Refrigerated or frosted breast milk needs to be warmed right for a baby to drink it. It’s advisable to warm breast milk first. Warming can be easily done but it’s also vital to take precautions to ensure that the breast milk doesn’t become boiling for the baby or lose its beneficial properties in the process of warming.
Method 1: Refrigerator Defrosting
• Place the breast milk container in the refrigerator. Transfer it from the freezer to the fridge. Make sure that you thaw the frozen breast milk before it becomes bad.
• Let thaw overnight. At least 8 hours is enough for it to defrost completely. Check if it’s fully defrosted by opening the container and stir the milk with a spoon. If there are still frozen chunks, let it thaw for another 2 hours by placing it in lukewarm water.
• Store up to 5 days. It’s best if thawed breast milk is used instantly but it’s safer for the baby to take it if it’s stored in the ref for 5 days.
• Don’t re-freeze. Re-freezing can cause the lipids in the breast milk to be damaged, and it can spoil.
Method 2: Running Water
• Place froze breast milk under cool running water. Water should be a little cooler than the room temperature. The use of cool water is recommended at this stage because it can bring the breast milk temperature up gradually. Use cool water only when you know that the milk has thawed.
• Gradually increase running water temperature. Do this after the breast milk is thawed. Increase the temperature to warm then warm to hot slowly to destroy few enzymes in the breast milk and for even heating. Stop it when water steaming begins.
• Warm chilled breast milk under hot water. If the milk was thawed in the ref or stored in the ref, skip the use of cool water and directly place the container under warm water.
• Swirl the milk around. Ensure that the milk is heated evenly by swirling the bottle.
Method 3: Warm Water Bath
• Heat a pot of water. Fill the pot halfway and heat over medium heat. Pull the pot off the stove before the water simmers or before it boils.
• Place the milk in hot water. You can let the bottle sit in the pot or swirl it around the hot water.
• Make sure that there’s even temperature. Swirl the container to even out temperature.
Method 4: Bottle Warmers
• Read instructions. It’s essential to read instructions thoroughly before using the bottle warmers.
• Note if warmer uses steam or bath. Some bottle warmers warm bottles in the hot water bath, but most of them use steam.
• Fill the water reservoir. Fill tap water up to the reservoir until it reaches the fill line of the bottle warmer.
• Put the bottle inside. Make sure that the breast milk bottle is secured before inserting it into the bottle warmer compartment.
• Set control dial and warm the breast milk. Follow instructions to know how high or low the temperature dial should be set, if there’s a dial. Press “start” and wait for it to click off.
You can choose to follow either of the methods above that best suit the situation to warm breast milk efficiently. All methods are proven to warm breast milk easily and are used by breastfeeding mothers today. Breast milk is always the best for babies. But if the breast milk is refrigerated, of course, it needs to be warmed to make it more appetizing to the baby. Warming breast milk full preserves its nutritional properties which are essential for the nutrition of babies.
Sophia Nguyen is the co-founder of “Healthy Baby Happy Earth” website. She is a blogger, and she loves writing about babies and helping the parents by providing only the most useful information. To learn more about breastfeeding , you can visit her website at www.healthybabyhappyearth.com
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