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Expert Q&A
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| By Melissa Clark Vickers International Board Certified Lactation Consultant Moms & Babies Huntingdon, Tenn. | ||
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Because I am only pumping small amounts at a time (to use during night feedings or when I'm away from home), can I add newly pumped milk to already pumped refrigerated milk?
The general rule of thumb to follow when adding newly pumped milk to already cooled milk is to add less warm milk than you have in the container of cooled milk. This is especially important if you are adding to milk in the freezer, but would be reasonable for refrigerated milk as well.
Depending on the age of your baby, you may want to store your milk in small 2-4 ounce quantities. That way you can just warm the amount your caregiver needs for a particular feeding. Because breast milk is so perfectly designed for human babies, there is little extra ""stuff"" in it that baby can't use. So it generally takes less breastmilk to give baby what he's looking for than if you were feeding him formula. And he'd rather get it directly from you, anyway!
Hope this helps. Also read my answer to How can I safely store expressed breastmilk?.
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