Can I feed my baby cold breast milk?
This article will answer the question “Can I feed my baby cold breast milk?”, and how to address different issues related to feeding cold milk to your baby?
Can I feed my baby cold breast milk?
Yes, you can feed your baby cold breast milk. The temperature of the formula or best breast has nothing to do with its safety or nutrition. It’s either your baby’s preference or yours. You should rather be paying more attention to the storage of breast or formula milk.
In the case of formula milk, It is crucial to mix the powder with safe water in the right proportion. Moreover, you must know that co milk should not be fed to an infant under 1 year of age.
However, there is one unusual fact about frozen breast milk that might intrigue you. Frozen breast milk is used to relieve pain in teething babies. Simply fill your baby’s mesh feeder with frozen cubes of breast formula milk and let your baby enjoy it!
Read on If you want to know some common concerns related to feeding warm and cold milk to your infant. This article includes a short guide on how to effectively refrigerate breast milk.
Heated milk concerns
Overheating breast or formula milk can destroy its key nutrients. This is especially true for the microwave heating method that leaves hot spots in the milk.
Even If the milk feels baby-friendly when you drop it on your wrist, the hot spots present a burn hazard for your baby’s fragile mouth and esophagus. Your best bet is to heat your baby’s milk in a hot water bath or a bottle warmer that ensures even heating, unlike the microwave.
However, even these methods tend to heat the milk above 80°C (176°F), which leads to the inevitable destruction of the heat-sensitive nutrients in milk. Always heat your baby’s milk at very low heat.
Note: Never reheat your baby’s milk. Store the unused bottle of baby milk in the fridge within 2 hours of expression or preparation. Throw it out after 2 hours If It had been left unrefrigerated.
Cold milk concerns
Warm milk is beneficial for premature babies. According to a study, feeding lukewarm milk to your infant increases his tolerance of the milk or formula.
Other FAQs about Milk which you may be interested in.
Can milk curdle in your stomach?
Can milk help you gain weight?
All you need to know about giving your baby cold breast milk
It’s new for your baby
Your baby might be surprised form the sudden shift from warm milk to cold refrigerator milk. It is best to make a gradual change so your baby does not reject the milk based on its temperature. Start by feeding room temperature milk to your baby before feeding him cold milk.
The fat layer may not mix well
The fat might stick to the sides of the cold milk or float on the top. As a mother, you need to ensure that your baby receives all the good fats in the milk. For this, you should give the baby bottle a good shake. This helps disperse the fat evenly in the milk.
Your baby might not like it
Most babies will naturally prefer body temperature milk. Because at this temperature, the formula milk imitates the warmth of breast milk.
To avoid your baby from completely rejecting the cold milk, make a gradual shift from warm to room temperature and then to cold milk.
As per the Human Milk Banking Association guidelines, premature infants, especially those at risk for necrotizing enterocolitis, should be fed warm milk (close to body temperature).
The guidelines for feeding term infants are quite flexible. They can be fed body temperature, room temperature, or cold milk straight out of the fridge.
How to store breast milk in the fridge?
- Breast milk should be hurried to refrigerate after expression.
- The bottles or storage bags used for storing breast milk should be thoroughly cleaned, sanitized, and BPA-free. BPA is widely used in the coatings of plastic containers. Long-term exposure to BPA has proven bad effects on health.
- Do not mix breast milk at two different temperatures. This means you should not pour body temperature breast milk into already cooled/refrigerated breast milk. Small amounts can be mixed provided both are at the same temperature.
- Breast milk should be stored in the most temperature-consistent areas of your fridge i. Above the crisper drawer or at the back of the shelf. The fridge door does not maintain a regular temperature so do not put the milk in there.
Conclusion
This article answered the question “Can I feed my baby cold breast milk?”, and how to address different issues related to feeding cold milk to your baby?
References
https://www.healthline.com/health/baby/can-babies-drink-cold-milk#safety
https://www.romper.com/parenting/3-things-that-happen-when-you-give-your-baby-cold-breast-milk-58278
https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/breastfeed-storing.html
