Throw it out or save?

catmw21 · March 2009

My sister watched my DD yesterday for a couple of hours and thought she was hungry again and just heated up a bottle of pumped breastmilk just before I arrived. I put it back in the fridge for about 6 hours, then had it in the cooler for about 2-3 hours, then transferred it back to the fridge. From what I am reading on previous posts, it looks like 50% of people would still reheat and feed it to LO. Just trying to get some more opinions....most sessions of pumping, I only get 2-3 oz (total from both breasts) and this particular bottle/pump I got a whopping 3.75 so I really don't want to throw it out. Someone convince me one way or the other...I'm teetering b/w a) is it really worth the potential risk to my sweet LO (I'm not really sure what the worse thing would be) and b) Those professionals that say "throw it out" are extreme and probably just covering their ass...plus, I hate to see that precious milk go down the drain...

What do you think?

DallasHorn · March 2009

My 2 cents - save! My rule of thumb....if it was fresh, I always target for 2 subsequent "reheatings". If it was frozen, I allow for 1. To be clear, there is the first attempt at feeding when the bottle is heated. If not consumed, then frozen can be reheated 1 more time OR if fresh 2 more times.

I did that with #1 and still do that with #2.