Breastfeeding moms are often faced with the question of how long breast milk can stay out after feeding. Keep reading to find out more about this and other titillating tidbits!
First things first: What makes breast milk so special?
Breast milk deserves all the hype it gets because it's chock-full of nutrients, immune system boosters, and antibodies that help babies thrive! Human breast milk contains lactoferrin, which helps prevent bacterial infections; immunoglobulin A (IgA), which protects against viruses and bacteria in a baby's digestive tract; human alpha-lactalbumin made lethal to tumor cells (HAMLET), which may help kill cancer cells; and growth factors that promote infant development. Isn't Mother Nature amazing?
So what happens when your baby isn't hungry anymore?
Once your little nugget has finished slurping up their fill of Mama's liquid gold, saliva can mix with the remaining residue on nipple shields or elsewhere on the skin around mom's breasts. Bacteria from both sources can then contaminate expressed or leftover breastmilk.
Expressed vs Leftover Breaskmilk
Expressed breaskmilk simply means pumping directly into a container for later use while Leftover refers to any part undrained after nursing
Freshly Expressed Breast Milk Outside Freezer
- Up to 4 hours at room temperature:
- Up to 4 days in fridge:
Thawed Expressesd Breast Milk
- Outside refregerator
- Less than 77 degrees Fahrenheit environmetn.
- Unapenened package or container within four hours [b]i[/i][/b].
- Opened package/container should be consumed within an hour
- ambient temperature above 78 degrees Fahrenheit: No more than two hours
- Less than 77 degrees Fahrenheit environmetn.
Note: It's important to clean and sanitize pumps, bottles, nipples, hands before expressing or handling milk in order limit potential for contamination
What happens when bacteria enters the picture?
If bacteria is introduced into breast milk it starts consuming its' nutritional content as food source therefore reducing quality . The milk smelling sour or funky if left out past recommended times is usually because of high amounts of bacterial growth. When a baby ingests gone bad breastmilk it may lead to mild illnesses such as diarrhea (yuck) especially in preterm infants.
But don't worry! There are some precautions you can take:
- Refrigerate your freshly pumped/showerss Milk within Thirty Minutes
- Promptly store leftover expressed milk Hygienically
- Don’t re-use unused /leftover unrefrigerated/nongathered (pretend that's a word) breastmilk,
- Don't Warm carried over stored Breastmilk using microwave(because it can cause heat unevenness which would kill off nutrients),
That’s why many warn not leaving 'em on kitchen counters after use but we know "'mommy brain" strikes all too often/a lot!
Bottom line?
Mommies keep making those little humans exceptional with every drop quenching their thirst-and hunger-, knowledge stretches still don’t pull funny tricks with how Breast Milks potency decreases drastically beyound recommendation since formula could be worth trying just( kidding)! So go ahead -- pump away and enjoy this journey Mama!