counsellor about expressing or collecting milk too.