Many times my baby starts drinking EBM from the bottle but does not finish it right away. Can I keep the milk and feed it to my baby within 2 -3 hours or do I need to discard it after one hour like formula??
I'd say it depends on the weather. In winter, you may get away with 2 hours.
Probably safer not to, though. Try defrosting just enough - or less than you think baby will drink. No harm in defrosting more if needed.
As soon as milk comes into contact with the baby the milk can be contaminated with the germs from the baby. And because warm milk is such a good breeding ground for germs to grow we need to be careful.
In breast milk there are anti-germ agents which will fight the germs as they grow, thus breast milk can last longer than formula milk.
If the breast milk is fresh and not touched the baby?s mouth yet it can last up to six hours in room temperature. If it has touched the baby?s mouth then it should be used quickly. We usually recommend within half an hour and with formula we?d suggest throwing the rest away immediately.
Dr. Ruth Lawrence suggests that if the milk hasn?t touched the baby?s mouth but been heated it can be returned to the fridge and heated a second time (but not a thirds time). This is not the case with formula which should be made up just before the feed each time. http://www.breastfeeding.com/all_about/lawrence_anwers1.html
I would try not to, but would keep EBM in a bottle that the baby had drunk from for 1-2 hours (esp when we were out this would envitably happen). Same as hiya, I would be more relaxed about this in the winter or aircon'd mall - less so outside in the heat/summer.
I too would put the unfinished bottle back into the fridge. I did that with both my babies and never encountered any problems. If we were out, then I would only keep the unfinished milk for an hour after they had stopped drinking it in the summer and longer during the winter. it's always hard to dump your own milk.