Terrified I've harmed baby with incorrectly stored breastmilk?

[IrisRoon]

Hi everyone, I hope you're all doing well.

I'm a FTM to a beautiful 4 week old baby girl. I've been exclusively BFing with the odd pump everyday/second day. I have a decent supply (I think? I can easily get 3+ ounces off each breast in a pump session) so I've been storing the excess. I've been storing it in the fridge in MAM bottles, with the teats intact. I only now learned that the bottles aren't airtight when made up with the teats, and bacteria will grow when stored like this. I fed my baby two 3 day old refrigerated bottles that were stored like this, I'm now terrified that I've poisoned her or something! She's acting normally, she slept 4 hours yesterday which is unusual for her and she's been a bit harder to get wind up today but I haven't a clue if it's related. I always smell it and it smelled fine so I didn't think anything of it. I'm so so anxious I hurt my baby by doing this, I'm so annoyed at myself to I literally bought the MAM storage tubs for milk but just found it more convenient to store with the teats and didn't think it would be any harm! Kicking myself for not doing more research, I'm the type to obsessively research everything to make sure I don't do anything wrong for baby.

Will my baby girl be okay? My anxiety is through the roof. Gonna only use the milk storage tubs from now on!

She will be fine.

Take a chill pill yourself and stop obsessing over every tiny thing. What doesn't kill them makes them stronger and all that.

She will be fine. I think you need to seek some mental health support

I’m not sure there is a huge issue with what you did?

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This is an evidence based website by a qualified breastfeeding counsellor. She says breast milk can be stored in the fridge for 3 days fine. I used to store in Medela breast milk bags which are sealed, but even then I’m sure they weren’t 100% airtight.

I honestly think she will have suffered absolutely no harm at all. Maybe switch to the bm storage bags going forward but try not to worry.

Breast milk is magic stuff, takes alot to spoil it. Give it a sniff, if it doesn't smell sour then use it - four days in the fridge I think is the rule. Reheating is fine too. I used plastic sealable packets, they're easy to freeze for future use. Congratulations and good luck!

This is reassuring “Amazingly, research has found that human milk stored in the refrigerator for eight days actually has lower bacterial levels than freshly expressed milk.”

Breastmilk actually has antibacterial properties so I wouldn't worry about this at all x

This is from dr Sears www.askdrsears.com/topics/feeding-eating/breastfeeding/while-working/storing-transporting-breast-milk/

Ive done this too.. didn’t even know it was a thing till I read your post. I’m sure she’ll be fine!

No harm done. Forget it and move on. Give it a few months and she'll be eating all sorts of crap 😂

I think you're right. I'm missing the pregnancy hormones, I had bad anxiety my whole life and somehow during pregnancy it calmed down a ton. Now postpartum it's ramped back up again, definitely gonna try get some help with it. I'm terrified of every little thing.

Remember, a 'risk' of something only means a risk not that harm will definitely occur as a result, in fact most likely it won't.

Thank you all for helping me not worry about it! I honestly didn't think twice about it then I googled it and saw a bunch of people saying it can allow bacteria to grow. I'm not worried about it with all your lovely replies though, I appreciate it so much! I'm definitely using airtight things moving forward but my mind is at ease about these current incidents.

Google is my best and worst friend all in one😂😂

Breastmilk is full of antibodies, your baby will be fine.

She'll be fine!

When my DD was 8 weeks old I found a bottle of breast milk lingering in the fridge that had been there for a full week. I took it out of the fridge but stupidly didn't chuck it. My mum popped it in a bottle and fed it to DD. I was sure it would make her unwell and waited on tenterhooks for the vomit but she was absolutely fine. I think BM is very forgiving.

I thought the lids were airtight, I would've never guessed that they weren't! Thank you all for sharing your experiences too it makes me feel at ease, I really need to stop worrying so much!

If the teat is screwed on and the lid is over the top of it then it will be fine
I'm sure breastmilk can be stored for up to 8 days in the fridge too.

She will be fine. When my dad was a few weeks old many moons ago I didn’t realise that you needed proper breast milk storage bags to freeze breast milk and just whacked it a sandwich bag and put it in the freezer. Was mortified when I realised a few days later but she survived with no I’ll effects 😅

I think the worst that would happen is baby being sick but also it’s only 3 days AND it’s been in the fridge. It takes a lot to spoil breast milk. She will be fine