Using Frozen Breast Milk at Daycare

cala09 · March 2010

I read somewhere that you should use frozen breastmilk for one meal and then discard the remainder in the bottle rather than save for use in a later feeding. Have you heard this? Is this true? If you ever use frozen milk for daycare do you send special use instructions to ensure they realize which bottles are fresh and which ones were from frozen milk?

I've been skipping some pumping sessions (I know---not good for my supply) but work has been too crazy busy lately. So, unfortunately, I have to dip into my frozen stock to make my last bottle for DD's daycare tomorrow.

Please share any thoughts or watchouts on using frozen breastmilk for daycare. Note that they require that I thaw and have the milk pre-poured into labeled bottles.

Thanks!

mrstarawalsh · March 2010

That rule isn't just for frozen breastmilk, it is for chilled bm and ready made formula as well. Once you make the bottle and give it to the child, anything left over should be discarded unless its used within an hour. This is because once your child's moth has touched the nipple bacteria has gotten into the milk in the bottle and will grow quickly especially with all the sugars milk contains. Your daycare should already be aware of this and shouldn't be reusing milk bottles for any child past the oone hour mark.

LaLaSweets · March 2010

mrstarawalsh:
That rule isn't just for frozen breastmilk, it is for chilled bm and ready made formula as well. Once you make the bottle and give it to the child, anything left over should be discarded unless its used within an hour. This is because once your child's moth has touched the nipple bacteria has gotten into the milk in the bottle and will grow quickly especially with all the sugars milk contains. Your daycare should already be aware of this and shouldn't be reusing milk bottles for any child past the oone hour mark.

I agree. When dd was in the infant room, they used the crock pot to warm up the children's bottles, so if the BM was frozen it would have warmed up evenly

LAVB · March 2010

We use Inchbugs to label our bottles. For those that are frozen, I use a blue Inchbug label. I have daycare feed the frozen bottles first. That way I know that any left over bottles (which haven't been heated up), can be saved for the following day. From what I've read, frozen breastmilk needs to be used within 24 hours of thawing. Anyway, this helps us keep track and not have to throw away fresh milk if not needed.

KOscar · March 2010

We frequently use frozen milk. Typically we put the frozen milk in the bottles the night before, then they go in the fridge. By the time we get to day care they're defrosted. I don't tell them which is which since everything gets dumped after one hour of eating.

cala09 · March 2010

Thanks for your comments. I found it really interesting that you all are throwing out breastmilk after one hour of use. I read on Kellymom.com (see below link) that it is probably okay to refeed up to 4 hours later. I've been doing this for quite a while and DD has been fine. Of course, she also takes her bottled breastmilk cold (straight from the refrigerator) so that may also help to keep the bacteria count down. I hadn't heard any similar informaton for frozen milk though. At this time, I'm just using the frozen milk at home as much as possible and pouring just what I need (and ensuring whatever is thawed is used within 24 hours).

https://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/reusing-expressedmilk.html

MAtoNC · March 2010

Even if I wanted the daycare to refeed 4 hours later, it wouldn't matter. They cannot do that per their accreditation. They toss after 1 hour regardless of BM or F.

Lotte134 · March 2010

I always labeled the bottles that contained thawed milk with Use First (just marker on masking tape). That way if DS didn't drink all his bottles I could save the fresh ones and send them the next day.

MAtoNC · March 2010

Lotte134:
I always labeled the bottles that contained thawed milk with Use First (just marker on masking tape). That way if DS didn't drink all his bottles I could save the fresh ones and send them the next day.

Yes, I do this too. I send 3 bottles to daycare. They are labeled #1, #2, and "Extra". He is only at DC long enough for 2 bottles, but just in case they need a third (he falls asleep after 1 oz of one of this other bottles etc), I send 3.

#1 is thawed BM.

#2 is the "extra" bottle from the previous day.

"Extra" is the freshest bottle.

flyer23 · March 2010

DD was with a nanny as an infant, and I instructed her to use unfinished bottles at the next feeding, per those same guidelines on kellymom. I never differentiated between fresh and frozen milk. DD never got sick. So either she always finished her frozen bottles at the first feeding, or it's not a big deal to reuse even previously frozen milk.

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