How long can breast milk remain fresh after being expressed, with no fridge?

Question

When asking another question about custard for babies, someone gave good tips about storing in a cool and dark place/putting in a bowl of cold water. (No electricity where we live, and it is a tropical climate)

Since some of you asked... I am in the Gambia, West Africa. I was asking on behalf of my friends who, as I explained, live in an area with no electricity. This area comprises of more than 500 families, so it's not a simple matter of paying the bill. There is no electricity supply to the area, never mind their house. This area is a suburb.

How am I online? Simple. I either go online at the office, OR in the internet cafes. Plenty of electricity supply here, in the town, but that's of no use to the people who live in the affected areas.
To Imrightyo... No, I'm not making it up.

Room temperature here... depends on the day, naturally, but averages... outside 30c-35c, inside... about 25c-30c. the best shade is to be found under the tree outside.

Answer 1

Heres a good chart for you
http://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/milkstorage.html

Since it lists warm weather storage. Chilling it from room temp also kills a little of the good stuff in it, so when safe, I thought it was better to leave it out if you will soon be using it.

Answer 2

It depends on the temperature of the room. If you want to store breastmilk at "room temperature"

Warm room 79°F / 25°C 4-6 hours
Room temperature 66-72°F / 19-22°C 10 hours

However if you use icepacks, etc to lower that temp then of course it lasts longer

Insulated cooler / icepacks 60°F / 15°C 24 hours

(check out the cool chart: http://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/milkstorage.html that I got the info from)

Another thing to note is that when breastmilk goes bad, it goes REALLY bad. It's hard to miss ;-). Remember this is breastmilk ONLY, breastmilk is a living thing that is naturally antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal -also you don't have to throw it out if the baby drinks from the bottle because of this. Formula is NOT, formula is the perfect breeding ground for bacteria, and should be thrown out once the baby has drank from the bottle, and storing prepared formula at room temp should be avoided.

Answer 3

I live in central PA where the weather is very boring compared to your location... :)

Freshly expressed breast milk is good at room temp for 4-6 hours, in the frig for 7 days, and 2-4 months in the freezer.

Once you thaw out milk, use it within 24 hours and never re-freeze breastmilk.

If you pull a bottle from the frig and heat it, use it within an hour or 2.

Since it is much warmer where you live (and soon to be summer here) I would reduce the times out in room temp a little bit. If it is just down right hot, I'd keep the milk in a cooler pack.

Answer 4

Those who say you need to use it right away are forgetting that human milk and dairy milk are not the same!

Freshly expressed breastmilk can be stored in a warm room (about 79°F) for about 4-6 hours.

At room temperature (66-72°F) expressed milk will last about 10 hours.

ETA:
OMG.....I just love how people just make up numbers out of the air!

Answer 5

I know breast milk can stay out a lot longer than the baby milk you buy from the shops.

Try asking at your local Surestart centre.

Hope everything improves! Hate it when my little girl is ill.

Answer 6

4-6 hours at room temp - about 65-70 degrees.

Answer 7

Breast milk will be ok for 6 hours at room temp, but if you live somewhere very hot it would be less than that.

Answer 8

"Refrigerate expressed milk as soon as you can; if that's not possible, breast milk will stay fresh at room temperature (but away from radiators, sun, or other sources of heat) for as long as six hours."

Answer 9

1 day

Answer 10

not very long a couple hours dont give a child breast milk that has set out longer than 5 hours...........