I have to go on a work trip to Europe when my LO will be between 4 and 5 months old. It will be 5 days, counting travel. I'm afraid it's going to be a bit of a nightmare if I'm still breastfeeding by then, which I really hope will be the case. I know you can buy adapters to convert 110 volts to 220, but I've heard that can really lower the power that the device puts out - just curious if anyone here has experience using their 110 volt pump with 220 volt power and an adapter? I should be able to pump regularly, but my biggest concern is that if the pump power is sufficiently weaker, it could lead supply to plummet... This makes me think that maybe I should just see if my MIL can come to watch the baby while I'm working and bring him along, but that also seems like a big hassle/expense...
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I used a US breastpump in Hong Kong for 8 months. I used a power converter with the us power adapter included with the pump to essentially throttle the 220v coming out of my wall down to 110v. It worked fine and didn’t harm the pump - I still used it (back in the US) two kids later!
I bought the converter in a local electronics shop. It wasn’t super cheap, but also wasn’t prohibitively expensive. However, it would be kind of heavy to travel with. Could you do rechargeable batteries and the battery pack?
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I don’t know about the breast pump on different power but I live in Europe and deal with different power. I would not buy an adapter - they make converters that adjust from US to European and we use it for my US kitchen aid mixer and it works really well. I don’t think it was too expensive - I’d look at one of those and packet it with your pump.
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Could you just get the battery pack for your pump? And bring/buy batteries while you are on your trip?
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@sunny: I was also going to suggest this. I’m pretty sure my Medela PISA actually came with a battery pack!
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My Medela had much less power on the battery pack, FWIW.
I would use a converter or adapter or whatever and just make the best of it by adding in an extra pump session or going for longer. 5 days won't ruin your supply permanently - if you see a dip when you get back, I'd think it'd only take a week or so extra sessions, hydration, and basic supplements to get it back up.
Def not worth the expense of about $1000 roundtrip ticket for MIL and traveling logistics/supplies with baby.
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@PinkElephant: @MrsJBeeG: @sunny: @DesertDreams88: Thank you all - this is super helpful and great advice about the battery pack! I'm getting a prescription for my pump at my 34 wk appt in a few days and I think I will be able to get a sense then of what the battery options are with the pump my insurance will cover. Work wants my ticket bought now and the airline policy says you have to declare a lap child at the time of booking, so I was sort of panicking about whether pumping would even work or whether I really needed to bring the baby, before I know much about it. This is really helpful!
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You can also look into a Medela Freestyle (that has a battery) and it should last 5 days. And if not a EU adapter to charge wouldn't be too expensive.
Also if you do decide to fly with LO s/he should be able to travel with your mom as a lapchild.
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@periwinklebee: you can always book your mom a ticket with the lap child later if you need it.
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I've done a variety of things in the past, but the best for a long trip was bringing a power converter and a hand pump. I tried my Medela PISA with the battery pack and found it didn't produce enough suction to maintain my supply, and I would see drops in a few days. The power converter with my US adapter worked great for me, but it is REALLY heavy. I also brought my hand pump to use on the plane. It's nice and quiet and can be discreetly done under a blanket.
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I agree with @Pumuckl:, it's worth looking into the Medela Freestyle (it's a good pump, and built to run on batteries). I think you can charge it with just a plug adapter, since you're not running the motor - but you might want to look into that. I'm taking mine to Europe now for 2 days.
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@Pumuckl: @Banana330: @JennyPenny: @Beehive: Thank you guys, this is super helpful!
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I just checked and my spectra is dual voltage so only needs the plug converter rather than the amp converter as well. Just check on each plug and you can see what it is
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I broke my AC adaptor (Medela PIS) trying to use it with just an outlet converter (had no idea I needed voltage converter too!) in Germany. Luckily I had the battery converter and was able to get batteries.
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A few of my friends blew up their medelas by using the adapter/plug converter. So you really need to use the voltage converter. It's heavy, and shaped like a brick, but you'll get full pumping power, unlike with the battery pack.
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If it's helpful, my Medela PISA came with the battery pack that takes 8 AA batteries when I purchased one in 2012 before insurance provided pumps were a thing. The Medela PIS I got from insurance in 2016 did NOT provide the battery pack, but I have used my battery pack from the original pump with the newer pump and it worked fine - so you may be able to buy or borrow a battery pack.
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@KNS: @mamabolt: @Littlebit7: Thank you, good to know. On one of my first trips outside the U.S., I stupidly plugged a 110 device into 220 voltage (had no idea there was such a thing as differences in voltage) and the device caught on fire, definitely one my more terrified moments. I have a feeling based on my other experiences with insurance that what they'll pay for in terms of a breast pump will be on the most basic end, but will check it carefully when it arrives.
@PinkElephant: This is really good to know - I will definitely check out the battery pack accessories!
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I am 99% positive my pump (spectra) takes either voltage, so you only need the plug exchange, not the adaptor.
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