BFing and pumping question

My little guy is still having some trouble with latching on. I have been a pumping machine around the clock. My question is, if I have 4 oz in the bottle that I pump into and then put it in the fridge. I take it and heat it up when he is ready, but if he only drinks 3 oz can I put the extra 1 oz back in the fridge and use it later?

Thanks! I am lost with a few things. Also can I mix the milk from one bottle with another?

-Jodi

Re: BFing and pumping question

No - once you use that bottle the rest of it needs to be thrown out. You can combine two bottles of unused milk - or even a combo of milk/formula.

Re: BFing and pumping question

I got this information from kelly mom

Reusing expressed breastmilk
Q: Should breastmilk left over from a feeding be dumped immediately (like formula), or can you save it and give it to baby later?

A: It should be safe to save the left-over milk and use it at the next feeding.

Per Breastfeeding, A Guide for the Medical Profession by Ruth Lawrence, MD (p. 438):

Breastmilk can safely stand at room temperature for 6 to 8 hours and need not be discarded if the first feeding attempt is incomplete. In contrast, formula must be refrigerated and discarded after the first feeding attempt because it contains no antibodies or infection protection factors.

Can I 're-use' pumped breastmilk? Q&A by Ruth Lawrence, MD

"... If the milk is warmed up but not used, it is OK to reheat the milk once. But the more you reheat the more you decrease some of the valuable immunologic properties of the milk..."

If my baby doesn't finish a bottle of pumped breast milk can I save it for later? by Jan Barger, R.N., M.A., IBCLC

"...Based on this study, which admittedly needs to be done on a larger scale, it would seem to me that expressed breast milk, fed to the baby, partially consumed, and then refrigerated, could be used for one more feeding no more than four hours later. That's probably fairly conservative. One of the best tests of whether the milk is spoiled is to do what you do with cow's milk: Smell it and taste it!"
kelly mom


If Claire doesnt finish a bottle of BM, I will put it back in the fridge and add it to the next bottle, which would be used about 3-4 hours later, if she does not finish that second bottle, then I dispose of it. I have been doing this for almost a year now and have had no problems.