Heating and Reheating BM

I am new to using Donor Milk...A BIG thank you to our 2 milk Mamas!!

Some of the bags I have, have upto 10 oz in them. My son will only use 2-3 oz at a time. So, I thaw in the fridge or in cool water...and put 3-4 oz in his bottle, warm that, adn nurse him. Sometimes he will only take an oz or so though...I then put the milk back in the fridge..and take it out the next feeding...and it continues LOL!
Sometimes it will take him all stinkin day to take that 3-4 ounces. I am using an SNS feeding system of some sort LOL! It's the starter set up..so nipple type top with tubing. He is slowly getting used to this..he has been a strict BF baby since birth, but with the new pregnancy so soon..I have already started loosing my milk..I make MAYBE 20% of his needs. He went from 1-2 wet diapers per day and 1 poop ever 4-5 days, to 5-6 wet diapers and 1 poop per day!!!!! I knew that my milk was suffering, however I didnt' know howbad it really was, until I started to give him donor milk.

SOO..long story short...how many times can the milk really be warmed up without loosing nutritional value??

Thanks,

Kim

I'm withdrawing this post. I would agree breastmilk is not going to spoil as quickly as formula and an SNS is different than a bottle, just think you should use some caution heating and reheating and offering the same milk all day.

Hmmm..that stinks!! I would hate to toss any of the milk!

I was thinking about this last night..since We use a feeding tube (SNS), his saliva never touches the milk, therefore there would be no contamination. Right? I don't want him to get sick from contaminated milk, however, I also know how hard Donor Mamas work and how hard it is to find milk! For me to toss milk isn't all that easy!

~Kim

My husband puts 1 oz at a time in the bottle and reheats until it's finished (some days it's a couple of hours). If DS is still hungry, he just heats more. (he has done this with both boys) As they got older he was less careful about the 1-hour rule and we have never had a problem. Could you start with a smaller amount? (I'm not familiar with the SNS at all). Keep up the good work!

My LC told me we could re-use milk once. We wash the nipple and put back in the 'fridge. I'm not sure about reheating, as I know you aren't supposed to reheat, but I have read many places that you can offer the milk again once.

I also typically re-heat the milk only once. I use a lact-aid system which is similar to the SNS and same thing, there's no saliva contamination. I just heard that heating and re-heating can spoil the milk? Will your little one take the supplement cold? It does warm up some as it passes by your skin, so you could try cold supplement.. then you could use the same SNS all day and not worry.

I agree with jburth7. I also use a lact-aid and just take it out of the fridge and use it cold. I'll use the same one for more than one feeding, and either put a new tube in, or just rinse off. This is my second baby and I've never had a problem, and I've never ever heated the milk. Only time I heat is when I'm in a pickle with defrosting frozen milk and I'll defrost in hot water. Otherwise I defrost in the fridge. Good luck!

skmbuket wrote:I'm not sure about nutritional value, but once your little one's saliva has mixed with the milk, we teach parents to throw away the milk after an hour to prevent bacteria growth(I am a PP nurse).

I am studying to be IBCLC and doing my clinical through NBCI (Jack Newman) and WE tell mums that just put the breastmilk back in the fridge and reuse it - so as not to waste the breastmilk - as breastmilk has antibacterial, anti-fungal and antimicrobial properties, not much of a worry about bacteria growth as long as it isn't out sitting in the sun and spoiled (just like any milk) - you would smell that. We also encourage mums to taste the breastmilk before using - so they can tell if it has gone bad (even frozen milk can go off).

Now if this is formula, yes throw it out - as formula can grow bacteria after an hour or so....huge difference of course between the two.

Nutritionally breastmilk is ALWAYS better then something that has come out of a lab but that is obvious.

Crunchymamainma wrote:I was thinking about this last night..since We use a feeding tube (SNS), his saliva never touches the milk, therefore there would be no contamination. Right? I don't want him to get sick from contaminated milk, however, I also know how hard Donor Mamas work and how hard it is to find milk! For me to toss milk isn't all that easy!

~Kim

Kim - you are right - please see my earlier post - good luck!