Microwaving Milk Is Fine

October 4th, 2014
baby, kids, milk
Infants often prefer milk at body temperature, and for many people the easiest way to heat it is in a microwave oven. Yet parents are widely warned against heating milk this way:
To ensure that the feed heats evenly, periodically shake or swirl the feed in its covered container. Note: microwave ovens should never be used for re-warming feeds as uneven heating may result in 'hot spots' that may scald the infant's mouth.   —WHO
Or:
Do not use microwave ovens to heat bottles, because they do not heat them evenly. Uneven heating can scald your baby or damage the milk. Bottles can also explode if left in the microwave too long. Excessive heat can destroy important proteins and vitamins in the milk.   —American Academy of Pediatrics: New Mother's Guide to Breastfeeding [1]
Yes, you don't want to feed your baby milk that's too hot, and you don't want to habitually feed them milk that's been overheated, but using the microwave is completely safe as long as you (1) use a glass bottle with no lid, (2) swirl the bottle after heating, and (3) test a drop on your wrist before giving it to the baby. Milk that's the right temperature should feel like nothing, or very slightly warm. If it feels actually warm, cool it off holding the bottle under the tap and don't heat it as long next time.

Because the microwave can heat the milk but not the glass, it's best to heat the milk most of the way to the temperature you want, swirl it, and then put it in for the rest of the time. This avoids overheating the milk. When you're first learning how quickly your microwave heats things, try just a few seconds per ounce of milk; we're talking about very small amounts of stuff to be heated.

Recommendations against microwaving have minimal safety benefits and waste millions of people's time and hot water.

(Earlier, less strident post.)


[1] The CDC recommendation is just a quote of this AAP recommendation.

Referenced in:

Comment via: google plus, facebook, substack

Recent posts on blogs I like:

“We should be more ambitious with the software we build”

Since early this year, Michael Malis (of pgrust) has been showing me interesting things he's done and saying [W]e should be more ambitious1 with the software we build There is, understandably, a lot of skepticism about projects like pgrust because there…

via Posts on October 24, 2026

The DBT guide to intense negative emotions

This is a guide for handling intense negative emotions, based on dialectical behavior therapy.

via Thing of Things October 23, 2026

Was the HuggingFace hacking incident scheming?

In July 2026, internal OpenAI agents hacked HuggingFace (HF) in order to figure out how their evaluation grader works. This involved a thousand agents coordinating on an improvised message board to carry out an elaborate sequence of exploits. A later grou…

via Victoria Krakovna October 18, 2026

more     (via openring)