What are others doing in terms of the length of time fortified human milk can be stored? We are revising policies in preparation for our nursery redesignation later this year. The question arose - must any remaining fortified milk be discarded after a feeding or can it be stored for a length of time? We normally use one packet of fortifier per 25 ml of EBM. One of our babies (32 weeks) is currently ordered to get 38 ml/fdg. Someone in the nursery has said that the remaining 12 ml of fortified EBM must be discarded each feeding. This poor mom is struggling for every drop - throwing away any of her milk is completely unacceptable! The nurse is fortifying 50 ml with 2 packets of fortifier, feeding the baby the required 38 ml and discarding the rest. There are 2 schools of thought raging right now. If EBM is viewed as a medicine, hospital policy states that any medication mixed at the bedside is to have any remainder discarded, not saved for the next dose. The manufacturer's directions for use state that fortified milk must be discarded after 4 hours at room temperature if used for tube feeding; for bottle feeding, it must be used immediately and cannot be used if unrefrigerated for more than 2 hours, and any remaining after a feeding, must be discarded after 1 hour. Unused, freshly prepared milk can be regrigerated up to 24 hours. Our nurses, for convenience, would like to make up at least a shift's worth of feedings, which would be refrigerated between feedings. One of our sister hospitals' policy states that the fortified EBM cqn be stored refrigerated for up to 24 hours. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Pam Hirsch, BSN,RN,IBCLC Clinical Lead, Lactation Services Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital Barrington, IL USA *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html