Can Babies Drink Cold Breast Milk?

Cold milk is considered safe unless your baby is premature but talk to your doctor about it.

Reviewed by Mindy Cockeram, LCCE, CLEC Mindy Cockeram Mindy CockeramLCCE, CLEC MomJunction on FacebookFollow MomJunction on TwitterFollow MomJunction on LinkedinFollow MomJunction on Instagram Specialty: Childbirth & BreastfeedingExperience: 11 years
Written by , M.Sc. (Food & Nutrition), MBA Swati Patwal M.Sc. (Food & Nutrition), MBA Follow MomJunction on Linkedin Specialty: Food, Nutrition and HealthExperience: 10 years
Edited by , BSc, MBA Rohit Garoo BSc, MBA Follow MomJunction on Linkedin Specialty: Baby Health and WellnessExperience: 9 years
Fact-checked by , MSc, MA, BEd Ghazia Shah MSc, MA, BEd Follow MomJunction on Linkedin Specialty: Health & WellnessExperience: 3 years
Last Updated on
✔ Research-backed

MomJunction believes in providing reliable, research-backed information to you. As per our strong editorial policy requirements, we base our health articles on references (citations) taken from authority sites, international journals, and research studies. However, if you find any incongruencies, feel free to write to us.

Baby Drinking Cold Breast Milk

Image: Shutterstock

Many parents find it convenient to refrigerate breast milk to keep it fresh for later consumption. Many teething babies may also prefer cold milk as it offers relief from pain. However, this raises a common question in the minds of many parents: can babies drink cold milk?

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, babies can safely consume cold, warm, or room-temperature milk (1). However, ensure that the milk is not too hot for the baby to avoid scalding.

In This Article

Can Babies Have Cold Milk?

Babies can drink breast milk at room temperature or slightly colder

Image: Shutterstock

Your baby can drink breast milk at room temperature or slightly colder. It does not necessarily need to be warm (1). However, there is no evidence-based research on infants’ cold or chilled milk consumption. Hence, you should discuss feeding cold milk to your baby with the baby’s pediatrician and then decide according to the baby’s health status and preference between cold and warm milk.

In order to avoid scalding the baby’s mouth, the temperature of the milk should be tested before the feed. Many babies will happily accept milk that is warm or cold. If your baby prefers only warm milk, you can use bottle warmers that work for bottle-feeding or expressed breastmilk (2).

Pros Of Giving Baby Cold Breastmilk Or Formula

Here are some pros of feeding cold breast milk or formula milk to your baby (3):

  • Feeding the baby with cold milk is easier as heating the milk at a low temperature takes longer.
  • Feeding cold milk helps eliminate the risk of overheating the milk, which is not good for the baby, as it may lead to mouth blisters.
  • If the baby is used to drinking cold milk, it makes traveling easier. You can directly give expressed milk or bottle feed and need not worry about warming the milk.
protip_icon Point to consider
Do not microwave breastmilk or formula as it does not heat the milk evenly, leaving hot spots (7).
If your baby drinks cold milk, it makes traveling easier

Image: Shutterstock

Cons Of Giving Baby Cold Breastmilk Or Formula

Here are some cons of feeding cold milk to your baby (3):

  • If breastfed babies drink warm milk regularly, they may refuse to drink milk from cold or refrigerated bottles.
  • Feeding cold milk to a premature newborn may not be a good choice. You should warm up the milk before feeding it to the baby.
  • Sometimes it may be difficult to mix a bottle of cold breast milk properly because the hindmilk and foremilk may separate. This may adversely affect the nutritional content of the breast milk.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Can a baby drink cold milk and achieve optimum weight gain?

Milk is a crucial contributing factor to your baby’s weight gain and overall nourishment. Also, there is no evidence saying cold milk can reduce weight gain. However, increasing the amount per feed may help a premature infant become healthier as it nourishes the body and increases their fat intake (4).

2. Can babies drink cold milk when they have a cold?

While there’s no evidence of the side effects of babies drinking cold milk during a cold, you should avoid giving them anything cold if it irritates their throat.

3. Can babies drink cold milk in the middle of the night?

While there is no specific evidence suggesting harm, babies may not be receptive to cold milk in the middle of the night. Cold milk may stimulate a baby to awaken more so than warm milk and it is possible that they may not fall back asleep as easily.

4. Can babies drink milk straight from the fridge?

There is no clear evidence that babies cannot drink milk straight from the refrigerator. However, since babies are sensitive and still building their immune system, it is better to feed moderately cool or warm milk or refer to special health advice (3).

5. Can cold milk cause constipation in babies?

There is no evidence that cold milk causes constipation. Usually it is a component of the mother’s diet in the breastmilk that causes a change to bowel habits. Rice and dairy milk can also be culprits when the baby is moving to solid foods. If your breastfed baby is constipated, review your diet to see if you can highight what may be causing the baby to react this way. Constipation in older or non-breastfed babies is usually due to a diet low in fiber, consumption of too much cow’s milk or dehydration. If constipation continues, contact your pediatrician. (5).

6. Does cold milk upset a baby’s stomach?

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there is no need to warm the breast milk before giving it to the baby. You may give it at room temperature or cold. No evidence shows that cold breast milk causes stomach upset in babies (6).

7. How long is cold breast milk good for babies?

You may store expressed breast milk in the refrigerator for up to four days. It can be stored in the freezer for six months. Although it is acceptable to store for 12 months or even more, the quality can be affected (6).

8. How long can cold breast milk sit out?

Newly expressed breast milk can stay out for nearly four hours at room temperature 77°F or colder. You may store it in an insulated cooler with ice for upto 24 hours. Once the cold or frozen breast milk is warmed or brought to room temperature, you should use it within two hours (6).

Babies may have cold or warm milk, depending on how and under what circumstances the milk is given. Although cold milk may not cause any harm to the baby, make sure you mix it well and your baby is healthy enough to drink cold milk. However, if you are feeding your baby expressed breast milk, you need not worry about the temperature since it is naturally a safe moderate warm. If you are still wondering – can babies drink cold milk, you may consult your doctor to know about the safest options for your baby.

Infographic: Is There A Particular Way To Thaw Frozen Breast Milk?

Expressed breast milk may be given to your baby at room temperature or even cold, and warming is not necessary. However, the proper method of thawing frozen breast milk ensures your baby’s safety. The infographic below shares some essential tips to follow.

safe ways and tips for thawing stored breast milk (infographic)

Illustration: Momjunction Design Team

Key Pointers

  • Most babies can consume warm, slightly cold, or milk at room temperature.
  • Cold milk takes less time to prepare, making traveling with a baby easier.
  • However, if the foremilk and hindmilk are too cold, they will not mix properly.


Learn about the suitability of cold milk for babies in this informative video. Explore the advantages and disadvantages of offering your infant cold milk and discover essential safety measures to follow.

References

MomJunction's articles are written after analyzing the research works of expert authors and institutions. Our references consist of resources established by authorities in their respective fields. You can learn more about the authenticity of the information we present in our editorial policy.
  1. Storage And Preparation Of Breast Milk.
    https://www.cdc.gov/breastfeeding/pdf/preparation-of-breast-milk_H.pdf
  2. Tips For Bottle Feeding Your Baby.
    https://www.nct.org.uk/baby-toddler/feeding/practical-tips/tips-for-bottle-feeding-your-baby
  3. Bottle Feeding Babies: Giving The Bottle.
    https://www.babybonus.msf.gov.sg/parentingresources/web/Babies/BabiesNutrition/BabiesBottle_Feeding/Babies_Bottlefeed?_afrLoop=76390886085745155&_afrWindowMode=0&_afrWindowId=null#%40%3F_afrWindowId%3Dnull%26_afrLoop%3D76390886085745155%26_afrWindowMode%3D0%26_adf.ctrl-state%3Dscla92fh5_13
  4. Breastfeeding Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ).
    https://www.cdc.gov/breastfeeding/php/faq/faq.html
  5. Nutrition Newsletter Constipation Treatment For Infants And Children.
    https://hsc.unm.edu/medicine/departments/pediatrics/divisions/continuum-of-care/pdf/constipation-treatment-infants-children.pdf
  6. Breast Milk Storage and Preparation.
    https://www.cdc.gov/breastfeeding/breast-milk-preparation-and-storage/handling-breastmilk.html
  7. Once Baby Arrives – Food Safety for Moms to Be.
    https://www.fda.gov/food/people-risk-foodborne-illness/once-baby-arrives-food-safety-moms-be
Was this article helpful?
Like buttonDislike button
Mindy Cockeram
Mindy CockeramLCCE, CLEC
Mindy Cockeram is a childbirth and breastfeeding educator with 11 years of experience. She currently resides in Southern California, where she teaches at a non-profit hospital. Her career began after the birth of her second child when she changed career direction and trained as an antenatal teacher with the National Childbirth Trust in London, England.

Read full bio of Mindy Cockeram
Swati Patwal
Swati PatwalM.Sc. (Food & Nutrition), MBA
Swati Patwal is a clinical nutritionist, a Certified Diabetes Educator (CDE) and a toddler mom with more than a decade of experience in diverse fields of nutrition. She started her career as a CSR project coordinator for a healthy eating and active lifestyle project catering to school children.

Read full bio of Swati Patwal
Rohit Garoo
Rohit GarooBSc, MBA
Rohit Garoo is a writer-turned-editor with over 9 years of experience in content writing, editing, and content marketing. He did his bachelors in Science at St. Xavier's College, Hyderabad, and masters in Business Administration at Osmania University.

Read full bio of Rohit Garoo
Ghazia Shah
Ghazia ShahMSc, MA, BEd
Ghazia is a scientist-turned-writer with three years of research experience in Cancer Biology. She did her masters degree in Biotechnology at the University of Kashmir and bachelors in Education at the same university. Ghazia then delved deeper into the science of language with a masters in English.

Read full bio of Ghazia Shah