Traveling & pumping

aml8979

I ep and about to go on a work trip out of town. I have so many questions. Do you pump while you are gone and dump it or do you freeze it and travel back with it. How do you travel with frozen milk and what is the max amount? I looked it up on the TSa website but didn't get much information. Thanks for your help.

ksmedforWed236766

pump and save it in a fridge as long as you will be there less than the allowed fridge time.  It is hard to keep frozen while traveling and once it is thawed you are supposed to use it within 24 hours.  Put the milk in as few containers as needed because TSA has to check each individual bag for explosives.  There is no limit, but I did get some harassment for using ice packs.  I just told them at the beginning of the check that I had breastmilk.  One guy gave me a hard time, but i just spoke with the supervisor and everything was fine.  If you can, I would suggest just using a few ziploc bags and fill it with ice before, dump it before TSA, and then have a coffee shop or restaurant fill it for you.  I used a maxcool cooler backpack and carried over 100 oz in bags for about 8 hours and it was fine.  In fact, most of the ice was still intact.  The soft sided coolers aren't waterproof though so the ziploc is a must.  I found out the hard way.  Also, don't assume you will be able to pump in a private area somewhere.  I used the delta club bathroom and an empty gate to pump.  That was my experience at least.  

Tally879

I found out recently that my last company would pay to ship the milk back on dry ice, you might want to see if your company does something like that.  I think that detail wasnt well known at my job.

charpe

I've never traveled for an extended period, but recently stayed at a Holiday Inn, they were going to charge for a mini fridge until I told them it was to store breast milk. They told me it was considered a medical reason, and it would be free. The mgr told me if they didn't have one available I could use the staff fridge behind the checkin desk as long as it was in a mini cooler bag or something.

aml8979

Thanks for the awesome information! I had anxiety about traveling and almost told them no. This makes me feel much better.

bpietronicco

I was also able to request a mini fridge and it was free since it was for breast milk