EBM - how long will it last?

[Holymoly321]

Expressed some last night and put it in the fridge but think I may have to just freeze it. Will it be ok to freeze it now or have I missed the window?

tis ok in fridge for 24h - after that use it, freeze it or chuck it

if in doubt taste it

Is it ok to freeze even though it's already been in fridge for 24 hours?

yes, that was what I meant

after 24h you have to do somethign else with it

Official advice is now that breast milk is fine for 5 days in the fridge, better kept in the fridge than frozen as defrosted breast milk not quite as good as non-frozen (but still better than formula). Info is hot off the press from the National Institute of Clinical Excellence. (NICE 26 March 08), see below for relevant bit. You could print it off and help educate your HV because they might not be aware yet.
See Maternal and Child Nutrition Guidance at
www.nice.org.uk/PH011

Extract from NICE Guidance
..Recommendation 12
Who is the target population?
Breastfeeding mothers.
Who should take action?
Midwives, health visitors, paediatric nurses, nurses working in special-care baby and neonatal units, and nursery nurses.
What action should they take?
· Show all breastfeeding mothers how to hand-express breast milk.
· Advise mothers that expressed milk can be stored for:

• up to 5 days in the main part of a fridge, at 4ºC or lower
• up to 2 weeks in the freezer compartment of a fridge
• up to 6 months in a domestic freezer, at minus 18ºC or lower.

· Advise mothers who wish to store expressed breast milk for less than 5 days that the fridge preserves its properties more effectively than freezing...

[holds up hands]

it's a fair cop guvnor - I was getting mixed up with of thawed-previosuly-frozen milk because that's all I ever have in the fridge.

thanks all.