Walk me through warming breast milk

[felicity]

I have a small stash of frozen breast milk but have yet to use any of it. I really want to leave the house for more than 90 minutes without DS so am thinking of having DH give him a bottle. Planning to do a test run this weekend to make sure DS will take it.

DH thinks we need a bottle warmer and doesn't like the idea of heating it in warm water. He thinks it sounds too hard. We will probably only do this maybe once a week so I don't think we need yet another baby item.

So, like I'm 5...how hard is it to warm breast milk in warm water? Do you just use warm tap water in a bowl? What if it's not thawed and we are doing it from frozen? How long does it take? How warm do you get it? Can we just leave it in the storage bag to warm then pour in the bottle?

ETA: Or do you think bottle warmers for occasional breast milk heating are worth it?

[motzie]

Sounds too hard? Men are strange. I would just use a mug or pirex measuring cup and heat up some water, then pop the bottle in for a few minutes. Done. And don't shake it! I learned that way later than I should have.

Eta: I never warmed from frozen. I always had some in the fridge.

[Deleted]

I just got a big cup, filled it with warm water and threw the bottle in there until it was warm. Daycare uses the warm setting of a small crockpot.

From frozen, I just put in a bowl of cool water for a while until it was thawed, and then did the above.

[Deleted]

Just run it under warm tap water. If in a bottle, swirl to mix the fat. That's it. No bottle warmer needed and that may heat it too much and may destroy some of the antibodies.

Eta: I did the same if from frozen. I used Luke warm water.

[GotWine]

I've always just filled a bowl with hot water and set the bag of frozen milk in it for a few minutes until it's thawed then poured it into a bottle. It doesn't take longer than 2 or 3 minutes. You will have to refill the bowl a time or two since the frozen milk with quickly cool down the water. It's really a fast process, even with a hungry screaming baby it's not bad. Sometimes I would just run the bag under the faucet of warm water.

you can always thaw it in the fridge ahead of time too. My kids and the baby I used to babysit for would always drink the milk cold from the fridge so I never had to make sure it really warm or anything.

[badtzmaru22]

If it's totally frozen, and you need the bottle now, run it under warm water and transfer to a bottle. If you have some time, I have no qualms about just thawing on the counter. For both, put the BM bag inside a larger ziploc bag in case it leaks while you're thawing.

Bottle warmers are totally unnecessary, esp for occasional use. Our kids will both take a cold bottle out of the fridge, so for ease, try that first!

Otherwise, running a bottle under warm water for a few minutes is NOT HARD, OP's H!! Lol. just warm it enough to take the edge off. Feel a bottle of your pumped milk sometime- or have your H really. It's warm, but it's not like boiling or anything. Your H is overthinking this.

[Deleted]

Huh? too hard? Just stick it in a glass of warm water for a few minutes. The baby may even take cold milk.

[spk926]

I would thaw under warm water first. Then I would heat water in the microwave so it was hot and place the bag in there. Once the milk was warm we would transfer to the bottle.

But then my DH was like yours and found that took too long because when DD was hungry she was HUNGRY! DH would get very stressed because he couldn't just pull down his shirt and feed her quickly like me. So for us the $20 we spent on a bottle warmer was worth it. DH felt more confident and comfortable staying with DD and that made me feel better so it all worked out.

ETA: DD would not take a cold bottle, we tried.

A lot of baby things are unnecessary but make life easier. I put a bottle warmer in this category.

[felicity]

Jan 15, 2015 9:53:13 GMT -5 @starry said:

I just wanted to ask if you are the same as Miss Felicity.

Nope. Why...?

[sillygoosegirl]

I've heard that previously frozen milk tastes different, so the first time you try to give a bottle, you might want to start with fresh. It's good for a week in the refrigerator. Or for around 6 hours at room temperature, so if you pump before you go out, it never has to get cold.

The only reason to warm it is if your baby refuses it cold. We warmed at first to get her used to the idea (at first--for a week of offering it--she was like, "what the hell is this and what am I supposed to do with it?"), but now it's enough to run the nipple under hot tap water. I definitely vote no bottle warmer.

[sunshine608]

I have a bottle warmer for H but he rarely uses it. A cup of warm water is so much easier for everyone.

The bottle warmer is probably our most unused purchase/gift.

[felicity]

Jan 15, 2015 10:11:21 GMT -5 sillygoosegirl said:

I've heard that previously frozen milk tastes different, so the first time you try to give a bottle, you might want to start with fresh. It's good for a week in the refrigerator. Or for around 6 hours at room temperature, so if you pump before you go out, it never has to get cold.

The only reason to warm it is if your baby refuses it cold. We warmed at first to get her used to the idea (at first--for a week of offering it--she was like, "what the hell is this and what am I supposed to do with it?"), but now it's enough to run the nipple under hot tap water. I definitely vote no bottle warmer.

I want to know who signed up to test this, lol. But that's good to know. 

DH is totally against trying it cold for some reason. 

[felicity]

Jan 15, 2015 9:50:58 GMT -5 spk926 said:

I would thaw under warm water first. Then I would heat water in the microwave so it was hot and place the bag in there. Once the milk was warm we would transfer to the bottle.

But then my DH was like yours and found that took too long because when DD was hungry she was HUNGRY! DH would get very stressed because he couldn't just pull down his shirt and feed her quickly like me. So for us the $20 we spent on a bottle warmer was worth it. DH felt more confident and comfortable staying with DD and that made me feel better so it all worked out.

ETA: DD would not take a cold bottle, we tried.

A lot of baby things are unnecessary but make life easier. I put a bottle warmer in this category.

DS is like that too which is what worries me.

[badtzmaru22]

[quote author="felicity" source="/post/8389624/thread" [/quote]I want to know who signed up to test this, lol. But that's good to know. 

DH is totally against trying it cold for some reason. 

[/quote]


I probably messed up this quote, but I get being an anxious new parent, but your H seems to have a lot of opinions and unwillingness to try things for no reason. The easiest thing really is if your kid will take a bottle straight from the fridge, so why not try that first? Try it when you're home, so if he hates it, and is screaming, you can nurse him quick. Then the next time, try running it under water for a bit. If you know you're going to be gone, thaw a bottle in advance, so your H doesn't have to worry about it. But I really think you need to just tell him to stop shooting everything down. He's making this way harder than it needs to be.

Also, everyone tries their own breastmilk. Trust.

[felicity]

Jan 15, 2015 11:20:43 GMT -5 badtzmaru22 said:

H shooting things down without trying them first is one of the things we argue about a lot actually. He knows he does it so I will point out he's doing it again.

Oh I know people try their own milk but I was more picturing little cups and sitting down and sipping one fresh, one frozen, and one refrigerated with a little bit of palette cleansing in between to get the best taste test.

[BlueNotebook]

If you are able to plan ahead and can defrost the milk in the fridge first, I would consider it. I once got a bad set of milk bags and they all leaked when I defrosted them. Bags can also leak if they get banged around in the freezer. I would put them in the fridge overnight in a bowl to defrost so if they leaked I could still use the milk. Just wanted to throw that out there because losing freezer stash made me want to cry.

But like everyone else, we just used hot water to heat our bottles.

[mrssandro]

DD likes her bottle super warm so the bottle warmer is the most used item in the house. But if don't have access to one we just use hot water.

**she is exclusively bottle fed though