travel with frozen milk

[oscair]

have a prob, can anyone tell ne how i can travel with milk without it defrosting, i thought of a cool box but really need an icebox, any suggestions, thanks, urs

avent do a travel bag with ice packs - or just make your own.

hi tracey, where have you seen the avent bag with icepacks as i have never seen it and there is no mention of it on their website, thanks urs

Avent have a coolbag that you get as part of the out and about kit with a breastpump, but (depending how long you're travelling for) I wouldn't have thought it was hugely suitable for storing frozen breastmilk for long periods. I use it for transporting my pump and expressed milk from work and it keeps it very cold, but not sure how long it would keep it frozen.

yeah, thats the thing asnd even though they say milk can store cold in a fridge for up to a week, my milk is always sour at 24 hrs in
.the fridge, so i was hoping someone may know of ice box noy related to breastfeeding, if you know what i mean! urs

Are you sure it's going sour? BM does separate a lot more than cows milk. Shake and it's OK (for up to 24hrs that is!)

How long do you want to travel and keep milk frozen for? If it's just for an hour or so, then get a coolbag (avent or similar) then fill it with frozen icepacks and your bag of ebm. You'll need to exclude as much of the air as possible, which is why a coolbox would be no good.

in hospital with ds3 ( a preemie) I was told breastmilk if fine for 48 hrs in a fridge, had previously thought 24 hrs. Now go by 48 hrs, its much easier. I would think a coolbag packed with 2-3 icepacks would keep frozen milk frozen but i don't know for how long.

in hospital with ds3 ( a preemie) I was told breastmilk if fine for 48 hrs in a fridge, had previously thought 24 hrs. Now go by 48 hrs, its much easier. I would think a coolbag packed with 2-3 icepacks would keep frozen milk frozen but i don't know for how long.

Probably a bit more extreme than you are looking for, but when ds was 6 months old I went off skiing witohut him and expressed for 8 days, stroing it in the chalet freezer. We put all the sachets (Avent freezer bags) into a freezer bag, complete with some freezer blocks we'd taken along for the purpose, for the trip back. We also packed as much "insulating" things around the greezer bag as possible. We were driving,so it took us about 20 hours (all the way back to Scoltand).

They were just starting to defrost (the bags weren't quite rigid - but still firm) by the time we got home, so I put them straight in the freezer. Dds didn't seem to suffer when he was given them

As an aside, this was in the middle of the foot and mouth crisis, when the import of dairy goods was forbidden. I was jasit waiting to be stopped at cusotms and told I couldn't bring in the "milk". I would have loved to have told them that I could personally vouch for every ounce! ..... but I never got the chance!

prettybird, are freezer blocks just those blue ice-pack things?

Yes- that's all we used. We'd taken out a zip-up insulated bag with us (like you would use for a picnic)

The insulated bag was stuffed full with both the frozen milk and the freezer block. That probably helped keep the temperature down too.

It was rather a lot of milk though - after 8 days expressing, I think about 30 fl.oz a day - which I was damned if I was going to throw away!

Sorry - I wasn't as clear as I meant to be. Yes, I ean the blue ice-pack things. I think I had two or three of them, plus maybe a flexible one that is supposed to be used for sports injuries. Ds is 4.5 now - so it is 4 years ago!

And did your ds take to the breast again when you got home, prettybird?

He went back on no problem - I went on to full b/f for over 12 months.

He was already used to EBM - I'd started expressing when he was only about 2 weeks old, as he wasn't gaining weight - on the advice of the hospital b/f specialists. And for a wee while he was on EBM every second feed, before I stopped bothering and we realised it wasn't changing his weight gain, despite the fact that we could now see he was getting plenty. And he was happy, healthy and alert all along!

But I kept the expressing going, as it gave me some freedom and also (very important) I was going back to work f/t when he was 4 months old, so I was able to build up a store and keep him on exclusive b/f. I also had to do a load of extra expressing before I went - but I am proud to say I left enough for the whole time I was away!

gee, thanks foryourhelp, i was considering a box but will get a cool bag, i go on the thurs of next weekto ireland milk will be about 5 hrs from freezer to freezer then i head off that afternoon and dont see baby till sat morn, as luck will have it the reception is in my home town so will nip off and express and send my brother home with milk between church and hotel, but i can only get 4 oz at a go so thurs night fri morn will just be 8-12 oz max, so i may be back to get exact details again need to reread the info and find a suitable bag, are those blue ice blocks available in supermarkets.

as for sour milk i dont know what is wrong, maybe iheat the milk in too hot water like tonight i defrosted milk from the avent via containers in just boiled water and it was so definitely sour also my milk was coming out of boots bags sour , i have got lansinoh bags now, thawed out one in cool water recently and itwasnt sour , so thinking the water, dont know if it is better with lansinoh bags , also i know after 24 hrs my milkn is definitely sour , no way a wee baby or anyone else could drink it

anyway, thanks again folks, urs

prettybird, can you tell me where i can get one of the zipperinsulating bags ,i need to find it in a hurry as until last week i thought i was going home on my own and leavingdaddy and baby here, but circumstances changed and we are all going home now, i know i am asking to be spoon fed really, urs

Hope you don't mind me butting in, but you can get those bags almost anywhere. Most supermarkets have them - look in the lunch box section, that size should be ideal.

Also, don't know if the price is too much, or if you could borrow one? but my parents have a plug in fridge that plugs into the car. Are you going by car? They have them on offer in Woolies here for £25. They fit about 10 cans of coke, so would do the trick.

Re sour milk - do you have to defrost it in water? I do mine slowly in the fridge, which seems to help with sourness. Do you think it's sour because you've tasted it? My milk looks awful if it settles, but once shaken is fine.

HTH

Oscair, they do them in Roches stores over here if you don't get them before you go!

PS I always found storage bottles were better than bags for freshness, not sure why. I also thinkdefrosting overnight in the fridge is better than heating. If heated its better to give to baby straight away.

I'd have thought you could get a cool bag from any supermarket (I have to admit that mine is an ancient freebie, I think from the AA ). As Laura032004 says, try the lunch box section. Not sure if you would get the freezer blocks there or in with the freezer! Any department store or somewhere like Lakeland Plastics will also have something.

Have to say, I never heated up ds' milk. It was either defrsoted overnight or on the counter, depending on time availalbe - and ds got it at either frdige or room temperature. Was never aware of it going sour - and I used to stroe it for quite a while in the fridge. Some (but not all) of it used to separate quite dramatically - but easily sorted by shaking.

I also used to express on day trips down to London (for work) - and just put it into the fridge when I got home in the evening. Ds never seemed to suffer

hello, all, thanks all must say alwaysdefrosting in a hurry, so will try defrosting slowly, my milkn seems to sour if in the fridge longer than 24 hrs even before freezing horrible taste anyway my older kid is trying to destroy keyboard so will try later! urs