Flying with dry ice for EBM

cbkittner

I'll be flying next week to visit relatives for Christmas and wanted to bring some of my frozen EBM. The flight is 10 hours, but the drive to the airport here and then once at the destination will add about 5 hours. So I'm assuming I need to keep the milk frozen for about 15-20 hrs in transit until we get to a freezer. Has anyone had experience flying with dry ice? I've heard conflicting experience. I'll be flying out of Dulles to Brazil on United.

Any suggestions/tips would be appreciated!

 

PS. I posted this on "Breastfeeding" and they suggested I post it here..

snickerdoodle27

I would call the airline and ask them. I do shippng at work and dry ice is considered a dangerous good, so you may be better of shipping it to your destination ahead of time. If you put enough in the package it will stay frozen for a couple of days.

flyer23

I've looked into it before. It has to be checked, and you have to pay an extra fee due to it being classified as a hazardous substance. But it's probably significantly cheaper than shipping it to Brazil. Best to call the airline ahead of time and talk to them about it.

Alternatively, how much frozen EBM do you think you need? I had to take a trip when DD was about 4 months old, where we flew in on Sunday and I had to be away from her all day Monday and then intermittently on subsequent days. Since there was no way that I could pump enough on Sunday evening for Monday, on top of nursing, we flew with about 20-30 oz of frozen EBM with normal ice. It thawed slightly on the way there, which was fine. As soon as we arrived, I stopped breastfeeding, and DD got bottles of the thawed breastmilk for the remainder of Sunday and Monday, while I pumped. So by the end of the day Monday, the thawed milk had all been used up or tossed, and I had a a decent supply of freshly-pumped refrigerated milk, which did not have to be used up as quickly as the thawed milk. That got me through the rest of the week.

Not sure if that would be a possibility for you, in your circumstances, but it's a lot easier than dealing with the hassle of dry ice.

ai&Jas

Flyer has made some really good points here. I would also suggest you bring enough milk to last before you can pump again. I just came back from San Francisco for a conference and I took my DH and DD. I brought 24oz of fresh milk for DD in my cooler with ice packs and nursed on the flight and at the airport. The fresh milk was pumped a few days before. Since this was a business trip I knew I would be gone from 6:00am til 6:00pm most days I was worried we would run out of milk but since DD is on table foods DH would still be ok. Anyway for the first day DD took 16oz (4 bottles). I then pumped 2x during the time I was away and managed to replace 8oz of that milk. When possible I had lunch with DH and DD so that I could nurse her.  

I'm not sure if you could still nurse her and also pump. have you also checked on what the regulation is for bringing breast milk into Brazil? I'm sure it will be fine but it might be good to be on top of the customs/ laws over there. You'd hate for them to xray the bag, see the dry ice and milk and then make you throw it out! If you knew ahead of time that its ok to bring it into the country then you could stand your group and if possible show them a print out of the regulations etc. I know that Asia has issues with traveling with breast milk but it may have been via carry on rather than checked in luggage.

Good luck!