Traveling and Pumping

A.,

I know that it is hard to dump but really the purpose in pumping is two-fold: to have the milk, but mainly to keep up your supply so you can continue breastfeeding when you get home. If you will be gone longer than a few days, plan to dump what you pump at the beginning and save your last few days.

I had to travel a lot in the job that I had when my son was an infant and I only kept all the milk if I was gone 2-3 days. Anything longer than that, and I kept the last 2-3 days. I was a "good pumper" and could easily get 8-12 oz per pumping so storing all of it and carrying it back frozen was simply too much.

Call ahead to your hotel to make arrangements and don't be surprised if you have to make new arrangements when you get there. Be flexible and know that what you are really doing is keeping your supply up so that your son can keep breastfeeding when Mama gets home:)

Good luck! C.

Contact LaLecheLeague via google and also check with your OB - the nurses there will give you some sound advice.

Hey A.,
I have travelled a couple of times whild breastfeeding. It was tough, but we made it through. One thing to keep in mind is that if you are staying a hotel that does not have refridgerators, you can request one for your room, that way you can keep you milk in there while you are there and not have to worry about cooling and replacing the ice packs. The hotel refridges don't usually have a strong enough freezer to freeze the gel packs, so I would tkae them down to the hotel kitchen the night before I was leaving and ask them to put them in their freezer. They have always kindly oblidged with both requests. Also, I never had a problem with TSA. Breastmilk stays good in the refridge for 7 days, so depending on how long you will be gone, you may or may not be able to freeze it.
The whole thing takes some work and forethought, but it is so worth it. Good for you!!!! Good luck! If you have any other questions, please feel free to contact me!

I went out of town for a few days when my daughter was about 5 months old. I got a hotel that had a refrigerator/freezer and stored it in the freezer when I was there. I used a medela pump with those plastic storage bags. Then when I was getting ready to fly I put them all in a softsided travel cooler with a bunch of ice and it stayed frozen until I got home. I was so nervous about airport security, but they didn't seem to care at all. I even brought my daughters birth certificate to prove I had an infant because I'm such a nervous person, but I didn't need it. Good luck!

When I travelled, I requested a fridge for my hotel room to store the milk. Then the day you leave put it in the cooler bag with gel packs and carry it on the plane. Each time they thoroughly inspected my breast pump and milk but were always very respectful. They did have to open my containers of milk and put some paper above to check chemicals but never put the paper in the milk. Good luck.

Just an FYI...It is illegal for TSA or any airline to prohibit you from carring breast milk. It is also illegal for them to have you tast it too! They can do a "fume" test on it. If you are concerned about them taking it, maybe get a note from the child's pediatrician or your doctor. Make sure you have a fridge in your hotel to store the milk. Depending on how long you are gone...from what i remember, breast milk is only good in the fridge for a few days. So if at all possible, try to freeze it and bring lots of those icepacks to travel home with in your cooler so it remains frozen. Good Luck!!!!!

I had to go on business trips for a week at a time sometimes. Not sure how long gel packs stay cold but freezing water bottles works. Ask if your hotel has a freezer in the kitchen. I was late getting to the airport one time and almost didn't make my flight accross country. I got lucky but I recommend getting to the airport on time for your return trip ;)

How long are you going to be gone? Are you going to just a single destination? If it is for more than a few days and you won't have access to a reliable freezer, you might consider buying a cheapy styrofoam cooler on the other end and getting some dry ice from the local grocer to store the milk. But be careful to put something (newspaper, etc.) between the dry ice and milk containers. And I would use the bags, not the plastic jars with the dry ice, if you decide to try it. I don't know if the plastic storage jars will tolerate the extreme cold of dry ice. I think they would be okay, but the could concievably crack if they get too cold. But I have used ziploc bags in association with dry ice (for other purposes) and they seem to hold up fine. Once frozen (especially on dry ice which is much colder than your freezer) adequate ice packs should suffice to get them home frozen. Or if you have too much to carry on the plane, you could FedEx the milk home on dry ice. But be warned, if you thought shipping overnight was expensive, I'm pretty sure there are additional fees for shipping dry ice. Oh, and I don't think you can take dry ice on the plane. You might be able to check it, but you definitely can't take it in the passenger cabin.

If you are only going to be gone a few days, I would think freezing it in a hotel refrigerator/freezer would suffice. And if you do loose some of it to spoilage or otherwise, try not to stress about it too much. I know how precious it is (liquid gold if you ask me), but at least you will be keeping your supply up while you travel, and that is what is most important.