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Hawaii Babies
Married2MrWright
member
***Robbi and other BFing mamas who've had to leave LO for a few days***
Married2MrWright
member
I've decided not to bring Libby with me on my work trip to Chicago in early March. This means I'll be away from her for 5days/4 nights. We're introducing cow's milk during the day while I'm at work and while I have no intentions of weaning I am okay with her cutting back on her BFing. It's already naturally starting to occur now that she's eating three meals a day...we nurse 5-6 times/day and a couple of those are because I offer.
Anyway, I will pump up a stash for the fridge ahead of time so she's not solely on cow's milk for those 5 days but I also want to know how you keep your supply up while you're away. Do you pump as many times as you'd be feeding LO? And do you pump and dump or take it back home with you? I'll be staying in a major chain hotel and doubt they'll have a freezer available to me. Ideas? Please share!
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Re: ***Robbi and other BFing mamas who've had to leave LO for a few days***
I haven't had to do this but if I were you, here is what I'd do
pump with the same frequency as you would nurse at home every other day....the other "off" days drop a session.... doing so shouldn't affect your supply b/c you've been nursing for so long now, plus that is what L does now anyway right? that will at least make it a little easier on you
you could always call and speak to a manager at the hotel and ask them if they would be willing to store your pumped BM for you even if there isn't a fridge/freezer in your room. or, like you said you could just pump and dump....
Jaime & Brent
Oahu, Hawaii | Sept. 9, 2005
My Food Blog - Good Eats 'n Sweet Treats
I always call and ask for a fridge - I say it's for a medical reason and leave it at that. Even for rooms that don't come with one standard, it hasn't been an issue and is usually already in my room at check-in.
As for pumping, I usually pump 1-2 times a day (just like I would during a regular work day) and then once at night and once in the morning. I think that would be really reasonable now that Libby will be 1. I won't be pumping at work after Jack is 1 so I suppose any future travel I will probably only pump in the morning and evening to keep up the supply.
It's trickier when I'm in various meetings off site (that's the only time I have pumped in a bathroom!) - being at a conference will probably be much easier!
As for transporting through the airport if you want to do that - TSA likes the milk to be frozen, but that is pretty impossible with most hotel room fridges. I didn't bother trying to bring through blue ice or something so I just brought extra ziplocks and made ice bags at the hotel which I dump before going through security and then ask a starbucks or other restaurant on the other side to fill up new ice bags for the flight home.
any other questions? You might just enjoy the full night(s) of sleep!
I haven't been away from LO...but
This.
In the beginning, when I had supply issues, I'd try to pump as much as I could so I needed a fridge for the milk when we went on our first vacation and they brought a mini-fridge to our room almost immediately after I called lobby to say that we didn't get a fridge even though we had asked for one. The only thing is that those mini fridge's freezer sections aren't that big, so depending on how much milk you can get in 5 whole days, you may need to pump & pump a few. GL!
the mini-fridges never seem to be very cold, is that why you need to use the freezer section? otherwise, I'd think it'd be okay to leave the milk in the fridge part for 5 days, then take it home, no? i keep milk in the fridge for up to 8 days, but that's in a regular, temperature-controlled fridge...