Smart Sitters Company Blog: THE PROPER WAY TO HANDLE AND STORE BREAST MILK

For Moms

Wash your hands before expressing.
Use clean containers to catch milk, (screw cap bottles, hard plastic cups with tight caps, or heavy-duty bags that fit directly inside bottles). Avoid using containers that could easily leak or spill.
Label the container with the child's name (in a child care setting), and the date expressed. Using the oldest milk first.
Remember not to mix fresh and frozen milk, don’t save milk from a used bottle, and clean breast pump parts after each use.

For Babysitters Thawing Breast Milk

Be sure to wash your hands before handling breast milk and always wear gloves. (According to the CDC “Breast milk has not been shown to lead to transmission of HIV or HBV infection, however, because human breast milk has been implicated in transmitting HIV from mother to infant, gloves may be worn as a precaution by health care workers who are frequently exposed to breast milk.”)
Thaw frozen breast milk by transferring it to the refrigerator for thawing or by placing it in a bowl of warm water. Breastmilk does not need to be warm, some caregivers and parents prefer to serve it at room temperature while others serve it cold. (Ask the parents which method they prefer)
Swirl the bottle, and test the temperature on your wrist. The milk should not be hot.

***Never warm breastmilk in the microwave. It could burn the baby and damage the milk!!!***

Below is a chart of Storage Duration of Fresh Human Milk for Use with Healthy Full Term Infants from the American Academy of Pediatrics .

Location	Temperature	Duration	Comments
Countertop, table	Room temperature (up to 77°F or 25°C)	6–8 hours	Containers should be covered and kept as cool as possible; covering the container with a cool towel may keep milk cooler.
Insulated cooler bag	5-39°F or -15-4°C	24 hours	Keep ice packs in contact with milk containers at all times, limit opening cooler bag.
Refrigerator	39°F or 4°C	5 days	Store milk in the back of the main body of the refrigerator.
Freezer			Store milk toward the back of the freezer, where temperature is most constant. Milk stored for longer durations in the ranges listed is safe, but some of the lipids in the milk undergo degradation resulting in lower quality.
Freezer compartment of a refrigerator	5°F or -15°C	2 weeks
Freezer compartment of refrigerator with separate doors	0°F or -18°C	3–6 months
Chest or upright deep freezer	-4°F or -20°C	6–12 months