Pumping when traveling without bubs
Mamas, feeding a baby is hard work, irrespective of how you choose to feed! Today, we are going to talk about the top 5 things to keep in mind for breastfeeding or pumping mamas when it's time to travel without your baby. Whether it is a girl’s trip, a couples’ getaway, or a work trip, rest assured that there are ways to pump safely and store milk while traveling. This will require meticulous planning but is very easily doable.
First things first—get that trusty pump ready and an extra battery pack to ensure it works on long-haul flights where you may not have access to a plug point. If you are traveling internationally, make sure you have the appropriate pin converter (and voltage converter, if needed) based on where you are going. You can carry your pump as a personal item—some airlines consider it a medical device and do not count it toward your cabin baggage, while others do, so it is best to check with your airline in advance.
If you won’t have access to a clean place to wash your pumping parts, carry multiple pumping parts, each set in a gallon zip-lock bag, to get you through your travel day. Alternatively, you can carry the Medela Quick-Clean Wipes, which also do the job. For the destination, you can take a collapsible basin to wash the parts, dish soap, a bottle brush, and a drying rack or towel to dry the parts. Remember to carry pre-sterilized sealable bags for breastmilk storage.
On the go, breast milk can be stored for up to 24 hours with ice or an ice pack until you can access a fridge/freezer. At your destination, it is best to have a fridge for storage—check with your hotel for a minifridge before arriving. Keep in mind that minibar fridge temperatures may often be higher. If you are at your destination for multiple days and will pump quite a bit, check with the hotel if they can store your breast milk in their freezer.
Frozen breast milk can be transported with checked luggage or shipped. MilkStork does a great job with shipping—even internationally—if you do not want to deal with it yourself. To ship frozen breast milk, you can use a cooler with ice packs or dry ice. In any case, make sure that the cooler is as full as possible and refrain from opening it multiple times—this helps it maintain temperature. However, make sure to check the airline's dry ice policy.
In the US, TSA will check fresh or frozen milk, but there is no limit to the amount of milk you can carry. If you are nervous, you can consider using TSA Cares. Make sure to understand the rules if you are traveling internationally—they can be quite different across countries. It may also be a good idea to print out the rules for the country you are traveling to and the airline policy for transporting breast milk.
Remember that most airports have dedicated non-bathroom private spaces for breastfeeding and/or pumping. Some places also have nursing rooms, family spaces, or nursing pods. Make sure to locate these in the airports you will be traveling to.
While this may seem overwhelming at first, things can go very smoothly with some planning. I have had to do a few work trips while my second one was still nursing, and I used this approach to make sure that I could bring all my pumped milk back home for bubs!
