When you go to pour breast milk out of a bottle that’s been refrigerated, it can be hard to get all of the fat off the sides. Here’s how to easily get all of the breast milk out of your bottles so you don’t waste any milk.
This post may contain affiliate links, which means that if you click a link and take action, I may make a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products I love! More info here.
3 Ways to Use All the Breast Milk in the Bottle
My baby is 10 days old, and I am exclusively pumping. My question has to do with storing breast milk in the refrigerator or freezer. When I go to pour milk into a bottle to feed my baby, some of the milk sticks to the sides of the bottles or the breast milk freezer bag, and it doesn’t all make it into the bottle that I give my baby.
Is this a problem? If so, how can I get this milk to unstick?
The breast milk that is sticking to the bottles or bags is the fatty part of the milk, and it’s not a big issue if not all of it gets into the bottle your baby drinks.
The only time I would be concerned is if you think you may have an issue with foremilk/hindmilk imbalance (and therefore possibly a shortage of fatty milk in the first place), or if you want to be careful not to waste any breast milk due to low milk supply.
Here are a few ways that you can make sure you get all of the fatty milk.
1. Warm the bottle
The easiest way to get the fatty parts off the sides of the bottle or breast milk bag is to warm it. When breast milk is warmed, it usually does not stick to the sides anymore.
So, if your milk is in the fridge, you can warm it in a bottle warmer (or just put it in a bowl of hot water for a minute or two), and everything should mix together.
If the milk that you’re using is frozen, you can defrost it right before you feed it to your baby. Just put the bag of milk in a sink or bowl full of warm water, and when it’s thawed, pour it into a bottle. (Use one of your breast shields as a funnel to avoid spills!)
2. Defrost in cold water, and swirl
It’s a little trickier if you need the milk for later and aren’t able to warm the milk when you’re preparing the bottle (such as if you are defrosting breast milk to send to daycare).
In this case, the best way to get as much fat off as possible is to run the bottle or bag of breast milk under cold water and swirl the milk around until most of it comes off.
3. Scrape it off with a clean silicone spatula
If you’re trying to get the fat off of a bag or container with a wide enough opening, you can use a clean silicone spatula to scrape it off.
Make sure to wash/sterilize the spatula with the rest of your infant feeding items.
Hopefully that answers any questions you have about getting breast milk fat off the sides of your bottles!
(More on watery vs fatty breast milk here.)
Let me know if you have any questions in the comments.
Is there a certain amount of times you can mix up the breast milk in the pitcher.
As long as the milk is always the same temperature and all of it is not expired, no. 🙂
Hi I’m a mom of three but never stored my milk can I store my milk in regular bottle with the nipple on if I have the cap. Or does it have to be with a storage cap on it. Can I also put milk that I pumped later in the day with the same milk from earlier in the day or do I have to fridge it separately ?
You can store it with the cap and nipple. You can combine milk, but it should be the same temperature (both cold) before you do.
Hello it’s my first time pumping my baby is 7 weeks and I realized I need to pump milk to be able to leave baby with gm so I can go to doctor appt etc. So I pumped 3oz this morning for the first time and I will place that in a bag. I will try to pump again later but if I only get 1 or 2oz later how can a wait to get complete 3oz again to place in a bag. Am I able to put those 2oz or 1oz I pump later into fridge and wait again till I pump again and get the rest to make 3oz and fill bag then place in freezer?
Sorry I know it’s a crazy question but again I’m so new to this and do not have a schedule of pumping and have issues with milk supply (I think) that’s why maybe I can not pump out a lot of milk. Thank you please let me know
Hi Carla! I think you’re pumping plenty of milk. You can freeze the smaller amounts (and then thaw multiple bags for a feeding) or you can pump again and combine the milk. Hope that helps!
Is it okay to heat up the milk thats in the freezer to get milk off the sides to put in freezer bags? Also how do you know if your baby is getting the right amount hindmilk and foremilk when you are combining milk from pumps all day?
Hi Carlie, once it’s been heated, it should be fed within 2 hours. So I wouldn’t heat it to put it into freezer bags.
Usually as long as you are pumping until reasonably empty and all the milk is mixed together, you are okay.