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.
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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.
