Are you wondering on what happens if baby drinks spoiled breast milk?
When a baby is born, breast milk is the purest form of food you can give your child for the initial few months.
After that, what moms mostly do is pump and store breast milk for later use because exclusive breastfeeding isn’t possible for every mom.
There are cases where mothers have inverted nipples, and a baby cannot latch on to the mother’s chest properly. For them, pumping is a great option.
What Happens If Baby Drinks Spoiled Breast Milk?
As an infant’s staple food, breast milk has a lot of influence on the growth and development of a child.
As a result, mothers who don’t find breastfeeding a feasible option opt to pump milk exclusively to reserve it for later use.
If the mother has to be away from a child for hours together on a particular occasion, pumped milk comes in handy.
When mothers pump milk regularly, it ensures their baby is getting enough milk every day.
As a new mother, it’s a common concern to have about your child getting enough milk.
As a result, you may experience a dip in quantities of breast milk a lot of time, and that’s when you need to adapt to the practice of pumping milk to produce in large quantities.
There is no harm in the practice of pumping regularly and keeping milk to feed babies later.
One has just to ensure that milk does not go bad or spoil over a few days and weeks.
It may also happen that the milk may go bad, and you may not notice.
Therefore, it’s essential to understand how to save milk from going bad and what spoiled milk might cause to the baby’s overall health.
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1. What to Do When Baby Drinks Spoiled Breast Milk?
You will know instantly if your baby drinks spoiled breast milk, he will squirm and get uncomfortable and might also spit out milk sometimes.
If a baby swallows the breast milk, they may cry of tummy ache and vomit out the milk.
After the baby vomits and stops, hold him in an upright position and pat his back lightly so if there’s still any remains of spoiled milk in his stomach, he can spit it out entirely.
This practice will ensure the baby’s stomach is free of spoiled milk, so he is no longer restless and squirming.
2. What Are the Different Signs Your Breast Milk Is Spoiled?
Right after your pumping session, breast milk will separate.
The watery consistency of breast milk will sit at the bottom, and the thick fatty part will come at the top.
You will shake the bottle gently and see if the two consistencies mix. If you see different-sized chunks in your milk, it is spoiled.
It is absolutely normal to have different smells of breast milk but remember if it smells sour.
Tasting the breast milk will help too. It will be different from cow milk, but it’s not right if it tastes sour. Ditch it immediately if that’s the case.
3. How to Ensure Breast Milk Doesn’t Spoil?
Few of the many ways to ensure breast milk doesn’t spoil include practicing extreme hygiene and sanitation.
Before you pump milk, ensure your hands are clean and the electric pump is thoroughly clean. If your pump has rusty parts, replace it immediately.
After breast milk is expressed, store it in tight-fitting glass and plastic lids. It can stay in your freezer for up to six months.
If the door of your fridge is exposed to frequent temperature changes, it might go bad.
However, if you are traveling, you can simply store it with ice packs in an insulated bag for almost 24 hours.
Summary
What happens if a baby drinks spoiled breast milk? It’s natural for all babies to drink spoiled milk sometimes.
Even the most careful of parents and guardians can feed their babies that.
The critical thing to be well aware of is the way to restore your baby to normal condition after he drinks spoiled milk.
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Can Babies Get Sick from Old Breast Milk?
No baby can get sick altogether from drinking old breast milk. He may get uncomfortable and even squirm for a while, but it wouldn’t mean long-term sickness.
What Happens When A Baby Drinks Spoiled Milk?
How severely the baby may be affected depends on the quantity he consumed. If it were only a few sips, it wouldn’t cause anything more than bad taste.
When Should I Throw Away Breast Milk After Baby Drinks?
It’s okay if your baby didn’t finish the entire bottle of breast milk; you don’t have to feed him the leftover milk again sometime.
However, leftover milk should be discarded within 2 hours of use to the maximum.
Iesha is a loving mother of 2 beautiful children. She’s an active parent who enjoys indoor and outdoor adventures with her family. Her mission is to share practical and realistic parenting advice to help the parenting community becoming stronger.
