Breast Milk on a Day Away from Home: Work, Day Trips, Events and Everyday Life

Three questions that organize the day

A workday, a day trip, a wedding and an ordinary day of errands all look different, but their logistics are similar. Before you leave, answer three questions:

1. Where will you pump? A quiet room with a power outlet, if your pump is electric, and somewhere to wash your hands.
2. Where will the milk wait? In a fridge, in a cooler bag with an ice pack, or in an electric cooler (a portable fridge). What you choose decides what you pack in the morning.
3. How will it get home? The way home is often the longest stretch without a fridge, especially in end-of-day traffic.

We wrote about trips themselves, with an airport and a hotel, in how to store breast milk when traveling. This article is about one day away from home.

On a workday

• A cooler bag with an ice pack. That's the Ministry of Health's recommendation for days when you pump at work. According to the same page, it's important to keep continuous contact between the ice pack and the milk container.
• If there's a fridge at the office. A shared fridge gets opened a lot during the day. The Ministry of Health recommends storing milk at the back of the fridge and not in the door, and marking each container with the pumping date. A closed container with a name helps in a shared fridge too.
• The way home. The cooler bag travels in the passenger cabin, with the air conditioning, not in the trunk.

You can read about the rights of breastfeeding women at work on the Kol-Zchut page on the rights of breastfeeding women (Hebrew). That isn't our area, so we only point you there.

On a day trip

• The ice packs are frozen solid from the night before, according to their manufacturer's instructions.
• The cooler bag doesn't stay in a parked car, not even for a few minutes at a stop.
• A small thermometer inside the cooler bag. With a cooler bag and ice packs, there's no other way to know what's happening inside. What the number means is a question for the Ministry of Health table, a well-baby clinic nurse or a lactation consultant.

At a wedding, a brit or another event

An event is the hardest day to plan, because the place isn't yours and you don't always know what's there. Two questions you can ask the venue or your hosts in advance:

• Is there a quiet room for pumping, with a power outlet?
• Can you leave a cooler bag in the fridge or ice packs in the freezer in the kitchen, and who do you turn to at the end of the evening?

If the answers aren't clear, go out with a cooler bag and enough ice packs for the whole evening and the way home.

On an ordinary day: errands, a doctor's appointment, a visit to family

An ordinary outing is also a day away from home, and the same principles apply:

• A cooler bag with an ice pack. The Ministry of Health recommends it for days when you're out of the house, not only when you pump at work.
• If there's a fridge where you're going, for example at your family's, the Ministry of Health recommends putting the milk at the back of the fridge and not in the door, and marking the pumping date. A closed container helps here too.
• Stops on the way: the cooler bag doesn't stay in a parked car, not even for a few minutes.

Where it's written how long is allowed

We don't write storage times here, on purpose. The Ministry of Health publishes a table by storage location, on its storing and thawing breast milk page (Hebrew). A practical tip: photograph the table on your phone before you leave the house.

A portable fridge on a day away from home

The Secrets Box by Practi is an electric medication cooler, built for carrying medication that needs refrigeration. You can also use the XL 2.0 model to cool breast milk in a dedicated storage bag, as long as the bag fits in the container.

• What fits: the XL 2.0 container fits 2 standard breast milk storage bags, each holding up to 200 ml (6.8 oz). It's worth measuring your bags first, because sizes vary between manufacturers. The base model's container is narrower, so this applies to the XL 2.0 only.
• How to power it on a day out: at the office from an outlet, in the car from a USB adapter for the car's lighter socket, and at an event or on a trip from a power bank. The way we recommend with our fridge: plug it into a power bank (sold separately), and it then stays within 2 to 8°C (36 to 46°F) as long as it is plugged in. The car adapter is sold separately too.
• The order: first plug it in and wait until the fridge reaches the range, and only then put the bags in.
• What's worth comparing: the Ministry of Health page gives a fridge temperature of no more than 4°C (39°F). Our fridge's working range is 2 to 8°C (36 to 46°F), so it won't always be at 4°C or lower. As long as the fridge is plugged in, the display shows the actual temperature, and you decide whether it's right.
• Without power: the display works only when the fridge is plugged in, so in ice pack mode there is no temperature reading, and you can't compare it to the 4°C. With our fridge: either power or the bio-gel ice pack, never both together.
• What it doesn't do: it doesn't freeze. It only cools, and a smart system prevents freezing.

There's no disconnect alert, so it's worth glancing at the display now and then. A dark display means the fridge is not getting power.

Questions that keep coming up

How do I keep breast milk cool on a workday?

The Ministry of Health recommends that on days when you pump at work, you keep the milk in a cooler bag with an ice pack, with continuous contact between the ice pack and the container. If you use an office fridge, put the milk at the back and not in the door, in a closed container marked with the pumping date.

Can I put pumped milk in a shared office fridge?

The Ministry of Health recommends storing milk at the back of the fridge and not in the door, because the temperature in the door changes every time it's opened. In a shared fridge, it's also worth marking the container with a name and date.

How do I keep breast milk cool at a wedding or an event?

Ask the venue or your hosts in advance whether there's a quiet room for pumping and a place for a cooler bag or ice packs. If the answers aren't clear, go out with a cooler bag and enough ice packs for the whole evening and the way home.

How long can breast milk stay in a cooler bag?

We don't write storage times. They appear in the Ministry of Health table, on the "storing and thawing breast milk" page, by storage location.

You can read more about The Secrets Box, a portable medication fridge, on the product page.

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How this article was written. We gathered this information from public sources online and brought it together in one place. We are not a medical body, we have no medical or pharmacy qualification, and no medical professional has gone over this article.

Accurate as of the update date shown at the top of this article. Information may change. Security procedures, airline guidelines, medication leaflets and product specifications change from time to time, and the information here may no longer be up to date. It is the reader's responsibility to verify every detail with the official source before acting on it.

This article is general information, not medical advice. For questions about your medication, talk to your pharmacist or doctor. It contains no recommendation on medication storage, dose, method of use or how long a medication stays usable. The only sources for those questions are your medication's patient leaflet, your pharmacist and your doctor. Responsibility for storing and using the medication lies solely with the user and their healthcare provider. The Secrets Box is a cooled carrying case for medication and is not a medical device.

About breast milk too: there is no guidance here on storage times or on the safety of the milk, and no commitment that the milk will stay good. The source is the Ministry of Health, a well-baby clinic nurse or a lactation consultant. It is the reader's responsibility to check the guidelines in depth and decide.