How to Safely Pump and Store Human Milk

Bringing home a newborn can feel overwhelming. Parents often ask about how to pump and store human milk safely. For anyone who is expressing their milk, whether for their own infant or to donate, hand washing before pumping and washing and sanitizing pump parts after pumping is important. Proper storage of milk in clean containers and at proper storage temperature is equally important.

Top 6 ways to pump and store human milk for your baby:

1. Find a clean place to pump.
2. Wash your hands for 20 seconds before touching your pump parts and starting to pump.
3. After every pumping session, wash your pump parts with warm, soapy water and allow them to air dry on a clean surface or drying rack. Please do not let them soak. Pump parts can also be washed on the top rack of the dish washer.
4. After washing, clean pump parts should be sanitized or sterilized once a day. This can be done by using sterilizer, using a microwave steam bag, putting them in the dishwasher on the heated drying cycle/sanitizing setting or boiling on the stove for 5 minutes.
5. Store pumped milk in clean containers designed for human milk storage bags are intended to be used once and discarded.  Bottles can be reused if washed with hot, soapy water and sterilized/sanitized. Please allow space for the milk to expand if it is going to be frozen. Overfilled containers may leak and waste milk.
6. Label the containers with the date and time that it was expressed and any medications that you have taken in the past 24 hours. Store your milk as soon as possible in the refrigerator, freezer or a cooler with ice packs.

Additional Milk Storage Guidelines:

1. Fresh milk may be kept at room temperature (up to 77°F or 25°C) for 4 hours. Temperatures greater than 77°F (25°C) may not be safe for room temperature storage.
2. Milk may be stored in an insulated cooler bag with ice packs for 24 hours.
3. Milk may be safely refrigerated (40°F or 4°C) for up to 5 4 days. Store milk in the back of the refrigerator, where the temperature is the coolest, not in the door.
4. When freezing milk, the amount of time it may stay frozen depends on the type of freezer you have.
5. Store in refrigerator/freezer with separate doors (0°F or −18°C) for 6 months.
6. Store in a chest or upright manual defrost deep freezer (−4°F or −20°C) for up to 12 months.

The above guidelines apply only to healthy, term infants; guidelines are different for hospitalized, sick, or preterm infants.

Your breast milk is the best nutrition for your baby and provides many antibodies to help fight infections and viruses. If you cannot pump your own milk and are considering donor milk, milk banks that screen donors pasteurize donor milk are safer than informally shared milk. Please visit the Human Milk Banking Association of America for more information.