We're visiting family over the holidays and I would like to bring some bags of frozen breastmilk so my in-laws can feed DD2 if needed. I have a Medela ice pack and cooler bag but I don't know if that would actually keep frozen milk frozen. The flight is less than 3 hours but travel time adds up when you include driving to and from airport each way, security check, etc. How do you keep frozen milk frozen when flying? Or would just suggest pumping the day before and freezing it when I get there?
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I did exactly this only on a five hour flight and the milk was still 80% frozen. I went by the rule that if there are still ice crystals it's safe to freeze- mine really was barely melted at all. I used the medela cooler bag and a couple frozen solid ice packs and it was fine.
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Oh and I declared it at security, they opened the cooler swiped something over it but didn't actually touch the bags I don't think. And they swabbed my hands but I had LO in the carrier so I think that's why.
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Since milk is good for 4 days refrigerated, I just took the milk I had pumped for the last 3 days and had stored in the fridge. I marked them so I knew which was oldest. I traveled with them in an insulated cooler with ice packs. I had about 3 bottles worth of milk which was plenty since I was pumping to replace feedings.
Also, I have heard that as long as there are still ice crystals you can re-freeze. Never done it myself, and you should confirm but I can't imagine it would be completely melted from a 3 hour flight plus travel time -
@Foodnerd81: Oh I didn't know about that rule! I thought once it started even melting a little I couldn't refreeze it. Thank you!
@Ms.Badger: Yes I'm going back and forth whether to bring frozen or freshly expressed milk (and freeze it as soon as I get there). Did you have any problems going through security with it?
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@dolphin: Nope, but they did take out the milk and put it on their machine. 1 airport did only 1 bottle (LAX i think) and at least 2 airports did multiple/all the bottles AND swiped the freezer cubes (SNA and MKE, I think). If it's frozen I think they just swipe it? I'm not sure because I have never brought frozen but security always asks if it's liquid or frozen.
I kept it with me on the plane in the overhead. I felt secure that just in case J had a melt-down and wouldn't nurse, I had bottles with me. I didn't end up needing them.
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Kellymom (http://kellymom.com/hot-topics/frozen-milk-power-outage/) is my favorite resource, and that's where I read that as long as there are still ice crystals in the bag, it's still considered "frozen." I personally then use that partially thawed milk first, but for the purpose of your trip, it should work. I'll be doing something similar over Thanksgiving-I have about 30 frozen ounces at my parents house (3.5 hour flight from us) from when I was there this summer. I'll be bringing it back to our house after the holiday as I'm about to start weaning, so want to make sure we use up all the "liquid gold" I've pumped!
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@ChiCalGoBee: Thanks for the link! How are you transporting your frozen milk? Are you putting them all in a cooler bag with an ice pack?
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