Can You Shake Breast Milk – 5 Essential Facts Every Mom Should Know

Breast milk is an excellent source of nutrition for infants, as it contains a wide range of essential macronutrients, micronutrients, hormones, and antibodies that help support their growth and development. New parents tend to also ask, “Can you shake breast milk?”

As the primary source of nutrition for your baby, breast milk is composed of key nutrients like carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids, as well as water to help keep your baby hydrated. But breast milk is more than just a simple food. It also contains various growth factors, white blood cells, antibodies, and stem cells that offer additional benefits to your baby’s health and immune system.

Some mothers believe that gently swirling breast milk is better than shaking it, as they think that shaking breaks down the protein molecules in breast milk and reduces its nutritional value. However, there is little scientific evidence to support this claim.

The truth is that shaking breast milk does not significantly alter its nutritional composition or quality. Studies have shown that shaking breast milk does not affect its fat or protein content, nor does it affect the activity of important enzymes or immunoglobulins in breast milk.

Therefore, it is safe to shake breast milk to mix the layers of fat that may have separated. Doing so will not harm the milk or reduce its nutritional value. However, if you prefer to swirl the milk, that is also perfectly fine.

Ultimately, the most important thing is to handle breast milk with care and ensure that it is stored properly to maintain its quality and safety for your baby.

Can You Shake Breast Milk

There is a common belief that swirling breast milk is better than shaking it, as shaking can break down the protein molecules and reduce its nutritional content. However, there is no scientific evidence to support this claim. Shaking breast milk does alter its appearance, but it has no negative effects on its nutritional value or protein breakdown.

Unlike cow’s milk, human breast milk is not processed using techniques like homogenization or pasteurization. As a result, the fat component of breast milk separates and rises to the top when stored in a refrigerator or left at room temperature. You need to reconstitute breast milk by shaking or swirling the bottle to distribute the nutrients evenly throughout the liquid.

It’s important to note that because you did not treat or homogenize breast milk, its denser proteins, carbohydrates, and vitamins sink to the bottom while the fat component floats to the top, resulting in a translucent layer.

Advice for new parents is to swirl breast milk instead of shaking it to reconstitute it, but this is not necessary. Shaking breast milk does not reduce its nutritional value, and it is a simple and effective way to mix the components back together.

Why You Should Not Shake Breast Milk

While there is no scientific proof that shaking breast milk affects the contents of your breast milk, there are reasons why you should not shake breast milk:

1. Shaking denatures proteins in breast milk

When proteins become denatured, their form is lost. Denatured proteins become useless since a protein’s structure determines how it performs in the human body.

Daily tasks like heating, frying meat, changing pH levels like when lemon juice curdled milk, and forceful shaking can all denature proteins, like when whipping egg whites.

Although it is possible for shaking to harm the proteins in breast milk, you would need to shake the bottle very strongly for it to happen. 

2. Colic or Gas

Air bubbles can taint breast milk if it is shaken. Swirling or even stirring is preferable to shaking if your infant is prone to colic or gas, and you should let the milk settle for a few minutes to allow air bubbles to break down.

3. Shaking damages cells and fat globules

Breast milk shaking can produce a shearing force that, at high concentrations, can harm both human and animal cells. Our blood cells constantly flow through the blood vessels throughout the day, which exposes them to a shearing force. This includes blood cells like the white blood cells present in breast milk. 

The suction effect produced by a pump flange or your baby’s mouth to express milk from your breasts exposes the cells in breast milk to shearing force regardless of whether they are shaken or not.

But, the healthy bacteria that form your baby’s gut microbiome and white blood cells, which are abundant in breast milk, are strong enough to endure the shearing generated by briefly shaking a bottle for a few seconds.

Shaking Or Swirling

Most mothers wonder what difference it makes; to shake or to swirl. While it is doubtful that the human arm could exert enough force to harm the milk’s cellular structure, there is no available data.

Shaking and swirling are two different actions that have different impacts on breast milk. So it is better to stick to the strict instruction given; Swirl not shake. 

How To Get Breast Milk To Mix Well

Compared to freshly expressed breast milk, mixing bottles of breast milk that have been chilled or thawed after being frozen can be more challenging. However, there are techniques to make the process easier.

Firstly, breast milk will homogenize more quickly and with less shaking if you warm the bottle by dipping it in a dish of hot water or by using a bottle warmer.

For better mixing, later on, thaw the bottle of breast milk that you can use later in the day by running it under cold water.

If there is fat clinging to the sides of the breast milk bottle, use a baby spoon or a small spatula to gently scrape the sides before stirring with the same object. It is important to avoid using sharp objects that could harm the bottle when scraping the sides.

By following these steps, parents can ensure that their child receives all the benefits of breast milk.

How To Properly Thaw Breast Milk

• Defrost the oldest breast milk. Keep in mind that the quality of breast milk can deteriorate over time.

• You can defrost breast milk in a variety of ways

• Overnight in the refrigerator.

• Place in a bowl of lukewarm or warm water.

• Running under warm water

• Never use a microwave to defrost or warm breast milk. Microwaves can destroy breast milk’s nutrition, and hot patches can form and burn a baby’s lips.

• If you want to use breast milk, refrigerate or defrost within 24 hours. Start keeping track of the 24 hours after the breast milk has thawed completely, not when you first took it out of the freezer.

• Use breast milk within two hours of bringing it to room temperature.

• After it has thawed, breast milk should never be refrozen.

Does Thawed Appear Different From Fresh Breast Milk

You will probably be wondering if it is safe to feed your baby frozen or freshly thawed milk. If it smells or appears different is a normal concern you are bound to have. 

Depending on your nutrition, the color of your breast milk may look different from other mums. Then again, compared to freshly expressed breast milk, thawed milk may appear to have a different odor or consistency.

Do not feed your child any milk that appears to have been compromised. Frozen breast milk has a shelf life and if it exceeds a certain period, do not feed your baby. Reduce the amount of breast milk you store if your baby rejects the thawed milk.  

Proper Way To Handle And Store Breast Milk

Human breast milk is superior to any formula and it is the best way to improve your baby’s health. Most working moms will start using a breast pump one to two weeks before returning to work.

Caregivers and even parents need to understand the best way to handle breast milk to retain its nutritional value and keep it free from bacterial growth.

How you handle your breast milk decides how healthy and how many nutrients your baby gets.

Before handling Breast milk

• Use soap and water to thoroughly wash your hands. Use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol if soap and water are not available.

• Mothers can use a manual or electronic pump or their hands to express breast milk.

• When using a pump, check sure the pump kit and tubes are clean. Replace and throw away any moldy tubing immediately

• Use a disinfectant wipe to wipe out the tabletop, power switch, and pump dials if you’re using a shared pump.

When Storing Breast Milk: Tips To Follow

• To preserve expressed breast milk, use clean, food-grade containers or breast milk storage bags. You need a tight-fitting lid and glass or plastic construction for the containers.

• Never keep breast milk in plastic bags or disposable bottle liners that.

• You can express or pump milk that for up to 4 hours at room temperature (77°F or lower).

• Up to 4 days in the refrigerator

• When you express breast milk, mark the date.

• Do not keep breast milk in the freezer or refrigerator door. This will reduce the act of temperature changes brought by the opening and closing of the door on the breast milk.

• When you express breast milk, freeze as soon as possible if you don’t think you’ll use it within 4 days. This will aid in preserving breast milk’s quality.

• When you freeze breast milk:

• To prevent wasting milk that you might not be use up, store little portions. Keep in containers that hold 2 to 4 ounces or the serving size.

• Breast milk expands as it freezes, so leaves approximately an inch of space at the top of the container.

• When traveling, breast milk can be kept for up to 24 hours in an insulated cooler with ice packs. Use the milk immediately away, put it in the fridge, or freeze it until you get there.

Expressed Breast Milk Feeding

Warming breast milk is not necessary. It can be served chilled or at room temperature.

But, here are some suggestions if you choose to reheat breast milk:

• Maintain the container’s seal.

• Put the tightly closed container in a basin of warm water or hold it for a short period under warm, not hot, running water.

• Before giving your infant milk, test its temperature by dabbing a few drops on your wrist.

• Avoid heating breast milk in the microwave or on the stove.

• To combine any separated fat, swirl the breast milk.

Use the remaining milk within two hours of the baby’s last feeding if they didn’t finish the bottle. Discard if your baby cannot finish it after 

two hours.

How Long Does Expressed Milk Last

The durability of recently expressed breast milk depends solely on the storage method. For new mums who are unaware of the proper ways expressed milk can be stored, here are a few guidelines to consider

1. Room temperature

Fresh milk can be stored at room temperature for up to six hours. However, if the atmosphere is warm, it is best to use it up or carefully preserve the breast milk within four hours.

2. Insulated cooler

Breast milk that has been expressed can be kept up for a day in an insulated cooler with ice packs. This is an ideal way to keep breast milk fresh while traveling.

3. Refrigerator

Breast milk that has been expressed can be kept in a clean environment for up to four days in the coolest part of the refrigerator. It is best to use the milk within three days of it being expressed.

4. Deep freezer

When freshly expressed milk is kept in the back of a deep freezer, it can last for up to 12 months. But always remember that the best time to use frozen milk is within six months.

Note that studies have shown that the amount of vitamin C in breast milk decreases the longer it is kept frozen whether in the deep freezer or refrigerator. I advise that you do everything that benefits your baby the most. 

The Bottom Line

Proteins that have been denatured are indeed unable to carry out their intended tasks. However, proteins found in breast milk are considerably more difficult to denature than others. While shaking breast milk can alter its appearance by causing air bubbles to form, the nutritional value of the milk is not affected.

Breast milk is a complex and resilient substance, and the precise amount of shaking or spinning required to denature its proteins is unknown due to a lack of research. However, it is known that it would require far more power than a human arm can produce.

When it comes to your baby, shaking or mixing breast milk should not have a significant impact on the nutritional integrity of the milk, as long as proper storage and handling procedures are followed. However, air bubbles can get trapped in the milk, which can cause gas and colic for your baby.

To be safe, it is best to use light pressure when swirling or stirring breast milk bottles to minimize the formation of air bubbles. If fat clings to the sides of the bottle, a baby spoon or small spatula can be used to gently scrape it away before stirring. Thawed breast milk can be quickly homogenized by warming the bottle in a dish of hot water or using a bottle warmer before stirring.