Can I Give My Baby Cold Breast Milk Directly? Safety, Tips

Breastfeeding is the most suitable feeding method for infants. In some cases, mothers need to express milk to feed their children, such as working mothers who pump milk or mothers with nipple injuries. Expressed milk is usually stored in the refrigerator. Sometimes this scene will appear: Can I give my baby cold breast milk directly? This is an important question so let’s know the fact in this article.

The child is crying with hunger while the family or mother is busy warming the milk.

At this point, many people may think, it would be great if you could just give your baby milk without heating it up. But I can tell you clearly that you really don’t need to warm the milk every time!

Whether it is breast milk at room temperature, breast milk just taken out of the refrigerator, or breast milk just thawed, you can give it directly to your baby.

Some mothers even have such creative ideas that they freeze breast milk into popsicles to relieve their baby’s teething discomfort.

Can children drink cold breast milk directly? This may challenge the cognition of many people. In our culture or popular habits, drinking warm water or hot water represents a healthy lifestyle, and giving babies warm milk seems to have become a “necessary” ritual.

If we remove this ritual and directly give the cold breast milk to the baby, people usually have two questions:

Table of Contents

First, will the coldness (cold breast milk )be bad for the baby’s stomach?

If you experience stomach discomfort after drinking cold liquids, the real reason may have nothing to do with the “cold” itself.

First, it’s not the temperature of the food that affects the stomach and intestines, but rather the food itself, whether it’s spoiled or contaminated by pathogens . Since cooking food thoroughly kills most pathogens, people often assume that cold or chilled food causes gastrointestinal discomfort, but the real culprit is actually bacteria. As long as breast milk is collected and stored hygienically, it won’t harbor a high concentration of pathogens or spoil, and naturally won’t cause gastrointestinal discomfort in babies. Furthermore, unlike other foods, breast milk contains antibacterial and bactericidal substances that can reduce the number of pathogens.

Secondly, some people do feel uncomfortable after drinking cold liquids, which may just be a temporary gastrointestinal spasm caused by the cold stimulation.

There’s a common scene in Korean dramas: the perfectly shaped male protagonist opens a three-door refrigerator, grabs a glass of cold water, and gulps it down in one gulp. Are Korean stomachs different from Chinese? Of course not; it’s just that people’s habits differ. After a few attempts, your stomach quickly adapts, becoming comfortable with anything hot, cold, sour, or sweet. (P.S.: The Chinese preference for hot water is actually a recent phenomenon. Back in the day, when material resources were scarce, there wasn’t enough wood to heat water for anything other than tea.)

Second, will cold breast milk be less nutritious?

No. There is no scientific evidence to show that this changes the nutritional content or digestibility of breast milk, even for premature babies.

Views of various authoritative organizations

According to the guidelines of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the British parenting organization First 1000 Days (the first 1000 days of life), breast milk just taken out of the refrigerator and breast milk that has just been thawed can be given directly to babies▼

Will my baby like cold milk?

In fact, most babies prefer cooler milk or room temperature milk. Especially when the weather is hot, when the baby has thrush in the mouth , or when the baby is teething, he may prefer to drink cooler milk.

Furthermore, just as adults have their own preferences when it comes to food, so do babies. While cold breast milk is nutritionally equivalent to warm breast milk, it does taste different. Some babies may prefer milk closer to body temperature and therefore may refuse cold breast milk.

However, some babies are not so picky. No matter whether the milk you give them is warm or cold, they will drink it happily.

Final Thoughts

In fact, just like drinking water, whether you like to drink warm water or cold water is ultimately a matter of personal habit. There is nothing right or wrong. The same is true for babies drinking breast milk.

Next time you’re out and about with your baby and can’t breastfeed, try giving him breast milk straight from the ice pack. If he enjoys it, everyone’s happy. You can also make him breast milk popsicles at home.