Reusing ebm

[blushingmare]

Sorry another boring ebm question from me.

Am just starting to give 5 1/2 mo dd ebm in a sippy cup. At the moment it's just a bit of a game - she sits in the highchair while I have breakfast and she has her cup of milk. She actually drinks very little of it. I express immediately before giving it to her, so it's not refrigerated beforehand. Would I be ok to put the sipy cup of milk she hasn't drunk in the fridge after and use it later in the day. I know I couldn't then use it a third time as it would have come out of the fridge. I would just pour a little into sippy cup and keep the rest in a bottle in the fridge, but it's easier for her to drink it if there's more in it as she doesn't have to tip it so far.

Also do I really need to sterilise the cup? And the pump still? I find it hard to take the sterilising rules seriously now that she is picking up all manner of stuff off the dirty floor and putting it in her mouth, but maybe I should still be sterilising?

anything that has milk in it has to be sterilized or at least washed in dishwasher on highest heat to kill any bacteria entering the gut.
the problem is that if there's any milk left in the hard to reach parts (easy to miss!) the milk can grow mouldy and make baby very ill!

dirty/dusty things or even a dried piece of bread are quite different from rotten milk (so to speak) and far less harmful

if milk has been in contact with saliva you have to discard it (same as any food) as you can't reheat it to the temperature required to kill any bacteria without destroying the milk

having said that, if she has a few sips only I'd put the rest in the fridge and give it to her cold within a few hrs or mix with solids (if she has any) - the problem is will you remember how long it's been there?

untouched expressed bm can be stored in the fridge for 24 hrs.

I'm not sure why you are using a sippy cup -
if you are teaching her to drink from a cup (as opposed to bottle) you might just have to accept the waste for now...
if it's so she can have a drink (as opposed to milk as food) I'd suggest you use cooled boiled water instead or even some baby fruit juice, diluted...

does this answer your question?

Thanks amazing yes that answers all my questions perfectly! I knew there must be a reason why sterilising is still advised.

I'm giving her a sippy cup because I'd like to be able to send her to nursery with ebm and would rather go from breast to sippy cup than bottle. She's not going to nursery for ages so we we have loads of time, but as we'll be starting weaning in a couple of weeks, it seemed like a good time to start with just some playing around with it. I've been putting ebm in instead of water because I thought a familiar taste might make it more attractive to her.

Thanks for your help.

you are welcome.

carry on with the sippy cup by all means - is it a lidded one though?

I use the avent range and they have soft spouts recommended from 6 months that are non-spill , I find these great!

great forward thinking, she'll learn to drink by the time she goes to nursery, so it's worth the effort now!

Actually you can store milk in the fridge for about 1 week, so long as its at the back of the Fridge where its coldest. About 0-4degrees I believe.

Fresh milk expressed can be kept at room temp for 6 hours. Although if its had contact with saliva I'd be tempted to throw it, you could always just pop smaller amounts in? Top it up as and when needed.

Am a midwife but on mat leave so bear with me if my info is rusty! Have you tried a doidy cup? Have heard good things about them. I'm planning on using one when my baby eventually has EBM as I don't want her having a bottle either when I go back to work.

Here is a handy leaflet, www.breastfeedingnetwork.org.uk/pdfs/BFNExpressing&Storing.pdf

storage of EBM