[Rae-of-Sunshine]

Anyone had to do this? Any tips for me? I have to travel for work in late October and DH is staying home with the babies. I will be gone for about 3 1/2 days and will be flying. Any tips for packing and storing the milk while flying? How about bringing milk home? I will be staying at a hotel, and I know they have refrigerators, but obviously not good freezers in the room. I have read some stuff online about it, but I am wondering if anyone here has personal experience and tips. I really want to bring as much of the milk I pump while I am gone back with me.

[-erin-]

I've never done it... but I'd suggest looking up info on TSA's website and printing it out regarding what you can bring on the plane, just in case... I think Ashley has flown with breastmilk before, so maybe she can help

Good luck!!

[ashley5]

Yep I've flown about 5x without my baby girl, and each time was about 5-7days.

In my suitcase I made sure to bring a small cooler, freezer milk bags, pump cleaning wipes or soap, and gallon size ziploc bags.

At the hotel I've stayed at some had a fridge and some that didn't. For the ones that didn't have a fridge I would keep my milk in the milk Nuk freezer bags, put ice in the gallon ziploc bags, and keep it in the cooler. I never had a problem with keeping my milk cold that way. Of course it's a pain in the butt b/c I'd have to empty and refill the ziploc bags a couple of times a day.

Traveling back home I would make sure my ziploc bags had fresh ice in them, and I would keep a bag at the bottome and top of my cooler. I did not want my milk to go through the scanner so I had to tell the TSA worker I have breastmilk that I don't want scanned, and would like someone to check it. So far I've never had anyone give my attitude about it, except some guys try to give me their thoughts about how its not bad for the breast milk to get scanned, ha like I want an opinion from a guy, no thanks.

The only airport I had a harder time with was Salt Lake Cities. But I've gone through DC, Chicago, Salt lake City, to name a few and all have been good experiences. I did always keep TSAs policy on breastmilk in my pump bag.

I hope this helps, it's really not too bad, but kinda pain in the butt traveling back home with all that milk. But as long as you keep it cold, announce your liquids to the TSA worker you probably won't have any problems. In fact most of the workers are use to seeing the type of pump bag I have and already know what to do/except.

Let me know if you have any other questions:]

[Rae-of-Sunshine]

Thanks! That helps a lot to know someone has really done it and it works. I had read a lot on TSA's website, but I was concerned with keeping it cold on the flight. I didn't relaize they would let you just use a ziploc bag full of ice. That would be perfect, since every hotel has ice.

What about pumping enroute? Did you ever have to do that? I am just remembering airport bathrooms and going yuck! I don't kknow the exact times yet, but I know I will have 2 fairly short flights with a layover, and I think at least not pumping during the layover would really be pushing it. I would definitely be hurting. And if I do pump during the layover, how do I keep that milk cold. Would they give me a hassle about bringing ice when I don't have any milk yet? or maybe get some ice enroute from one of the fast food places in the airport (I know when I was pregnant and craving ice water, I did get them to just give me a giant glass of ice that I could keep pouring my water into ... so I guess that could work).

Sorry for all the questions, but this is really the only thing that concerns me about the trip ... well that and leaving them with DH for 4 days and hoping he doesn't pull out what little hair he has I mean, he has them all day anyway, so that is not new, but he is used to my help in the evenings/weekends.

[ashley5]

Oh no problem about the questions I was the same way before I traveled. Lol my husband had an interesting time the first time I left. My daughter is our first and it was his first time being along through the night with her, so they both had to adjust to each other and the routine:]

Because I normally pump a little less than LO drinks I pumped right before I left for the airport and then when I had my layover. The bathrooms are nasty, but I didn't want to go too long in between my sessions. I never had anyone make any comments in the bathroom or wonder what I'm doing, the ladies were very nice. My pump bag comes with a small freezer pack that I froze before I left so when I pumped during my layover I could keep it cold that way if I wanted. Since breastmilk can be left out for a couple of hours and it won't go back, I sometimes just put the pumped milk back in my bag and then put it in the fridge when I got to my hotel. That won't hurt the milk either if you decide to do it that way.

[Rae-of-Sunshine]

Again ... very helpful. Thank you It is going to be interesting for sure! I am SO glad the rest of my conferences are local this year (many of them alternate locations). I am hoping this is the only time I have to travel in the first year!

[ashley5]

Good luck! and I hope the trip goes smoothly for you:]

[Rae-of-Sunshine]

Thank you for all the great advice. I got back yesterday and it all went very smoothly. I had some fun trying to find places/times to pump sometimes, but it all worked out.

[ashley5]

same here, glad it went well, and yes it can be very interesting finding places to pump!

[-erin-]

glad it went well!