Can You Reheat Breast Milk

When you express your breast milk, your breast milk’s journey from breast to baby often involves many stops. If one of those stops is the fridge or freezer, you need to know how to safely and good to reheat your breast milk. We explain how you have to heat breast milk so that all the important nutrients are preserved and the milk gets the best temperature for your baby.

How You Should Do It

Yes, you can give your baby cold breast milk – it’s safe, but since breast milk usually comes from the mother and is therefore at body temperature, babies prefer lukewarm milk. The temperature of our food has an impact on our digestion. It’s no different with babies. Warm and room temperature food is easier to digest and more nutritious than cold food. So, warming the breast milk facilitates the baby’s digestion and saves him from unnecessary colic. The ideal temperature is 37 degrees. This corresponds to our body temperature. This is exactly the temperature milk when it comes out of your breast. Putting a few drops on the inside of your wrist is enough to check whether the heated breast milk is at a good temperature. It should feel neutral against your skin – neither cold nor hot. 

Running Water Method

Run warm tap water. Place a closed bottle or bag of breast milk under the running water. Rotate the container slowly for a few minutes until the contents are warm. Stir the milk to gently mix it. Check the temperature by putting a few drops on your inner wrist before giving to your baby. While effective, warming breast milk is anything but water efficient. Don’t worry, there are more environmentally friendly ways. 

Warm Water Bath Method

Fill a bowl with warm water. Place a closed bottle or bag of breast milk in the bowl of warm water for a few minutes. Swirl the water to gently mix the contents of the bottle. Check the temperature by putting a few drops on your inner wrist before giving to your baby.