5 answers

Traveling by Air Without Breastfed Baby

Does anyone have any experience traveling without your child while currently breastfeeding? I will be gone for a total of five days. I will be bringing along my pump, and will have time to pump 3-4 times a day. This is the easy part! I am wondering how to travel home with all my expressed milk. I really do not want to throw it out, but what other choices do I have. I also know that they will check my breast milk to make sure it is breast milk during the baggage check. Should I freeze it, and then keep some thawed for the baggage check? I will have a fridge at my hotel and I can bing a cooler with ice packs with me. I also plan to call the airline, but I thought if anyone could give me some tips I would appreciate that too!

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So What Happened?™

I just wanted to let you know that I was able to bring all my milk on the plane with me. I first called the airline I was flying with and they told me that I would not be able to bring it ont he plane with me. After talking to some friends, I decided to call TSA, since they are actually in charge of security at the airports. The lady I talked to said that I could bring it on the plan with me as long as I declared it to the security check person if it was over 3 oz. The man had a lot of questions for me about the milk and my pump, like, "where's the baby". Even though it was really hard not to be sarcastic with some of the questions, I answered the questions he asked me politely, and he said he would have to have someone check the milk for him. When it got to the point of checking, all the lady did was pull the milk out and visually examine it. The last time I flew with my baby, they actually checked it with those strips they show if the product has acid in it, I am not sure what they are called. So, after reading the info you all provided, I decided to travel home with it by doing the following. In my checked luggage, I packed a bunch of those blue ice bags, one of those foil hot/cold bags with the handle you can buy at Wal-Mart, and some freezer ziploc bags. You cannot bring unfrozen ice packages on the plane, they will get taken from you. I had packaged my expressed milk in the mommy milk bags, and kept them unfrozen. Then I put those bags inside the freezer ziploc bag along withthe frozen ice packages. I then put the freezer bag full of breast milk nad ice inside hte foil hot/cold bag. I folded the bag over and stuck it in my bag I would be carrying on the plane. It was really a pretty good experience, but I would call and verify through TSA each time you are flying to make sure they have not changed their rules. It was also helpful for me to have the name of the person I talked to so I could use it when explaining my situation to the security personal. I hope this information helps for all those moms traveling without their baby. I really appreciate all the feedback you provided.

More Answers

T.,
It is anice thought to bring it back. What about finding
a hospital close to where you will be and donating it to
them. With my first baby I had a lot of milk also and
ended up donating it to the local hospital where he and is
younger brother were born and they are so appreciative. It
really is good for the preemies. And yes I too traveled with
my second one nursing and left him but for only 2 days.That
for me was long enough. But I was very young then.
Anyway, my best to you.
K.

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I did this once! Since pumped fresh milk is good for five to seven days, I pumped all i could, put it in bags, put it in the fridge, went and bought dry ice (think walmart or a grocery store)and a box that will keep dry ice "frozen" and overnighted it Fed EX home to myself. It arrived still frozen!

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I don't have experience to offer you, but I did want to let you know there's a Yahoo group called PumpMoms, and this has been a big topic of conversation recently, so you may want to join up & read the previous messages. From what I recall, the consensus seems to be:

- don't freeze the milk, because then you're dealing w/ a 24-hour usage window from when it thaws instead of a 5-7 day window for fresh

- don't check your pump unless you are also bringing a "backup" pump - manaul or whatver - because of the risk of your luggage being lost or misdirected

- purchase your freezer cold packs or dry ice or whatever at your destination, or check those in your luggage, because the security folks are touchy about you having them when you're not carrying milk with you. I think one person maybe said she actually took one bag of milk with her just to "legitimize" the cold pack, but it seems to me that would be a little uncomfortable to explain.

- someone said that shipping in a hard-sided cooler w/ dry ice works well, but due to the weight, it is EXPENSIVE, and since you're needing to send it by FedEx or something anyway, that's already not cheap.

- definitely bring bags to transfer pumped milk into from the bottles for space reasons, and put those bags inside ziplock bags "just in case".

- if your supply is "touchy", be sure to try to keep as close to your usual pump times & intervals as possible, because it's easy to let things slide when you're out of your routine, but for some people, very slight change can mean a huge drop in output that is very difficult to regain.

Good Luck!
S.

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I did this-- took cold packs with me and brought gallon ziplocks too- then I bought a thin cold carrier bag (they sell them at Walmart/Sams/etc and are just the thin large "foil like" bags with handles that snap together--- I pumped, kept it in the hotel fridge/freezer as most of it fit but not all was frozen(I used the gerber milk bags and then double bagged it in ziplocks with the ice packs and put it all in the cooler pack--- for sure double check with the airline as when I flew it had to be checked- I COULD NOT bring it on carry on(considered a liquid- no exceptions is what they told me)-- so I wrapped it all up in the suitcase and it made it home cold and intact!! Also note, if you are flying out of KCI they are horrible about checking your pump-- the dude wanted me to take it apart -- I was like-it's a Breast Pump and self contained, I can't take it apart!! Mind you when I got to Denver, they asked- "breast pump"- I said yes and that was it after a quick look over-- KCI has horrible baggage checks(pump or not!) So just put on your patience hat! :)Hope this helps!

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I am curious, this sort of thing has baffled me... thank you for asking this question!

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