Can I still drink the leftover milk after it has been in use for a few hours?

Many parents will add a little more milk powder to their babies, fearing that their babies will not have enough to eat. However, the milk powder that the baby cannot finish becomes leftover milk. What should be done with the leftover milk? Today, let's discuss with you how to deal with leftover milk.

Can't drink leftover milk for a few hours

If the prepared milk has not been drunk, it cannot be stored at room temperature for more than 2 hours (the temperature in the thermos cup must be higher than room temperature). If it is placed in the refrigerator, it cannot be stored for more than 24 hours. If there is any unfinished milk, it should be poured out and not drunk again. Not only will it be wasted, but it will breed bacteria over time and be detrimental to the baby's growth. Therefore, milk should be prepared according to the baby's needs. If you want to be very precise, you can buy a Naile milk preparation machine. This machine can select the required amount of milk between 60ml-300ml, which is safe, convenient and reduces waste.

How to deal with leftover milk for babies

Mothers all know that babies at home cannot always drink the prepared formula milk according to their own estimation. Usually they always drink 180ml, but this time the baby can drink 220ml. The baby is not full and cries when the bottle is taken away. At this time, mothers should not be afraid of trouble. It is best to add a few dozen milliliters. First, it will stop the baby from crying and second, it will prevent the baby from drinking milk too soon and disrupt the usual feeding interval.

Maybe the baby is not so hungry this time and just drinks 120ml and stops drinking. Don't force the baby to drink, and don't give it to the baby after a while, as this will easily cause the baby to have food accumulation or even anorexia. It is best to pour out the remaining milk for others to drink (give it to his dad, haha...), so that there is no waste and the baby does not have to drink the remaining milk.

Milk is the best culture medium for bacteria. If you plan to save the remaining milk for the next meal, you must put it in the refrigerator and warm it up with a milk warmer at the next meal. Do not mix the remaining milk from last time with the newly prepared milk. If you estimate that your baby can eat 180ml and there was 80ml left last time, you can make 100ml this time. Feed him the newly prepared milk first, then the remaining milk, so that the taste of the milk will not be bad for the baby.

How to deal with leftover milk

1. The most unreliable method: save it for the next meal

Some mothers think that it is a pity to throw away the unfinished milk powder. Since babies are easily hungry, it should be fine to save it for the next meal!

Wait, mothers really can't have such a fluke mentality! Even when the weather is relatively cold, the leftover milk of the baby will easily go bad if it is placed in the air. Milk powder is very nutritious and is the best breeding ground for bacteria. Once it is exposed to air for a long time, the bacteria in the milk powder will multiply and grow rapidly.

Some milk powder packaging will indicate that the prepared milk powder must be consumed within 2 hours, but this is only a theoretical value. If the weather is hot, or food residues in the baby's mouth enter the milk through the nipple, the milk powder may have deteriorated in less than 2 hours!

2. A more dangerous approach: mixing leftover milk with new milk

Some mothers will add new milk powder to the remaining milk, thinking that "after all, there is not much milk left over from the last meal, and the remaining milk will be diluted by my mixing, so it is no different from the freshly mixed milk!"

However, thinking this way is just "deceiving" yourself! If the leftover milk contains more bacteria, mixing it with new milk will only cause the new milk to be "contaminated" by the leftover milk. After the baby drinks it, he may also suffer from diarrhea.

3. Risky practice: storing leftover milk in the refrigerator

"The remaining milk can't be given directly to the baby, nor can it be mixed with new milk powder. So I put it in the refrigerator, heat it up at the next meal and give it to the baby. That should be fine, right?"

Some mothers do deal with their baby's leftover milk in this way, but there are certain risks in doing so. Because there is usually a lot of food stored in the refrigerator, if this small closed space is not hygienic, has odors, or family members often open the refrigerator door to get food, the leftover milk may breed a lot of bacteria, which is different from freshly made milk.

4. Controversial practice: using a milk warmer

In order to solve the problem of leftover milk in babies, the "milk warmer" came into being, but its use has always been controversial. If the leftover milk is not properly stored, heating it directly with a milk warmer will not kill bacteria and other harmful substances in the leftover milk. In addition, if the heating temperature is too high, it will destroy the nutrients in the milk powder, which is not worth the loss.