Refreezing partially thawed breastmilk

AmieRae25

I have a fairly substantial stash in a deep freeze ready for me to start work in 2 weeks. Today I went out there and the freezer had shut off. Most of the milk was still pretty frozen and ice crystally, but not frozen solid anymore. Do you think it is safe to refreeze it? I hate to lose all that milk! I have found conflicting info online so I thought I would see what you ladies knew! I can't get in touch with my LC until Monday. TIA!

watermellens

I don't think it's good   I've read that you can't refreeze milk (even if it's partially frozen).

luckybride1128

Ive heard that as long as the milk is mostly a big chunk of ice in the bag still, it can be refrozen. Maybe you could try to refreeze the mostly frozen stuff still but mark it with an X, and have your caregiver smell it after it is defrosted?

RunningGal900

I like the suggestion to mark it with an X. But I would definitely refreeze until you get a definite answer from the LC about whether you have to toss it.

SushiNoMore

Oh, that's terrible!  My LC said that, as long as there are ice crystals in it, it isn't technically considered thawed.  So, you can go ahead and refreeze it.

I had something similar happen, and I was just devastated.  Then, when the LC told me that a bunch of my milk was salvageable, i wanted to kiss her.