How long can I store breast milk in the fridge?

[KelaS]

I have a small amount of bm in my fridge (collected in a breast shell), which has been there since Tuesday, was planning on expressing some to add to it but didn't get around to it, and was out all day yesterday. So, can I add more to it today to get a decent batch for freezing, or have I left it too long and need to chuck it out? Only about 1/2 oz so not too much of a waste if I do.

[FourPlusOne]

I think it's 2 days (though someone may be along to correct me). I wouldn't, personally, add todays milk to it. I sometimes added some expressed milk to some I had already but only if it had been done earlier that day. I wouldn't freeze milk that had already been in the fridge for a couple of days either. I would freeze it as soon as it had been expressed. Sorry!

Could you maybe feed your baby what has been expressed before a feed and you'd then have more available to freshly express and freeze? That's the only thing I can think of that would mean you don't throw the bit you already have (I know how horrible it is to pour it away when you've made so much effort to 'collect' it!).

[KelaS]

Yeah, thats what I thought not too upset at chucking it as its only 'leakage' that i collected rather than milk that i spent time and energy expressing. Like the idea of feeding it to her though, might let dp feed it to her later.

[terramum]

2 days is only recommended by DOH to cover prem, hospitalised & ill babies. If your baby is healthy then the longer 'up to 8 days' at 0-4 degrees recommended by BF org's like LLL should be fine. If you are unsure whether the milk is ok - simply smelling & tasting it as you would with cows milk will quickly tell you if it is ok (although might be a good idea to taste freshly expressed bm as a 'control' as it tastes so different to the stuff the milkman brings ).

You should be fine to add some more milk to it but remember to label it carefully with the date of the first expressing & it might be best to err on the side of caution wrt frozen storage reccomendations, depending on your freezer type.

See these links for details:
www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/milkstorage.html
www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/milkstorage-preemie.html
www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/reusing-expressedmilk.html