Tell me about your experience with pumping while away, flying with mass quantities of breast milk :), dealing with being away from baby etc. I am stressing!
I leave for NY tonight for 3 nights. My 8 month old will be home with daddy so I know he will be in good hands! Just want to make sure I am prepared for everything!
grapefruit / 4400 posts
@travellingbee: Awww hugs mama! I was just in NYC for 5 days and left my 15 month at home. When I booked the trip, I was still nursing, so I planned on bringing my pump with me on the plane/trip. I noticed that there were electrical outlets in the lavs for both of my JetBlue flights, but I don't know how comfortable I'd feel pumping in an airplane bathroom AND occupying it that long and preventing other passengers from accessing it.
Since it's considered "medical equipment," it doesn't count against you as a carry-on item (just email the airline before you go and bring it with you to the airport as "proof"). You can buy a soft sided cooler in NYC, too, and transport your pumped milk home in it. I wouldn't freeze it in NYC since it's only 3 days, and then just freeze it when you get home (hotel fridges are notoriously warm and it could partially defrost on your way home).
grapefruit / 4235 posts
I was just in San Francisco for 4 days/3 nights. L is 10 months old.
I brought my pump and cover with me and pumped at an empty gate before & after my flights. I used my medela cooler that came with my pump while I was traveling. Get some medela wipes to take with you!
I packed a soft-sided cooler and ice pack in my checked luggage on the way there. I got a fridge in my hotel (hilton waived the $15 fee b/c it was a medical necessity) and turned it as cold as it would get - it DID freeze the ice packs and the BM in bags.
On the way home i used the soft sided cooler and ice pack with all my frozen BM - and stuffed newspaper in the cooler so there was very little empty space in there. Even the bags the farthest away from them still had ice crystals in them when I got home 14 hours later. Personally, my milk starts to go bad in the fridge at day 3 no matter what I do.
I just put the BM through the scanner at the airport b/c I was running late for my flight, but have heard that you don't have to do it.
Good luck!
grapefruit / 4923 posts
i traveled for 5 days away from my LO when he was about 8 months as well!
i pumped on the plane. i tried plugging into the outlet in the airplane bathroom but i don't think there was enough voltage--so bring batteries. i did have batteries and pumped for a short session. i told one of the flight attendants beforehand and she said no problem. i did feel a little badly but what can you do. i dumped that milk because i couldn't keep it cold (i put it in a big ziploc and asked the flight attendant for ice, but by the time i got to my final destination i was not confident that it had stayed cold enough).
i pumped and stored throughout the trip. i did not freeze the bags because i didn't want to have to use or dump them all within 24 hours of thawing.
for the flight home, a friend told me that she was not allowed to bring her pumped breastmilk because she was not traveling with the baby. i didn't look into this but just to be safe, i brought a soft-sided cooler and packed it with the breastmilk storage bags and several ice packs and put the whole thing in my carry-on luggage. oh i put several storage bags in larger ziplocs before putting them in the cooler, which is a good thing because about 3 of them sprung leaks, probably due to being squished and the pressure changes.
btw if you don't feel comfortable using the airplane bathroom for that long, i'm pretty sure someone on my plane wore a nursing cover and pumped at her seat.
oh i brought pacifier wipes and microwave steam bags to help clean things while traveling.
good luck!
grapefruit / 4671 posts
I went to the UK for 8 days when DD was 9.5m months old and pumped on my flights, at the airport and at my hotel. I stored my milk in teh hotel freezer everyday, and I bought a soft sided cooler and some ice packs to bring it home. They made me check it because of the ice packs (I think international flights have different rules) but they were very gentle with it and the milk arrived just fine.
blogger / pomelo / 5400 posts
A cheap little manual might be good for planes and such! Easy to use and you don't have to worry about power cords or batteries or such. Highly recommend the Lansinoh!
hostess / papaya / 10219 posts
Thanks! I'm not staying at a hotel so thankfully I don't have that to worry about. I will have a regular fridge I can use, but I think I won't bother with freezing anyway. I have wipes and sanitizing bags so I will try to remember to pack them! Great tips!
hostess / papaya / 10219 posts
@HabesBabe: I called sw and they said they count it as a personal carry-on! Grrr... A stroller isn't but a pump is?!
grapefruit / 4400 posts
@travellingbee: wth!!! that sucks! i doubt they would count a oxygen tank as a personal carry-on. Try emailing them instead (so you have it in writing)? Maybe Tweet them if you have Twitter, too.
pear / 1639 posts
@travellingbee: I don't know about that...I flew SW two weeks ago and I carried on with me:
-a book bag
-a diaper bag
-a pump
-a stroller
-a car seat
- AND a child haha
No problem at security or boarding the plane (well with the baggage...flying alone with a 4 month old. Um. Yeah 
)
nectarine / 2054 posts
I travelled to London for 3 days when LO was 10.5 months old and EBF. Here's how I did it:
Packed a soft-sided cooler in my checked bag, with several ice packs (I think 4 or 5) in a few ziplock bags.
Brought pump on plane with one frozen ice pack for the bottles, and pumped once in my seat under a cover (wasn't a very big deal, especially since the noise of the flight drowns out the noise).
Called the hotel ahead of time and had a fridge put in my room. Put the milk from the plane in there right away. I transferred the milk directly into bags, so I ended up with just a large stack of Lansinoh bags.
The night before my flight home, I had the hotel put the 5 ice packs in their freezer overnight, so they were totally frozen by the time I left for the airport. I put them in the soft-sided cooler with the refrigerated milk. Don't freeze the milk - it may thaw en route, and then you have to use it within 24 hours, which would mean wasted milk. Just freeze it when you get home.
By keeping the milk in the checked back in the cooler, it was still cold when I got home. The luggage hold in the bottom of the plane is very cold, which helps even for the longest flights.
It's totally doable, and you'll feel so great when you arrive home with a ton of milk to add to your freezer stash!
pomelo / 5041 posts
Bumping because I'm traveling to San Francisco next week and curious about how everyone made it work. It's stressing me out.
blogger / pomegranate / 3044 posts
Everyone already said anything I would suggest, except I want to clarify you are totally allowed to carry on milk without a baby, just tell them when you get to the security line "I am a nursing mother and I have milk in a cooler ready for you to check." I've had them not check it at all, hold a paper thing over the open bottle, and put the closed bottle in a laser machine thing. They can not ask you to taste it, dump it out, or put any of their junk in it. I printed out the TSA guidelines and brought it with me in case they gave me trouble.
pomelo / 5041 posts
@beaker: Thanks! I was up teasing the guidelines last night. Did your pump count as a carry on?
pear / 1698 posts
I traveled quite a bit when my LO was small without her. A lot of airports have a family area for nursing moms/ parents with babies now, so I tend to pump there using a cover. I've pumped in the bathroom, a lot of times there will be an outlet by the baby changing counter so I will set up shop there since it might be cleaner than a stall. I always tried to freeze all my milk to make it easier to transport, but never ran into issues either way. I had an Ameda purely yours, and it fit inside my carry on bag so I never tried to bring it as a separate item.
cantaloupe / 6885 posts
@marionberry: I brought my pump, cooler (with 3 ice packs and 100 oz of cooled but not frozen milk) and my purse - no problems!
pomelo / 5041 posts
@char54: what size cooler did you use? And a soft sided one right?
@beaker: I wish I could do that! I carry way too much in my purse, especially on flights.
cantaloupe / 6885 posts
@marionberry: I used a medium sized soft sided cooler (it's the size of a very very large lunch bag?) The hotel froze my ice packs the night before I left
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