🥛 Storing expressed breast milk

What you'll need

• Clean food-grade containers with tight lids or bags designed for breast milk.
• Labels for the expression date and time.
• A fridge/freezer thermometer.
• An insulated cooler with frozen ice packs for travel or backup.

Store and use safely

1. 1. Clean, portion and label

   Wash your hands and clean pump parts as instructed. Store in small portions to limit waste, leave expansion space for freezing and label each container. Use the oldest milk first.

2. 2. Chill promptly

   Freshly expressed milk may be kept for up to 4 hours at 25°C or cooler. In hotter Philippine rooms, refrigerate promptly rather than relying on that limit. Keep out of sunlight and hot vehicles.

3. 3. Refrigerate or freeze

   At 4°C or colder, use refrigerated fresh milk within 4 days. At −18°C or colder, use frozen milk preferably within 6 months; up to 12 months is acceptable with reliable storage. Keep it toward the back, not in the door.

4. 4. Protect the cold chain

   A well-packed insulated cooler with frozen ice packs can hold milk for up to 24 hours while it remains cold. During outages, keep appliance doors closed and check temperature and thawing status; ask your pediatric team if safety is uncertain.

5. 5. Thaw gently

   Thaw in the fridge or in a container of warm water. Use within 24 hours after completely thawing in the fridge, not from when it was removed from the freezer. Once warmed or brought to room temperature, use within 2 hours.

6. 6. Feed and discard on time

   Milk may be served cold if baby accepts it. Hold baby and the bottle; never prop it. Use any milk remaining from a feed within 2 hours after baby finishes, then discard it.

Classic mistakes

• ❌ Refreezing fully thawed milk Do not refreeze fully thawed milk. After an outage, milk that still contains ice crystals can be refrozen.
• ❌ Microwaving or boiling milk Microwaves heat unevenly and can burn baby's mouth. Gentle warming is enough; avoid boiling.

Same topic

• 🍼 Measuring and preparing a formula bottle
• 💨 Burping baby after a bottle or nursing session
• 🥕 Starting solids: a practical beginner's guide
• 📈 Growth spurts: looking beyond the 3-6-9 rule