If you want to continue breastfeeding when you go back to work or have to leave your baby, you can keep your expressed breast milk in the fridge for three to five days or for up to six months if you freeze it within 24 hours.
Freshly expressed breast milk may be kept at room temperature (25°C) for four to six hours, or for eight to ten hours at temperatures of 19°C to 20°C, before being given to your baby.
Fresh or frozen breast milk can be warmed up in a bottle warmer or bain-marie. Never heat breast milk in a microwave as it can affect its nutritional content.
Once fully thawed, previously frozen breast milk may be kept in the fridge for 24 hours.
Every mother and baby will find their own pattern of feeding and you will adapt to your baby’s needs, which will change as the weeks go by. If during the first weeks, particularly the first few days, and during peaks of regular increased feeding, your breasts were successfully stimulated and milk production was ‘switched on’, breastfeeding will continue on a supply and demand basis: your breasts will produce milk to meet your baby’s demand.
The maternity team at Hôpital de La Tour