How long can breast milk stay in the fridge?

[Bubnbutton]

So confused with breast milk ‘rules’
The national breastfeeding helpline told me to 666 rule.
6 hours at room temp
6 days in fridge
6 months in freezer.

Health visitor hasn’t told me how many days but says it can be left at room temp for 24hrs before I put in fridge, seems a bit excessive maybe?...

Google - (not a reliable source I know, but let’s face it - everyone has googled at some point 😉) different sites say 4 days others say 8 days....

Also, once out the fridge and back at room temp can I put back in fridge if baby doesn’t finish it? If not, how long can it be left out at room temp before I have to throw it anyway?

Any advice greatly received, thank you! X

If it's part of an unfinished free, throw it away. Otherwise the 666 rule is good to follow. Unless you're expressing for a donor milk bank, in which case, 1 day in the fridge then freeze it.

I've always stuck to 4 days in fridge/ 4 hours out of fridge and that's worked for me! After 5/6 days it's starts to smell a bit off so 6 or 8 days seems a bit long!!

24h out the fridge seems a lot to me - if you compare to cows milk, the 6/6/6 rule seems sensible, but if I'd left a fresh pint out for a day I'd be wary. A lot depends on room temp - in summer I've definitely had cows milk be off in a few hours, winter maybe not.

If the baby has started a bottle of milk, it has to be finished within 2 hours, because their saliva interacts with the milk in the bottle, and can't be re used. I used to warm little bits at a time to avoid wasting milk.

Also, the reason for the variation in guidance is because - as ever with breastfeeding - there's very little research. Different hospitals/countries/trusts make their own policies based on whatever they can find.

Often formal policies are extremely precautionary because they cover sick/tiny/prem babies who can't tolerate any bacterial load at all, whereas full term babies are fine with some. Much like healthy adults vs immune suppressed adults, the level of caution necessary is different.

If it smells fine, it's fine is also a useful rule!

@RockCrushesLizard
Excellent info about the saliva, hadn’t thought of that!

Thank you all.
I’ll stick to a 666 rule at the most x

The advice does differ. Some sources say 4, 6 or up to 8 hours, I am pumping at the moment and the general advice on some of the sites I am on is milk can be left for 4 to 6 hours out of the fridge for freshly pumped/fresh breast milk, if the milk is in a bottle and baby has started drinking then providing it was fresh then it has 2 hours before it should be disposed of. I personally don’t keep milk in the fridge for more than a day, I freeze or use the milk. If the milk has been heated and come from the fridge then it should be used within 2 hours.

I stuck to 666 with the exception of the middle 6. I always tried to use before the 6 days in the fridge.

This is stuck to my fridge... wish I could remember the source! I think 666 is good enough for the first three rows (although as my comment above I think I did 636). But the bottom line is the one I want to highlight.