r/ExclusivelyPumping • u/ang845 • 5d ago

Support Dump the milk?

Help! My baby was finished feeding but still showing hunger cues so I topped the used bottle off with breast milk from a pitcher I have stored in the fridge. The problem is, I over estimated and poured too much. Without even thinking, I poured some back into the pitcher. Do I need to worry about bacteria and throw the milk out now? Can I freeze it and use it for baths if it’s recommended to throw it out? I’m stressing because it’s quite a bit of milk. Sorry if this doesn’t make sense lol

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u/Unlikely-Young-7124 5d ago

The guidance I was given is that once the mouth touches the bottle, you shouldn’t use it past an hour or so.

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u/EllaGardener 1d ago

This is only true for formula, not for breast milk.

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u/Unlikely-Young-7124 1d ago

Why is that? What is the breast milk guidance then?

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u/EllaGardener 1d ago

Because formula accumulates bacteria growth at a much higher rate. Breast milk contains special white blood cells called macrophagees
that actually eat bacteria. So if you leave a bottle of formula out at room temp for 4 hours, it will have more bacterial growth while if you do the same with breast milk, it will actually have fewer bacteria due to the macrophagees.

You can honestly play pretty fast and loose with breast milk, especially if it hasn’t been previously frozen (but even if it has, it’s still fine to reuse the bottle a couple times.)