Can warm breast milk that has not been consumed be put back into the refrigerator? Why is it not recommended to heat breast milk with hot water?

Storing breast milk sounds simple, but there is actually a lot of knowledge involved. Only by paying attention to these can you maximize the nutritional value of breast milk and make it effective for your baby.

It can be refrigerated, but it needs to be tightly sealed.

If you are feeding your baby with breast milk from a bottle, you often need to squeeze out the breast milk and put it in the refrigerator or freezer. Sometimes, after it warms up and the baby is not hungry, you can put it back in the refrigerator, but make sure it is sealed well and not left there for too long to prevent the breast milk from spoiling or breeding bacteria. You can also smell it and give it to your baby as long as it has not changed its smell.

First of all, too high a temperature will destroy the nutritional structure of breast milk. If the baby eats this heated breast milk for a long time, it will gradually lead to malnutrition. In addition, the temperature of breast milk itself is relatively low. If it is heated too high, it will easily cause scalds to the child, which is not conducive to the child's future feeding. It should also be noted that breast milk should be consumed on the same day and must not be left overnight, otherwise it will easily deteriorate. Breast milk cannot be heated in a microwave oven, which will destroy the ingredients in the breast milk. Therefore, mothers need to pay attention to the temperature of warm milk. If you feel that heating milk is troublesome, you can prepare a thermostat at home so that the baby can eat breast milk at a suitable temperature at any time.

It can only be left there for a maximum of two hours.

Usually, breast milk is given to babies immediately after it is heated, but sometimes babies do not eat it because they are not hungry or for other reasons. Some mothers are reluctant to throw it away and will keep it there until the baby is hungry. In fact, the heated breast milk can only be kept for a maximum of two hours. If the baby cannot finish the thawed milk in the bottle at one time, the remaining part should be drunk or thrown away within 1 to 2 hours. It is better to throw it away after the time is exceeded. After all, the baby's health is the most important.

It is not recommended to use disposable bottles or plastic bags to store breast milk, as this increases the risk of contamination, and some types of plastic bags will destroy the nutrients in breast milk. The most commonly used containers for storing breast milk are glass bottles with sealed caps or hard-shell plastic bottles, or freezer milk collection bags. Usually mothers will buy breast milk bags specifically for storing breast milk. However, when heating milk, you need to pour the breast milk into the bottle, and you cannot directly heat it in the breast milk storage bag in water.