Expressing question

[verds]

I can't find the answer to this on tinternet, so I'll ask the wise forum...

If I've pumped a couple of ounces yesterday, can I add to that bottle directly from the pump today? Or do different day's milk have to be kept separate?

[hellosailor]

I can't think of any reason why you couldn't mix the milk you pumped yesterday to more milk pumped today, are you planning to feed it today?

[ClareC]

It is fine to do, it just means the new milk today can only be kept as long as yesterday's. Really easy if yesterday's frozen, although if that's the case you need to cool today's before pouring on top of the frozen milk.

[Fuschia]

You can mix it.

It's possible to freeze a part bottle, the pour more in and put back in the freezer, too

[KateW]

Just to warn you (though it might have been a fluke) the only time I mixed milk I'd pumped from 2 different days, my LO threw up the entire bottle! (She NEVER puked up her milk and was never a sicky baby so mixing my milk was the only thing I could of that caused her to do it). Never mixed again.

[Saffron]

There isn't any intrinsic reason that mixing milk from different days would cause vomitting, proving good food hygiene was observed to reduce the chance of bacteria multiplying in the milk. That being said, breastmilk is fairly hardy stuff, in that the antibodies and other immune elements in the milk actually help to deter bacteria. The vomitting was most likely not related to the milk at all. It sounds like it was just a strange coincidence. I'd agree it was a fluke.

[verds]

Thanks. I'd forgotten how long it takes to get a good few ounces. Or maybe it just feels like it's taking longer with a toddler 'helping'!

[Pickle]

Ha ha, I know how you feel! The only time I get in the day where I can successfully express is just before we do the school run. My 5 year old son is fascinated by the mechanics of the pump so stands right in front watching, and my 3.5 year old finds the whole thing hilarious. Oh for the days when I could do it in the morning while lazing in bed!

I add to existing milk, it's fine as others have said.

P x

[etta166]

Mixing milk is fine. I expressed for the milk bank at Kings, and they had specific rules about it (like freezing the first milk, then cooling the second before adding it so the first milk didn't defrost). For my own healthy full-term babies I just expressed into a new bottle, then mixed it into the exisiting milk. I did it that way because I was paranoid that my helpful toddler would somehow knock over and spill the milk I'd expressed, and so keeping at least some of it our of reach in the fridge was more reassuring for me...

I have the most hilarious video of my son "expressing" milk when he mangaged to get hold of my breast pump off the draining board after I'd washed it but not put it away. It's amazing how interested they are in the whole thing.