Breast milk Bringing it to and from the hospital (1402)
Key points below
Bringing it to and from the hospital
How should I take breast milk to and from the hospital?
When bringing breast milk to and from the hospital:
- Cold breast milk should be kept cold.
- Frozen breast milk should be kept frozen.
How to pack frozen breast milk:
- Pack breast milk tightly in a cooler.
- If you use a soft sided cooler, or a cooler that is too big, line the bottom and sides with crumpled newspaper or paper towels. Frozen bottles thaw more quickly if they touch the sides of the cooler. Pack all the containers close together in the center of the cooler. Put crumpled newspaper or paper towels on top to fill all of the space in the cooler. This will keep them from moving.
- Do not use ice. If needed, use frozen blue ice packs or freezer gel packs. Breast milk freezes at a lower temperature than water. This means that ice could thaw the frozen breast milk.
- If you are traveling for a very short distance and the containers are packed very tightly, you may not need to use freezer packs.
- If you are traveling for more than 12 hours you will need to use dry ice. Please call the Lactation Management Service for directions on how to use dry ice.
How to pack refrigerated breast milk
Refrigerated breast milk should be kept cold when bringing it to and from the hospital. Cold milk should be packed tightly in a cooler with ice or freezer packs.