I have two very long day trips for work during the next couple of weeks and am a bit nervous about how things will work with travel and pumping. There are approx 2.5 hour flights each way, and several hours spent in a cab/uber in total - I'll be leaving the house around 5 am and getting back after 1am. A few questions for moms who have traveled while pumping - what sort of cooler and ice did you use to keep the milk cold for extended periods? Also, I'm wondering if it will be an issue to get through TSA with ice at the beginning of the trip before there is any pumped milk? I'll need the ice I assume to keep cold milk that I pump while traveling. I use a spectra that has a battery pack and will have to pump in the plane/uber... During the work day itself I have breaks scheduled every 3 hours to pump and a fridge, I'm still trying to figure out if there's access to a freezer for managing ice for the trip back.
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@periwinklebee: I haven't flown with pumped milk but I have been in a car while pumping. Use a nursing cover and a hands free bra and if you don't use a hands free bra start the suction before attaching the flanges to your breasts.
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Suggestions: Bring more ice packs than you think you’ll need. I lost two days worth of milk when I had to travel because there was more milk than I thought and my ice didn’t keep it cold enough long enough flying home. But I didn’t have any issues with TSA with ice packs or milk flying either way. Just be sure the ice packs are completely solidly frozen as you go through security. I pumped on the plane and didn’t have any issues even in the middle seat.
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I've never had a problem flying with an icepack before I had pumped milk. They have told me that its not an issue as long as its completely frozen, so I've always tried to make sure my icepack is taken out of the freezer right before I get to the airport. Hopefully you can get access to a freezer during the day so you can refreeze. If not - I've checked my milk tons of times too and never had a problem.
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So I EP'ed for DD1 and have a bit of experience with this. If your flights are only 2.5 hours, I would probably try to pump right before boarding. I actually just sat in a corner at/near the gate and tied a baby blanket around my neck to cover me, but I think I lost all my shame after having babies so that might not work for everyone
Some airports have the Mamava pods now, but they're not usually conveniently located.Going through TSA, you can have a frozen solid ice pack (I usually just used the standard Medela ice pack for the plane) but if you have any liquid in your ice pack they may confiscate it. I have had success with my Medela not melting but I've also heard of moms bringing a big Ziploc and requesting ice from a food/drink vendor post-security.
When I had to bring back large quanities of milk, I put milk in bags in 4 oz portions and put in a larger soft-sided cooler for transport. When I could, I froze the milk the night before flying (hotels will often let you put your cooler in their freezer overnight - mini fridges don't seem to freeze well enough even when there is a little freezer section). If you can't freeze, US airports are required to let you bring the milk back unfrozen and they shouldn't require you to open any of the bags - they usually have a machine they may place the milk in to test it.
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To piggy back on what @peachykeen said - I have always left my milk unfrozen, and its never been an issue. Only once have they used the machine to test, but they did have to do each bag individually so it took quite a while. While they were doing it the lady said that if each bag had less than 3 oz in it they wouldn't have had to do it. Not sure how standard that is - and again, that was the only time I even had anyone bat an eye. So you could consider smaller amounts of milk in each bag, or just add some buffer time in case.
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Agree with what @JennyPenny: said about the 3 oz rule. I was told the same thing once but DD1 always drank 4 oz bottles so I decided to risk it. You may also get different info at different airports (the smaller ones seem to be the "strictest" or least up on the rules) but know that they shouldn't require you to open the milk.
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Thank you all, this is super helpful!
@peachykeen: @JennyPenny: what kind of storage bags did you use for the milk? I use the medala ones for my freezer stash but have never tried transporting with them (I just use bottles to and from work) and know some reviews complain about leaks...And good point about the 3 oz rule, I'd forgotten that, though it seems pretty hard in the bags to tell how many oz... maybe I will write 3 oz on them with a sharpie
And good call on the ziplock bags as a backup. I hadn't thought about the size of the airports - both ends are major airports and I have pre-check, so hopefully it won't be too much fuss. @babybunnylove: ugh, I would be so sad...
@snarkybiochemist: thank you! I am so keeping my fingers crossed I don't get a creepy uber driver...
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@periwinklebee: I used the same medela bags. For long trips I would bring some gallon ziplocs and put 10-15 medelas in each gallon ziploc, then put the whole thing in an insulated bag. I have had some leaks from medela bags though never while traveling - it was always after defrosting frozen milk. But I liked having them in 2nd ziplocs just in case.
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@periwinklebee: I've had excellent luck with Lansinoh bags with both babies. I'm not sure I've ever had one leak, actually (I never overfill though). They freeze flat really well for stacking in your cooler/freezer.
I've also found that if you freeze while milk is still warm it's important you don't stack bags while freezing BUT if you let milk cool in the fridge first it's fine to stack while freezing (the condensation on outside of bag from warm milk makes the bags stick, but cold ones don't seem to). May help if freezing all at once!
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I've flown many times and I exclusively pump. I've had no issues with number of ounces, ice packs, etc. Sometimes they do a swab test, other times they just look at it. It does slow me down by a few minutes (even with Pre-check), but overall it's a pretty painless experience.
If you need to pump in the airport look for a Mamava pod. I love them! So quiet and relaxing.
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@periwinklebee: I brought 56 oz of milk home after a 3 day business trip with no issue.
However on a different trip security gave me a really hard time about having a frozen ice pack when all my bottles were still empty (it was 7am and I fed my LO at 5am before I left the house). I will save you the long dramatic version of this story but suffice it to say that they did eventually concede to allowing me to bring it through. If I ever have to do that again I will forget the ice pack and get ice from Starbucks or another food shop once through security. -
@peachykeen: Haha that’s awesome. I have also pumped at the gate with a nursing cover and for 6 months after I went back to work I used to pump during my one hour commuter train ride to the city! With my nursing cover on of course.No shame lol
There was also the time I actually had to pump on the plane (sitting in my seat) because we got stuck on the tarmac and my boobs were killing me! -
@annem1990: Thank you! This is good to hear.
@peachykeen: Thank you!
@mrswin: oh man, i can't believe the tsa actually conceded if they were giving you problems to start, sounds awful...
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@periwinklebee: It was a legit nightmare, almost missed my flight because I got held up so long. They ended up escalating it higher up twice. At one point I may have slightly aggressively told the woman (!) that if she gave me 5 minutes I would make sure there was some milk in the bottles for her...
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I’ve traveled twice with pumped milk and dumped the ice in my plastic bags prior to check and asked vendors once inside. When I explained they were more than happy to comply! Also, I was a gemaphobe when it came to my milk so I asked the agents to change their gloves prior to touching the milk bags and/or bottles. I had all males in security and not one of them batted an eye and happily did so.
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@mrswin: "Would you like me to hand express some in there now?"
hah I used to travel so much for work and while usually there's not an issue, I just have low expectations when it comes to the TSA (and anything related to flying...) @mrsmacSLP: good point on changing gloves, I bet they are covered in germs given how many people go through security
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@mrswin: and incidentally, I got stuck on a stalled subway car for 45 minutes yesterday, and your post on the commuter train made me think "how long would this thing have to be stuck for me to pump here"
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Just coming back to say that travel went relatively smoothly, at least I managed to pump and get the milk back home in good condition...
The TSA was actually the most breastfeeding friendly part of the whole experience (managing to pump during the workday is a different story, but to be expected). TSA was super friendly, and I had no issues pumping on the plane or in a Lyft. I used the foam ice packs, which are the TSA approved ones, inside a soft sided carrier, and they worked well. I brought a spare set of pump parts for each pump session, since I had nowhere to wash them. It was annoying to carry around so many parts + the spectra all day (and I felt a bit ridiculous schleping a big bag around work meetings), but it worked...
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@periwinklebee: that’s great news! Congrats on surviving the trip!
Some airports have the Mamava pods now, but they're not usually conveniently located.
And good call on the ziplock bags as a backup. I hadn't thought about the size of the airports - both ends are major airports and I have pre-check, so hopefully it won't be too much fuss. 
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