Can I eat frozen breast milk?

The amount of breast milk produced by mothers varies. When many people enter a new stage, some have more milk, while others do not have enough milk. Therefore, only a little milk can be secreted each time, but there is no guarantee that the baby will get enough milk every time. So in order to prevent waste, you can use a breast pump to extract breast milk, preserve it, and then freeze it. You can heat it up when you need to drink it. But can frozen breast milk be eaten?

How long can breast milk be frozen?

a. Store breast milk at room temperature. Breast milk can be stored for 4-8 hours in a room temperature environment not exceeding 25 degrees.

b. Storing breast milk in the refrigerator: Storing breast milk in the refrigerator at 0-4 degrees Celsius can keep it for 5-7 days. [Tips] The storage time of breast milk in the refrigerator may be affected by factors such as the refrigerator model and working performance. If you don't have a separate freezer for storage, set the temperature in your refrigerator to a slightly lower setting. This is to avoid opening the refrigerator frequently, which will affect the freshness of breast milk.

c. Breast milk should be deep frozen (below -18 degrees Celsius) in the freezer of the refrigerator. Breast milk can be stored for 6 months. Special containers should be used to store breast milk, such as breast milk storage bags or breast milk storage cups. Each time's expressed milk should be bottled separately and not mixed. When there are many bottles, the date of expression should be marked, at least accurately to "morning" or "afternoon", so that when you reheat it for your baby to eat, the milk that is sucked out first can be eaten first.

There are three better ways to warm up refrigerated (frozen) breast milk:

1. Water-bath heating method. If you are refrigerating breast milk, you can soak the breast milk container in warm water, just like you would heat rice wine in winter, so that the milk will absorb the heat from the water and become warm. While soaking, shake the container from time to time to ensure that the breast milk is heated evenly. If it is frozen breast milk, it should be thawed by soaking in cold water first, and then reheated like refrigerated breast milk.

2. Heat the milk warmer. Set the temperature of the milk warmer to 40℃ and heat the breast milk in water, making it easier to control the temperature.

3. Constant temperature milk mixer. Use a thermostatic milk mixer set at 40°C to warm the breast milk. If you freeze your breast milk, it may separate into layers, which is normal. Just shake it gently to mix it well before feeding.