Breast milk stays fresh if frozen or refrigerated. In fact, if you store breast milk for long, some essential antibodies may be destroyed.

But even this is much more nutritious than the best formula milk.

Remember, refridgerated breast milk stays fresh for about six hours. On the other hand, if you freeze the milk into solid, it will stay fresh for about a week.

But if you don't want to freeze it at all, the milk will stay fresh for about three hours.

Quick Pointers

Make sure you store expressed milk in steel or plastic containers. Your breasts will continue to produce milk through the day, making your breasts feel heavy and sore.

So, it is a good idea to express breast milk while you are at work too. In this case however, use a breast pump as manual expressing will just be a waste of time.

• After refrigeration or freezing, the milk might separate. So, it is a good idea to first shake it up and then heat it.
• If you don't feed your baby during the day, it is advisable to express breast milk at least twice a day. This will ensure a smooth production.
• When you store expressed milk, make sure you label it, so that you can use the oldest one first.