Judy says,

<< However, for the scientific record, I believe that the first study
 showing that unrefrigerated breastmilk had low bacterial counts involved
 test tubes of breastmilk left unrefrigerated for 10 hours in an Israeli
 lab in considerable heat (like about 39 degrees Celsius.) I am away on
 vacation, so I don't have the cite, but it is referenced in lots of
 materials on storage times. >>

Well, I've never seen that study, but I do know that there was one done in
1986 that cited "room temperature" at 6 hours, and then the study that was
done by Pat Bull and me in 1987 that was published widely which demonstrated
that there was no significant difference between the breastmilk left at room
temperature (75 degrees or so) and refrigerated at 10 hours.  Some of the
milk left at room temp had bacterial counts lower than it's counterpart which
was refrigerated; and some had lower levels than the milk that was tested
immediately after expression.

While the baby's saliva may be the greatest source of contamination, it IS
the baby's, right?  And you are giving the milk to THAT baby, right?  Does
gentle warming of the cold milk do anything bad to it?

Jan Barger, RN, MA, IBCLC

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