🍼 Feeding · 0 – 12 months
🥛 Storing pumped breast milk
Milk storage depends on hygiene, temperature and whether baby is healthy or hospitalised.
The storage rules
1. What to prepare
Wash hands, use clean food-grade milk containers, label expression date and time, and refrigerate promptly at the back of the fridge.
2. What to check
Use your local service’s storage table, not a universal timetable. Thaw in the fridge or safely with warm water, never microwave or refreeze thawed milk; hospital teams set rules for sick or premature babies.
3. In South Africa
Ask your clinic to demonstrate safe formula preparation for the exact product, including safe water, clean equipment and exact mixing. Plan for water interruptions and power cuts; do not keep milk in a fridge that has lost safe temperature. If a parent has HIV, follow the current prevention-of-vertical-transmission and feeding plan with ART support; do not stop breastfeeding or switch feeds on this guide’s advice.
A local detail, or your own experience with this guide? Write to the team
Same topic
When in doubt, contact your doctor or midwife. For a life-threatening emergency, call 112 from a mobile phone; 10177 for an ambulance.