Hi Marci
A concern I would have is the mother passing on the E coli by external
contamination of the milk - ie hands.  Hopefully she has been pumping after
washing hands, and pumping when outside the sick child's room etc.

I don't know at what level of heat treatment E coli is killed, but surely
her expressed milk can be heat treated (GOT to be better than artificial
milk).  There is a home heat treatment method called the Pretoria
pasteurisation:

Bring 450 mls water to the boil in a 1 litre saucepan (I think that's about
0.95 US pints water in a 2.1 US pint pan; the size of the pan is probably
important to bring the water up to the correct level.  I would err on the
side of having too much hot water rather than too little, in this case).
Once the water has boiled, remove from the heat and place a sterile glass
jam/jelly jar with up to 150 mls (one third of a US pint) expressed breast
milk inside. Place a lid on the saucepan and leave for 15 mins.
After 15 mins, the milk will be pasteurised.

If that sounds like too much trouble, the milk could be gently heated
directly in a pan till bubbles form round the outside, and then removed and
cooled.   In the short term, this should be manageable, until the baby can
breastfeed directly again.

Jacquie Nutt
South Africa

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