How should I store, warm, and serve formula and expressed breast milk safely?

Use sterilized bottles and boiled, cooled water; prepared formula keeps about 2 hours untouched at room temperature (1 hour once the baby has sipped), while expressed breast milk should never be heated on a flame and is best fresh or brought to room temperature. Bottle warmers are fine, and pumped milk retains its nutrition.

Community Answers from Moms(6)

Here's what moms in our community shared based on their own experience.

1. 1

   Expressed breast milk is totally safe to give by sterilized bottle; never warm it on a flame. It's best freshly expressed, or if stored, let it come to room temperature; a bottle warmer is fine to use.

2. 2

   You can keep boiled, cooled (sterile) water in sterilized bottles and add formula as needed, using room temperature or lukewarm water (a bottle warmer helps on cold nights), good for up to 24 hours; a divided box lets you store a few feeds' worth of formula by the bed for night feeds.

3. 3

   Prepared formula left untouched in the bottle keeps about 2 hours at room temperature; once the baby has sipped even once, use it within about 1 hour.

4. 4

   Store an opened formula packet by keeping it in a sterilized airtight box; some moms put the whole packet inside another sterilized container.

5. 5

   To serve pumped or expressed milk, options include a sterile bottle, a katori (small bowl) and spoon, a regular sterilized teaspoon, a paladai, or a syringe without the needle; spoon and paladai feeding help avoid nipple confusion.

6. 6

   Pumped or expressed breast milk still provides full nutrition, so combination or exclusive pumping moms need not worry about that.