The logistics of pumping milk
The logistics of traveling & pumping are something that can seem overwhelming at first but once you get your system down it's not so intimidating. I'm currently nursing 3 times a day (first thing in the AM, last thing before bed, and usually one middle of the night session). I thought I'd wean fully before I started traveling for work but changed my mind once the time arrived. Here's a list of everything I brought on my trip, including some tips.
Gear
- Breast Pump (I brought my portable Spectra that doesn't need to be plugged in. I charged it fully before my trip but brought the charger in case of emergency!)
- Pump accessories: tubing, backflow protectors, flanges, duckbills, & bottles
- Breast milk bags
- Dish soap
- Silicon bottle brush
- Collapsible basin
- Narrow neck adapters (for some reason I like pumping into Medela bottles even though I use a Spectra 🤷🏻♀️)
- Ceres Chill
- Cooler bag + Ziplock (My cooler bag was 100% more fashion than function and started leaking ice on my first trip so I contained everything inside a Ziplock the next time)
Logistics
I decided to drop to 2 pumps a day while on the road since I was only really pumping to keep those few feeds vs. maintain a super high supply. This made it super easy since I could pump in my hotel vs. bringing the pump with me to the office. I asked the hotel for a refrigerator in my room to store my milk but I also brought my Ceres Chill. This ended up being a good idea because my first night the fridge was not there. I was able to pump and use my Ceres Chill to keep my milk cold (the Ceres keeps milk cold for 20 hours) and bring that to the fridge in my office. What this looked like in practice:
- Day 1: Arrive to hotel in PM. Get ice & water for Ceres Chill from hotel bar. Pump and store milk in Ceres Chill (since fridge was not around). Use basin, soap, and brush to clean all parts. Air dry over night.
- Day 2: Pump before heading to office and combine that milk with last night's milk into Ceres. Wash all parts again and let them air dry at hotel. Take Ceres & milk bag to office. Once at office, pour PM & AM milk into bag and toss in office freezer. (I just put it under a couple frozen meals so it wouldn't be disturbed.) I finally received a fridge that evening so I was able to put my PM pump directly in the fridge in a bag vs. using the Ceres.
- Day 3: Same as Day 2! I transported the bagged milk in my Ceres (after removing the inner chamber) since I was worried a bag of milk in my backpack could leak or get jostled.
- Day 4: Same as Day 2, but bagged my AM pump immediately since I was flying out that night! At this point I had 3 bags of milk in the freezer so I left them there all day while I was working. When I left the office to head to the airport I put all the milk in my cooler bag and then packed it with ice.
- Travel Home: I have TSA Pre and just put my entire bag through the scanner and no one said a thing and my milk wasn't tested! By the time I got home my milk had defrosted a bit but was still slushy (which means it would have been safe to refreeze, if needed). Since B goes to daycare I just prepped it with her bottles for the next day.
Tips
- For most airlines, a breast pump + bag counts as a separate item from your carryon & personal item. So I went on the plane with: roller bag, backpack & pump bag and never had issues (this was on Delta).
- Use a real cooler bag! I got a cutesy one from Temu which was 100% fashion, not function. As a result I had a soaking wet bag by the time I got to the airport. If I traveled more I would invest in a Yeti or something similar.
- Most airports have lactation rooms (just Google lactation room + airport name) if you need to pump more often when traveling.
- The Ceres Chill is 100% worth the money. I loved knowing that I could keep my milk cold even without a fridge. I used it a ton on on maternity leave and also use it for carrying formula now too!