Traveling with Frozen Breastmilk

You've gotten lots of great suggestions! I agree - no prob. The only suggestion I might make is to freeze the milk in bottles instead of the bags...I've struggled with my bags leaking sometimes, and it's always heartbreaking. I use the Lansinoh ones...maybe that's the issue. Best of luck!

I have traveled many times with frozen breastmilk and I always use dry ice. If you have enough time still, you can order it online (it comes in these packs called Techni-Ice) and what's nice is that you can reuse them over and over again. I still use them now when I take my son's food overnight and throw some packs in a cooler with his food. Just bring a cooler, pack all the sides with the ice packs and your milk will stay frozen for about 8-9 hours. I flew from NYC to LA and with all the time traveling it was still frozen when I made it to LA. Then just let the hotel know and they will accommodate you.

Hi J.,
When I was breastfeeding my son I had to pump and bottle feed him. When we went on vacation up north I put the milk in a small cooler with lots of ice. It doesnt stay frozen but it kept it plenty cool and in the morning or at night before bed I would dump out the cold water and refill the cooler with ice. If I remember correctly after defrosting the milk as long as it is refrrigerated right away you can keep it. I was told it can stay in the fridge for 3 days, but once it has been warmed it cant go back in the fridge. Hope this helps. Have a great trip.
E.

I've read 24 hours also and try to follow it. I agree with what Kristi said about calling the hotel ahead of time. Coolers never stay cool long enough and hotel freezer sections can be VERY small- if there's one at all. I've never tried dry ice but I don't think that lasts very long either. That could be good for the travel time though- if not on a plane? I suppose that's a reminder to be sure to plan how you'll travel with the milk too (sorry- I'm not trying to lecture you- just in case you're really busy & forget!).
Good luck!

If you need to keep it frozen, pending on how long you need it to stay fresh - yes, you do need dry ice. If you only need it to be refrigerated, then a cooler is just fine. Call ahead to the hotel - I ALWAYS found hotels to be very accommodating to my needs when I was breast feeding. They will likely offer to put a small frig in your room, and may also offer to place them in their freezer. Call the hotel - I bet they are of great help.

K.

I traveled several times while nursing. I overnighted almost 50 ounces of my frozen milk to Telluride, Co from San Diego using dry ice - I had someone unpack it and immediately put it into the freezer. The dry ice worked great - my local postal corner knew how to pack and ship it properly which is really important. Oddly enough it's labeled hazardous material (prolly cuz of dry ice).

Definitely call the hotel, you could ship to them and have them immediately put into the freezer. You need a contact who will promise to do that. Once it starts to thaw - you can't refreeze. If I got low on the frozen milk, I would give 1 bottle per day of formula.

I also pumped while I was on any business trips and packed it in ice and checked it (for short trips)! I couldn't bear to throw away that milk after the effort to get it!!

I thought once it thawed it could be in the fridge for a week.

I had one of those small coollers from the medela pump actually and it had enough room for about 6-8 bags of milk plus small ice packs. The bag I used also had a slot on top for a business card so I would write my name/hotel room number on top and asked the hotel to put it in the freezer in their kitchen if the hotel room didn't have one.
usually the hotel room fridge isn't cold enough to keep them frozen.
there was one hotel who refused me due to sanitary reasons so we made due with what we had and used it faster than we planned. I would call ahead and make sure the hotel will allow it, as long as it's in a bag that allows them to easily put it away from everything else, I'm sure they will be fine with it.
the one I used was black with a zipper top and small handle, very handy and I still use it now with a small ice pack to pack some food for my toddler when we're out all day long.

I used a few ice packs in the cooler that came with the pump while I was on the plane/traveling. Then almost all hotels have refrigerator/freezers that they will put in your room for you, most free of charge if you tell them it's for breastmilk. You can probably call ahead of time and ask their policy. Sometimes they will charge $10 or $20 a day for it. Good luck.