XP: If you pump on business trips...

MAtoNC

Hi, there! I posted this on the breastfeeding board, as well. I am sure this has been discussed before, but I can't find posts on it, so forgive me for asking. I really need to know!

If you pump while on business trips, will you share your "routine"? Any hints or tricks of the trade for me?

This is my first trip. I am only going to be gone for 2 days and 1 night.

My meetings will be in the hotel I am stayting in, so I can return to my room to pump. I would like to pump breastmilk and freeze it when I get home to replace some of the stash that will be depleted while I am gone.

Any suggestions you might have would be great, including the way you transport your milk. I will be driving this time, but will be flying for a 4 day trip in June. So all feedback would be great.

Thanks so much!

CA_EAM

I have pumped during the one trip I have taken recently.  I would suggest getting a few nice quality gel ice packs and a little cooler, if you have not already.  The nicer the better - there is a difference.  Call the hotel and request a mini fridge.  Hopefully they can do that for you.

My experience was at a really nice hotel in Vegas where they gave me a nice mini fridge that I cranked all the way up.  It froze the milk well enough and then when I flew home I had it all packed nicely together and there was not even any thaw to the milk.  (If there had been thaw I would not have saved it)  Good luck!

DallasHorn

I've traveled both for business and pleasure and pumped while gone. Here is a copy of what I've posted before:

Traveling w/ BM: I don't like checking bags, so here's what I did. I purchased a professional ladies "bag" from Wilson's leather (about $50). It's 15" long, 12" tall and 5.5" wide. It also came with a small matching purse. Inside I am able to carry my laptop, my pump (not the whole PISA bag, just the pump), a square tupperware container (which inside has 2 sets of pump parts & tubing), 2 hardsided containers, BM storage bags, wallet, phone, magaize, black sharpie marker and a pashmina shawl. Inside my carry on suitcase, I pack very stragically - reusing pants, same shoes throughout the week, no hairdryer (use the hotel one); roll clothes instead of fold, and the purse. What I did for the milk was bring along a soft sided cooler (12 can size). At the hotel, I would fill it with ice 2x day (morning and evening) and kept the bags of milk inside on ice. Works awesome. On the day of departure, I would pack my bag so that there is enough room that the cooler could sit inside my suitcase. This is necessary since some TSA will require you to PROVE you can fit the cooler inside so you only effectively have 2 carryons. I position the cooler so that when I'm rolling my suitcase, the cooler is sitting right side up inside. You 'll need to pull the cooler out for TSA to inspect. Again I place the cooler inside the suitcase when it's time to board the plane (flight attendents can be a stickler about this, hence the reason I stick it inside); however when I'm on the plane, I quickly remove it before putting it in the overhead and place it under the seat in front of me along with the "professional bag". In my experience, the "medically" necessary fridge is so tiny (as in desk top book sized) that there's no way it can hold a week's worth of milk, let alone a couple days. Couple of other things....the pashmina - - I use not only to keep warm, but it works as a GREAT cover up when nursing in the restroom or elsewhere in public. I bring along 2 sets of gel ice packs and have the hotel restaurant freeze them the night before departure. I keep them in the cooler with ice until when I get to the airport. Before going through security, I dump all the ice out in the restroom sink and just leave the ice packs. After clearing security, I usually get more ice from the McDonalds or whatever, but have also used just the 2 frozen ice packs just fine. I keep all the milk in the storage bags and use the sharpie to record the date and oz info on the bag. Since I first pump into the hard containers, it makes it easy to know how much milk before putting into the bags. I keep all the milk fresh and then freeze once home so nothing spoils (I've always gone by the following: 8 hours room temp, 8 days in the fridge). I do carry the Medela cleaning clothes so that I can clean my pump parts. For two of my trips I knew I'd have access to a microwave, so I brought along the steam clean bags.

 

TarzansWife

The PP routine is pretty similar to mine. I got tired though of lugging my Medela around so I got a little evenflo comfort select single breats auto cycling breast pump. It is very small and cuts down on packing space. It will run on 3 AA batteries so I don't have to find an outlet to run it and the batteries fit right into the pump. I typically stay at hotels that have a minifridge and do the whole soft sided cooler routine. It's alot of work but going thru security was easy when I told the screen prior to going thru what was in the cooler.

Also when you fly google your airport ahead of time. Many have mother's rooms now that I have used to pump in and have saved me from having to pump on planes.

MAtoNC

This is fantastic information, thank you!!!!

annabella10

I kept all my milk in the hotel room fridge (you can usually request one if there isn't already one in the room) - I'd get ice from the ice machine and pack it around my milk bags using plastic grocery store bags. Then I'd put the whole thing in a soft sided cooler. It's heavy and a pain to lug around the airport but better than dumping it all out, IMO. I've flown and driven this way and the milk is still icy cold when I get home.

MAtoNC

Awesome! Thanks! I am here, now. The hotel room has a nice sized fridge (about waist high with a big freezer compartment, so I put my gel packs in there. They also gave me a late check-out time (2 PM).