Can You Refreeze Breast Milk Thawed In The Fridge?
To put it simply, you can absolutely not refreeze breast milk thawed in the fridge as doing so would render it unsafe for consumption. Furthermore, freezing breast milk and thawing it the first time – it is recommended to consume this one too within two hours, and throw it out after that.
Once your pre-frozen breastmilk has been thawed, it is safe to keep it refrigerated, but you should use it within 24 hours. Unfortunately, it is not possible to thaw the breast milk again, and it must be used within 24 hours after it has finished thawing (not when a power failure starts, or you remove it from the fridge). Once your breastmilk has thawed at room temperature or warmed up from being stored in your fridge or freezer, use it within 2 hours. Once thawed, you may reheat frozen breastmilk and use immediately, keep at room temperature for up to four hours, or store it in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours.
Freshly expressed breast milk can last for up to 12 months in the back of the refrigerator, but using your breast milk within six months is best. If the freezer door is contained in the refrigerator space, only two weeks worth of frozen milk may be stored. Milk stored inside your doors is exposed to large temperature changes as you open and close your freezer doors.
| Breastmilk | At room temperature (60-68°F) | In the refrigerator (32-34°F) |
| Thawed breastmilk | 2 hours | 24 hours |
| Freshly expressed breast milk | 3-4 hours | 6-12 months |
If milk is frozen within the freezer of the cooler that has an independent door (0degF or -18degC), milk can stay frozen up to 9 months. Whether freezing or refrigerating your milk, make sure you label bottles with the quantity and date you first pumped it. If you are refrigerating or freezing the expressed milk, always label the bottle or bag with the amount and date of the pumping, so that you can keep track of and manage the stored milk. When you are combining milk expressed during different pumping sessions, make sure that fresh milk is chilled in a refrigerator before adding it to your previously expressed milk.
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Small amounts of expressed milk can be added to the same cooled container, provided that the milk to be added is chilled in the fridge before doing so. It is best to chill newly expressed milk prior to mixing with older, formerly chilled, or frozen milk. Freshly expressed milk may stay at room temperature (up to 77degF or 25degC) for up to 4 hours (or 6-8 hours, if it is been expressed very pure), but it is best to chill as soon as possible. Storage Guidelines for Freshly Expressed Breastmilk (for Healthy 2-3-term Infants) If you have expressed your breastmilk cleanly and safely, you may store it at room temperature, the refrigerator, or in the freezer, depending on how quickly you wish to use it.
The temperature in your freezer should be about 0degF. Similarly to your fridge, your best option is to store breast milk at the back of your freezer, farthest away from the doors, where temperatures are more consistent. Do not let the temperature get higher than 40deg C (104deg F) and do not use a microwave, because this will heat up your milk. If your baby does not finish a full serving at a feed, you may re-use within two hours, but do not refrigerate.
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If your baby has any remaining after feeding, and does not finish the bottle, you should use it within two hours. It seems to be safe to continue to feed milk that has been used before, for up to one or two hours after you made it. You may wish to keep out only as much of the milk that has been chilled that you believe you will use in 24 hours or so, and refreeze the remainder.
To thaw milk faster, or to warm cooled refrigerated milk, place a container of milk under hot running water. You may also want to hold a bottle or bag under hot running water or place it into a container of hot water. No, but you can heat up a pot of hot water on a burner, take it off the fire, then set your container with the milk into the hot water. You can also use the hot milk bottle, or you can place frozen milk that will be used next day into the fridge overnight.
You can keep the milk in the fridge 3 – 5 days, moving it into the freezer at any point before this period ends. If there is still lots of snow on the ground, you can store the milk in a snowbank, out of the sun, until power is restored, and then return the milk to the freezer ASAP. If the milk still has ice crystals, then it is still considered frozen — you are safe to either use the milk or return it to your working freezer. It is important to note, that if your child has already been drinking the milk- they do not need it refrozen (even if there are ice crystals still present in the milk at the time that you gave it to them).
Sometimes, milk that has been frozen and refrozen can smell soapy because of the fat content, but that is different to the smell of spoilt milk, and does not mean that the milk is unsafe. Refrigerated or frozen milk will usually have separated into fattier and less-fattier layers, but if it remains lumpy when shook, it might be bad.
Freezing milk in your average fridge will take hours, and the ice crystals will form and split two stages — the fat part will split. The frozen milk was allowed to thaw at refrigeration overnight, separated into batches, and then re-frozen into individual batches, thawed for the second time to room temperature. When the milk has thawed completely, it is safe to store at least one day (24 hours) in the fridge without harming its flavor or texture.
You may choose to offer the remaining milk at your next feed (before any mouth bacteria can get a chance to grow into the milk), but beyond that point, it should be discarded. Breastmilk expressed may be stored and carried for up to 24 hours in insulated cooler bags with frozen ice packs, or else frozen on dry ice (follow the safety guidelines when handling dry iceexternal icon). Another method that can be used to defrost your frozen breast milk is to immerse a plastic ziplock bag with the breast milk in a cup of cold water.
Why is thawed breast milk only good for 24 hours?
It’s best to use frozen breast milk as soon as it’s completely thawed. Experts recommend using the milk within 24 hours of it after totally and utterly thawing. Breast milk should not be left at room temperature for more than two hours because it starts to lose its ability to inhibit bacterial growth.
What happens if a baby drinks spoiled breast milk?
Stomach cramps, bloating, upset stomach, and fussiness can occur in babies who consume rotten, expired, or lumpy breast milk. Food poisoning: Breast milk that has gone bad is frequently contaminated, infecting the newborn with bacteria and giving them diarrhea and vomiting.
Can I put breast milk back in the fridge after warming?
Breast milk can be refrigerated again for up to 24 hours after being warmed up, or it can be given to your kid immediately away. Fresh breast milk shouldn’t be left out in the open. You shouldn’t freeze it again. You should discard the remaining breast milk in the bottle if your infant doesn’t finish feeding.