The American Academy of Pediatrics has updated guidelines. New to the guidelines is that milk pooling is now allowed. As such, the pumped over the course of 24 hours no longer needs to be separated into multiple bags. It can be separated into amounts the instead.

Earlier this month, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) updated guidelines for the storage of breast milk. While not specifically detailed before, the guidelines now state that milk pooling can be done throughout the day. This means that as mothers pump their milk, they can add an afternoon session to a morning session of pumped milk. By doing this, according to , when the breast milk is used either later in the day or at a later date, the composition will be more nutritionally complete. This is because over the course of the day, the nutritional value of .

While many resources claim that milk pooling cannot be done with chilled and freshly pumped breast milk as a result of bacterial growth that will occur, according to , warm and cold milk can be mixed and milk pumped in sessions within 24 hours can be combined without a problem.

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Given all of the information available on the storage of breast milk, it can be confusing knowing what is accurate and what is outdated. As a result, the AAP prefaces the new guidelines stating, "Many common recommendations are not evidenced-based or practical, differ for term and preterm , and can lead to families wasting precious milk."

One of those recommendations that many follow is storing two to four ounces of breast milk in the refrigerator in a bag used for storing breast milk or a clean bottle so that breast milk is not wasted.

Perhaps for those who have newborns, this advice may remain sound. For those who have older babies who need more than two to four ounces at a feeding, by transferring the milk multiple times, not only is nutritional value being lost as a result of the fat separating out from the milk, according to the guidelines, but bacteria can build up as well. As such, milk should be stored in amounts appropriate for the baby versus a generalized amount that may prove to waste more milk than it saves.

For those who freeze their breast milk, it continues to be recommended by some to freeze the breast milk as soon as it is expressed. However, according to the AAP, breast milk can be frozen after four hours at room temperature or as long as four days in the refrigerator.

The new guidelines give mothers who pump their milk a bit more leeway when it comes to storing milk for their babies. And in turn, this not only leads to less breast milk being lost but less stress about storing it as well.

For the complete milk storage update from the AAP, visit for further details.

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