How to Warm a Breastmilk Bottle Away from Home?

Since you can't microwave breastmilk.....here is a trick i used with my daycare kids when we would go out for trips to the park, etc. and had no running hot water available to put it under.

I have a "man's" thermos, you know the kind they take their hot coffee to work in? Well i would boil water and fill that. Don't fill it all the way to the top so that you can fit a bottle inside of it when you need to heat it. Not all bottles will fit in it though, you might have to check that. i will tell you, it is SO much faster to heat it if you pump and store it in the bags vs. the bottles. In the bags it will heat in a fraction of the time, then you can pour it into the bottle for feeding, and the bag will fit into the thermos with no problems(which is how we did it). Your baby won't have to wait as long for a feeding this way.

Hope this helps!

When hot/warm water and a cigarette lighter plug weren't handy, I used this portable bottle warmer by Prince Lionheart. You can get this at Babies R' Us or the link below...

http://www.drivingcomfort.com/index.cfm/fa/p/pid/2046/sc/...

I would either warm the bottle under hot water or have boiling water in one of those portable coffee mugs to heat up the bottle/bag (a good one, cheap ones will not keep the water hot for a long amount of time).

If your little one is on a schedule you can always start a few mintues before your little one eats, that way you can try to avoid the crabby fuss.

Oh also sometimes I would warm up the bottle before leaving the house and kept it in one of those specail bottle warming bags. I did this if I knew my daughter would want to eat within the next 30 mins.

Hold it under hot running water from the sink (it might take awhile). Your baby will most likely adapt to luke warm milk if you dont heat it all the time.

we did the bottle under warm water too.. Like Leah said it can take awhile so it can be kinda stressful if your little one decides they are hungry NOW!! In those cases I asked if they had a Micro and zapped it for a few seconds.

I never warmed my son's bottle--formula or breastmilk--so he never expected it. He would take a bottle at any temp. However, I realize some little babies really have their preferences!

Breastmilk does not need to be kept super cold; it's more "resilient" than formula. So, depending on where you go and how long you'll be gone, you could simply put the bottle in a bottle cooler, but don't add an ice pack. Obviously, you can't do this all day, but use your good judgment.

First of all, Congrats!!!!

I made sure I had milk that was recently pumped and then brought that along. It is okay for 4-6 hours at room temp.

I also did the warm water thing too, DO NOT use HOT water as that can break down the milk, NOT good. I am suprised at how many people said they used hot water. Do your research. I do not know all the details, but I do know that it breaks down the milk, therefore breaking up the nutriens. Check into it. Use warm water always!

Congrats and keep it up, it is never easy. I nursed til he was 13 months, no formula. You will have days your ready to give up, but work through them. You will be proud in the end.

Breastmilk is good for 4-6 hours at room temp. I simply made sure I pumped before I left and used the fresh stuff. My DH didn't seem to care that her bottle was "room temp".

Hi B.,
My husband and MIL always held the bottle of breastmilk under hot running water when i wasn't around. The thermos idea sounds great. I'm going to pass that on to my sister. Congratulations on your new little one. And it's great you're breastfeeding:)

under warm water definitely... not hot. I had usually set the bottle in a larger cup, so I wouldn't have to leave the water running while it warmed up.

Congrats on your newest addition! :)