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.
Can Babies Have Cold Milk?
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.
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.
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.
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.
