Refrigerated breast milk keeps integrity for 4 days

[lkmiscnet]

Just thought I'd pass along this article on a new study of how long BM lasts refrigerated.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUST...e=ushealth1100

[eclipse]

So, wait? Did they stop testing it after 4 days? Is there anything to indicate that after 96 hours, it starts going down hill? It seems like either a poorly written article or a poorly conducted study, no?

[ChetMC]

Amazing Stuff

Four days has got to be the tip of the iceberg. Breast milk is amazing. Mistakenly, DH once fed DD milk that had been in the fridge for six weeks. Now, I'm not advocating for six week old breast milk, but the fact that she drank it and didn't get sick really says something.

[ChetMC]

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[PatioGardener]

The abstract to the study can be seen for free here: http://www.jpeds.com/article/S0022-3...656-8/abstract

Eclipse is right - they stopped testing at 96 hours. So the take home message should have read "for the constituents tested, breastmilk refridgerated for at least 4 days is pretty much the same as when first pumped." Seems strange that they didn't keep on testing - I would have wanted to see how long it can go!

I have to request the article, but I'll stop back once I've read the whole study.

[ShwarmaQueen]

I've always gone by the 7-day refrigerated guideline....

[Sk8ermaiden]

Originally Posted by ShwarmaQueen

I've always gone by the 7-day refrigerated guideline....

I don't think they're saying it goes bad - just that it actually retains its benefits at least that long. Like the antibodies and stem cells are still there and functional and beneficial.