Serving expressed breast milk

jlh4236

Hi Ladies -

 I have been pumping and bottle feeding my LO and was unsure of how I should be serving him the milk. I know you're not supposed to microwave or boil it so my DH and I have been sitting a chilled bottle in a cup of warm water to take the chill off.

Does anyone have a better/more efficient way to get breast milk to room temp? Is it safe to prepare a bottle and sit it out (assuming it's just on the counter and not outside in the hot sun or anything).

TIA!

xnbride

You can actually leave freshly pumped breastmilk out for hours (4 or so; I can't remember the exact number but look it up).  I used to pump and leave it out and he would drink on it.  It worked out really well. Breastmilk is not like cowsmilk. It has special enzymes that actually kill bacteria when it sits at room temperature.  Now it does not apply to refrigerated or frozen milk.  That has the same shelf life as cows milk when defrosted or warmed.

fishermanswife1

We put the bottle in a bowl in the sink and let hot water run over it until it had reached the desired temp.

lkstor

You can keep freshly expressed BM at room temp for 10 hours according to Kellymom.com and Lansinoh. Warming BM in water works and is pretty quick. You could buy a bottle warmer as well.

damissus

Since your LO seems to be a newborn you can leave it on the counter since he will eat so often.  We have an electric kettle that boils water quickly and we dunk the bottle in hot water.