Barb, Maybe a compromise would work. Not to be adversarial, but most moms don't need to keep the milk (in hospital) for several hours. In my experience, if they are pumping due to no latch, then they are rather quickly feeding it to baby. Either pumping right before feeding baby or post-feed, using it again only a short time later at baby's next feed. If they are pumping post-feed due to supplementation with ebm (twins maybe) or to stimulate more milk (breast reduction surgery maybe) then they will, in all likelihood, use that milk quickly too. Actually I get a bit nervous about keeping milk out for that long. Under the normal circumstances, milk is meant to be kept inside mom til ready to be consumed directly at the breast. I know that some work has been done about keeping milk at room temp for longer, but I believe that should be done only when there are no provisions for refrigeration. I think it is always best to have a cooler or ice handy. In hospital, if there is a concern about mixing up different mother's milks, then a small plastic basin or even plastic bag filled w/ ice could be kept at bedside. I realize this would involve warming the milk or taking it out of the icea short time before a feeding. Perhaps a shorter term of room temp storage could be acceptable (3 or 4 hrs?) or use of ice or small cooler at bedside. Hope this is of some help. Good luck and let us know what is decided. Laurie Wheeler, IBCLC, MN, RN New Orleans Louisiana, s.e. USA _________________________________________________________________ MSN 8 helps eliminate e-mail viruses. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html