For those of you who are not familiar with breastfeeding – it is the most demanding and stressful thing in the world, but it is by far the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done. I love it and would honestly quite my job, move into a trailer and eat Ramón noodles if an employer ever gave me beef about it. I am thankful that I have a boss (who doesn’t have any kids) who is very supportive of it and allows me time away from the job to do my daily ‘thing.’ Unfortunately, the travel piece cannot be avoided and is out of our hands. I have absolutely no idea how I’m supposed to be in an airport for ½ a day, meet with vendors for 2 full days, then get back on an airplane for another ½ day, all while ensuring my pumping routine stays in tack AND I’m able to bring the liquid gold home so Madison can eat. Is that not stressful or what?
All you mommas (or non-mommas) out there – have you ever been in a situation like this?
The biggest, most important thing is to make sure your hotel room has a refrigerator with a freezer! The small ones with the freezer inside will do. Since typically you’re not at the hotel for very long it’s also important to make sure you have storage containers that allow the milk to freeze quickly. I used bags made especially for this. They look like Ziploc baggies except that they are sterile and a little thicker (Lansinoh ones - purple box). You can get them at any discount store (i.e. walmart or target). They lay flat in the freezer and therefore freeze quicker – especially if you lay them directly on the flat freezer bottom rather than stacking them one on top the other. I also brought small Ziploc freezer bags and filled them up with water to freeze and act like ice packs on the way home.
ReplyDeleteAs for airport security, I always carried the frozen milk onto the plane in an insulated “lunch box” because I was worried the airlines would lose it if I checked it. Just make sure you declare that you have frozen milk before sending your stuff through the xray machine, then send it through. They may want to look at it on the other end and sometimes it holds you up a bit but I’ve never had it confiscated. Sometimes the milk is a little slushy when you get home but I’ve never had trouble with it going “bad” – just pop it back in the freezer and you’re good to go. Lots of luck!