How to Thaw Breastmilk Safely and Effectively

Breast milk, or “liquid gold”, should be treated as a living substance. It contains over 72 unique components more than formula.

Within your breast milk, there are numerous living cells, like white blood cells which provide your breastfed baby with outstanding immunity boosting benefits.

Thus, all pumping moms should handle breast milk kindly and carefully, especially after freezing it.

Today, we are going to talk about the guaranteed rules and guidelines regarding how to thaw breast milk.

source: Breastfeedo.com

Thawing Methods

The most common way to thaw your frozen breast milk is in the refrigerator. Place the desired amount of frozen milk in the refrigerator 12 hr before use.

But it is a time-consuming process. Are there any faster alternatives?

Fortunately, yes. Apply one of the next 4 methods as a safe and fast way to thaw your breast milk:

1. Thaw the milk using a bottle warmer. There are several types of bottle warmers that accept either bottles or plastic bags.
2. Use the warm tap water and let it runs over the frozen milk.
3. Buy a hot water thermo which can retain the hot water up to 12 hrs. That in case if you can’t reach a source of hot water.
4. Finally, use a water bath of warm water instead of waiting for the tap water to do the job.

Caution

Breast milk storage bags may leak some liquid gold during the thawing process. Therefore, try to keep it in another plastic bag while thawing to collect the diamonds if leakage occurs.

Helpful tips for faster thawing

• Sore the milk in a flat position, instead of standing. By doing this, the milk is well distributed thru the bag forming a delicate layer which is easily melted.

source: Breastfeedo.com

• The cheapest and fastest way to thaw breast milk is to use an ice tray. This gives you small portions of milk (0.5 oz per each cube)  which melts very fast and reduces waste.

• In the past, the microwave was used in milk banks to thaw breast milk quickly. More recently, scientists have discovered the milk that had been melted by microwave contains fewer useful immunity booting components.
  • So, the microwave may spoil your breast milk and is not suitable for thawing your precious milk.
  • Also, never thaw the breast milk on the direct heat of a stove for the same reason.

Q: How long will thawed breast milk be suitable for use?

A: You have one full day (24 hours) to use the thawed breast milk after the complete unfreezing process. After that, it is recommended to discard the milk.

Example

You moved the frozen breast milk from the freezer to the refrigerator at 10 am. After 12 hrs, the milk should be thawed entirely “at 10 pm”. So, the milk is suitable for use until 10 pm the next day.

Don’t

• Re-freeze after thawing
• Combine fresh milk with frozen milk
• Shake the breast milk. Instead, gently swirl to reconstitute its components.

Take into consideration

1. Thawed breast milk may be separated into 2 layers: fore milk and hind milk. This is normal and perfectly ok! Simply swirl to mix the layers.
2. Most babies accept cold, thawed milk, and it causes no harm. If your baby refuses it, warm it to reach 37 C = 98.6 F (a thermometer would be helpful)
3. Write the date on each milk bag storage. Consume the oldest milk before moving onto the newer bags.  

[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’][/author_image] [author_info]Written by Ahmed at Breastfeedo.com[/author_info] [/author]