What to do with pumped milk while traveling

briepileggi

I have been EBF and will be traveling by plane from MN to FL for work. I will arrive on the 9th, and then my DH will meet me there with our DS on the 13th to spend some time at Disney. We will fly home together on the 19th.

We will be staying in a hotel while we are there and don't know if we will have a fridge. I will need to pump while my DS is not there, but what do other moms who have done this recommend I do with my milk when he arrives?

1. If I continue to EBF, the pumped milk will go bad and I don't want to waste it.
2. If I feed him the pumped milk, I will have to continue to pump more milk each time he has a bottle. This seems like a waste of time and extra hassle and I don't know where I could do that at Disney and how I could keep the milk cold all day with our little cooler.
3. What have others done all day without a fridge? I could keep it in bottles in a sink full of ice, but I don't know that it would stay cold the whole day.

Also, does anyone have any experience bringing breast milk on domestic flights and was it a problem in security?

jesuisfatiguee

I don't have any experience taking BM on planes, but I know people how have had trouble with it.

Personally, while it's a sad waste, I would probably drink the milk myself or dump it. Sorry  I hope someone else has a better suggestion.

ForeverNewlyWeds

BM should be allowed through security although they may make you discard any ice you have in your cooler (I've brought extra ziplock bags and asked for ice at whatever fast food place is available inside security). However I have heard of people having difficulty - mainly because I think TSA doesn't deal with it on as frequent a basis as they may other things so may be caught off guard. I've always taken the approach on asking whoever is at security if I can/what I need to do which kind of gives them an advance notice of what it is. I've never had a problem with this approach.

Also - most major hotel chains will give you a fridge free of charge if you tell them you're a nursing mother. Side note though - the milk will only last about a week if not frozen and I don't think mini fridge freezers are that great. Also I personally try and freeze any milk I'm going to freeze within 24 hours of pumping... So depending on your preference/ how soon you want to use the milk it may not be worth your hassle.

Auburngirl32

The mini fridge freezer works great! I use it for breastmilk

VitaLuna

They should provide a mini fridge if you ask (it's for a medical reason, just like how diabetics request). If you don't need the milk at home and don't want to transport it back, you can see if you can donate to someone local through HM4HB or similar.