I wanted to revisit the topic of breastmilk that has partially
defrosted, as it recently resurfaced at the hospital where I work and one of the
nurses gave the breastfeeding mom poor advise.  The question was can
breastmilk be refrozen once it has started to defrost.  Chemically, any
liquid that is defrosting (changing phases from a solid to a liquid) stays at
that temperature until every last molecule of that solid has turned to a
liquid.  For example, water freezes (and melts) at 0 degrees
Centigrade.  The temperature of the melting ice remains at 0 degrees until
every last bit is liquid.  Now the water can be brought to a temperature
below 0 degrees in a freezer, but it starts to freeze or melt at 0
degrees.  Breastmilk would have its own freezing point, presumably slightly
below 0, and it could start out colder from the freezer, but once it started
defrosting, it would stay at freezing point no matter how much of it had
defrosted.  As a result, the amount of milk that has turned to liquid
should have no impact on the temperature until defrosting is complete.  The
mom at my hospital had lots of containers of breastmilk that had started to
defrost and the nurse suggested that she pour off the liquid and refreeze
what was left.  The baby was too small to use all of that liquid in the
near future, and as soon as the mom separated the liquid from the frozen milk,
the temperature of the milk started to rise.



--- Marilyn Farland, BSN, IBCLC

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