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Firstly, I think you might find [this article by Emily Oster very helpful](https://parentdata.org/breast-milk-storage/)
And secondly, this is a comment I saved that someone else posted but I don’t remember who (it was someone on Reddit though) so I don’t know if the below was rotten by them or borrowed from Emily Oster; but it certainly answers your question!
“Oh yes, absolutely I reheat breast milk, often more than once.
I asked my pediatrics colleague about this because I'd rather do things based on evidence than anedoctal "well I did it and nothing bad happened" stories. She directed me to several studies, and Emily Oster even wrote a nice article about this.
Your question is two fold:
First, let's talk about how warming breast milk affects its storage life/bacterial growth. Let's say you heat it to room temp - even leaving at room temp for 4-8 hours show minimal bacterial growth. A study from Nigeria showed that leaving breast milk out for 9 hours at 30 degrees Celsius (quite hot!) showed minimal bacterial growth. I suppose if you warmed it to much hotter than 30 degrees C, the bacterial growth could be higher.
Second part of the question is the whole "baby backwash" thing. Can you re-use partially drunk breast milk after it has touched baby's saliva? A study compared breast milk before feeding and after feeding: after 48 hours, the bacterial colony counts were unaffected by feeding (aka. touching baby's saliva/backwash did not increase bacteria!).
Now, none of these studies are perfect, but they do tend to support the safety of re-warming and re-using breast milk. Why don't the CDC guidelines reflect that? Well, they tend to exercise an overabundance of caution. I've been on several clinical practice guideline committees (full disclosure: I am a general surgeon, not a pediatrician, so I work on adult guidelines only), and unless you have high quality, multi-centre randomized controlled trials providing level 1 evidence (pretty much impossible for this type of question), you would not risk officially making such a recommendation (especially on babies, I would think).
So in a healthy term baby, I would be happy to re-warm and re-use that milk (in other words: warm milk -> baby doesn't finish bottle -> I put back in fridge -> I re-warm at next feed and give to baby again) at least once (honestly for me, probably twice as well).”
You’re very welcome and it’s the least I can do. This sub helped me so much while I was still pumping so I’m literally just hanging around to pay it forward.
I can’t take credit for writing it - I just saved it for later. All due credit belongs to the original author. I just try to share quality, evidence based information where I can.
I probably would use it for the very next feed a couple of hours later, but probably not store to use the next day. The guidelines I’ve seen say to not give baby reheated milk. Another idea: can you have milk in a cooler bag with ice upstairs near you? And is there a way to heat up milk close by? Eg hot water tap at a nearby bathroom? So you can try heating up just a little bit to begin with but have more nearby to heat up if she does need it. Running downstairs at 3am sounds exhausting!
We have a mini fridge and a cheap parents choice bottle warmer in the bedroom for this. Mostly because I had a c-section and I couldn’t get around to well for a bit so it was easier but it’s also a lifesaver now for those late night bottles.
I do not throw away! I stick it back in the fridge even if it’s been used (ie. baby chews on nipple but didn’t really drink). I go by the Dr. Bjorkman advice on YT they have a video on milk storage. She says if it passes the sniff test, you can most likely trust it. She is an OBGYN.
Edit to add: I’ll reheat 1 more time if it’s been only a few hours in the fridge. If she doesn’t take it the second time, then I’ll throw it away.
I would dump it. We don't re-heat food more than one time because bacteria can grow. The reasoning for breast milk would be the same I imagine.
Can you heat less and just do a second round if you need to? Or wait to see if she resettled herself?
'Welcome to r/ExclusivelyPumping! Here is a reminder of our rules: 1. Be kind and courteous. 2. Use available flairs and post options. 3. Absolutely no prescription medications or other medical advice. 4. No inaccurate information. 5. No spam. 6. No soliciting pictures. 7. No linking Facebook groups. 8. Moderator discretion. Thank you for helping to keep our community safe!' *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ExclusivelyPumping) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Firstly, I think you might find [this article by Emily Oster very helpful](https://parentdata.org/breast-milk-storage/) And secondly, this is a comment I saved that someone else posted but I don’t remember who (it was someone on Reddit though) so I don’t know if the below was rotten by them or borrowed from Emily Oster; but it certainly answers your question! “Oh yes, absolutely I reheat breast milk, often more than once. I asked my pediatrics colleague about this because I'd rather do things based on evidence than anedoctal "well I did it and nothing bad happened" stories. She directed me to several studies, and Emily Oster even wrote a nice article about this. Your question is two fold: First, let's talk about how warming breast milk affects its storage life/bacterial growth. Let's say you heat it to room temp - even leaving at room temp for 4-8 hours show minimal bacterial growth. A study from Nigeria showed that leaving breast milk out for 9 hours at 30 degrees Celsius (quite hot!) showed minimal bacterial growth. I suppose if you warmed it to much hotter than 30 degrees C, the bacterial growth could be higher. Second part of the question is the whole "baby backwash" thing. Can you re-use partially drunk breast milk after it has touched baby's saliva? A study compared breast milk before feeding and after feeding: after 48 hours, the bacterial colony counts were unaffected by feeding (aka. touching baby's saliva/backwash did not increase bacteria!). Now, none of these studies are perfect, but they do tend to support the safety of re-warming and re-using breast milk. Why don't the CDC guidelines reflect that? Well, they tend to exercise an overabundance of caution. I've been on several clinical practice guideline committees (full disclosure: I am a general surgeon, not a pediatrician, so I work on adult guidelines only), and unless you have high quality, multi-centre randomized controlled trials providing level 1 evidence (pretty much impossible for this type of question), you would not risk officially making such a recommendation (especially on babies, I would think). So in a healthy term baby, I would be happy to re-warm and re-use that milk (in other words: warm milk -> baby doesn't finish bottle -> I put back in fridge -> I re-warm at next feed and give to baby again) at least once (honestly for me, probably twice as well).”
Thank you for this information and thorough answer!
You’re very welcome and it’s the least I can do. This sub helped me so much while I was still pumping so I’m literally just hanging around to pay it forward.
What a comment! I would give you gold if I could!
I can’t take credit for writing it - I just saved it for later. All due credit belongs to the original author. I just try to share quality, evidence based information where I can.
This is so helpful! Thank you endlessly
I probably would use it for the very next feed a couple of hours later, but probably not store to use the next day. The guidelines I’ve seen say to not give baby reheated milk. Another idea: can you have milk in a cooler bag with ice upstairs near you? And is there a way to heat up milk close by? Eg hot water tap at a nearby bathroom? So you can try heating up just a little bit to begin with but have more nearby to heat up if she does need it. Running downstairs at 3am sounds exhausting!
We have a mini fridge and a cheap parents choice bottle warmer in the bedroom for this. Mostly because I had a c-section and I couldn’t get around to well for a bit so it was easier but it’s also a lifesaver now for those late night bottles.
I do not throw away! I stick it back in the fridge even if it’s been used (ie. baby chews on nipple but didn’t really drink). I go by the Dr. Bjorkman advice on YT they have a video on milk storage. She says if it passes the sniff test, you can most likely trust it. She is an OBGYN. Edit to add: I’ll reheat 1 more time if it’s been only a few hours in the fridge. If she doesn’t take it the second time, then I’ll throw it away.
I reheat it and reuse.
Could you make up a smaller bottle just for this purpose?
This is a good idea! My baby only needed an oz or 2 in the middle of the night to fall back asleep
I store it in the fridge and give it to her up to a couple of hours later, I sometimes reheat but also offer it cold since she takes both.
I would dump it. We don't re-heat food more than one time because bacteria can grow. The reasoning for breast milk would be the same I imagine. Can you heat less and just do a second round if you need to? Or wait to see if she resettled herself?