Pat Gima writes, correctly: "There have been no studies on the nutritional
or bacterial properties of frozen, then thawed milk."

A test *was* performed a few years ago, by some members of the Breastfeeding
Council in Norway, in which bacteria were inoculated into samples of freshly
expressed breastmilk; breastmilk that had been frozen, then thawed at room
temperature; breastmilk that had been frozen, then thawed in a microwave
oven; breastmilk that had been frozen, thawed at room temp, re-frozen and
re-thawed at room temperature, and freshly mixed formula.

The formula and the microwave-thawed samples grew similar and large amounts
of bacteria.  The samples that were thawed at room temperature, even the one
that had been thawed and re-frozen, grew almost nothing, as did the freshly
expressed milk.  This is part of the reason we advise against thawing or
warming breastmilk in a microwave oven, the other part being the risk of
burns to the baby from uneven heating of the milk.

The nutritional qualities of the milk samples were not investigated in this
test, and as Pat implies, this was NOT a study, but a simple test.  I urge
those of you with access to milk samples and a basic microbiology lab to
replicate it, and please publish your results.

Rachel Myr
Kristiansand, Norway

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