Traveling sans your newborn baby is tough, but what makes it tougher is traveling and pumping so your milk production doesn’t decrease when you get home.
When I decided to travel to Morocco in order to feature it on Posh Voyage, I was 8 months pregnant. My husband and I decided to book and pay for our trip in advance to force us to have a little romantic getaway 4 months after our baby was born (highly recommend it for all new parents). Although the thought of leaving your sweet angel is daunting, it is also extremely important to allow time for the parents to reconnect and catch up on sleep.
Since the day Isabella Louise was born, I started pumping to make my stash of breast milk for my 10 day trip. It took me about 3 months to save up 350oz of milk for my parents to feed my sweet baby while I was gone.
I decided to try to breastfeed for at least 6 months, which meant I needed to pump during my entire Morocco trip. However, little did I know that meant I had to pump in airplanes, taxi rides, hotel rooms, airports, in a wedding and in the middle of the Sahara Desert.
If you are pregnant or a nursing mom, find below a list of what to buy, what to do and what not to do during your next trip.
To buy:
1. Kiinde Breastmilk Storage Bags: These are the best quality bags and perfect for storing milk for a long time.
2. AO Breastmilk Cooler: Although it is not aesthetically beautiful, it is the best quality cooler with the strongest insulation.
3. Medela Breast Pump: Best and most popular pump in the market. Your insurance company might cover the cost.
A) Medela Power Adapter: First mistake, I didn’t bring an extra one and as soon as I connected the power adapter to a foreign outlet, it stopped working.
B) Battery pack: This is what I used the most given that I was pumping on the go most of the time.
C) AA Batteries: Bring at least 8 extra batteries in the event that you run out, the last thing you want to do is to have to find batteries in a country where you don’t speak the language.
D) Manual Medela Breast Pumps: Bring TWO in case your electric pump gives up on you and you are forced to do it manually, at least it will take you 30 min and not 1 hour every time you need to pump.
D) Medela Lighter Adapter: Ideal when you need to pump during a car ride and you do not want to use up your batteries.
4. JL Ice packs: Great while traveling in between hotels, you want to keep the milk cold and you do not have access to a freezer.
5. Nursing Cover: I love black covers because most people won’t notice what you are doing.
6. Outlet Adapter: Perfect for every trip, pumping or not.
Do:
1. As soon as you check in to the hotel, ask them to put the milk in your cooler in the hotel freezer. Go with them to ensure they actually put it in the freezer and not in the fridge. I trusted my bellboy to do what I asked, but my request got lost in translation and they put the milk in the fridge, meaning it unfroze and had to toss it after I checked out. I was livid!
2. At night, put your pumped milk in your minibar fridge until the next morning when you can ask someone to add it to your frozen stash.
3. Make sure you have an adapter so you can connect your pump anywhere. (My Medela power adapter stopped working out of nowhere so I had to rely on my battery pack, this literally saved my life).
4. During your layover, ask for a family restroom, they usually have outlets so you can pump privately. Sadly in the London Gatwick Airport they did not have one, so I was forced to pump in the entrance of the lady’s room given that they only had one outlet.
5. Check your milk cooler if traveling in the UK. The rule changes from country to country, but I thought everyone had the same rules as the United States, which is that you can travel with unlimited amount of milk in your carry-on. I went through security in London Heathrow and they said that if I didn’t have the baby with me, I was not allowed to bring it on-board with me. This almost cost us our flight given that we had to run back, check the bag and sprint to the airplane.
Don’t:
1. If you are checking out of a hotel, make sure you pump right before you leave. This way you won’t have to pump in awkward places like in a taxi or a train (I learned this lesson too late).
2. Do not forget to ask for your milk before you depart the hotel. Sounds obvious, but you would be amazed at the amount of people that forget the milk.
3. As soon as you check-in, do not forget to give them your frozen milk. Once it unfreezes you cannot freeze it again. If it unfreezes you need to use it in less than 7 days if it is kept refrigerated, and 4-6 hours if it’s kept in room temperature. So it is important to keep it frozen if you do not intend to use it during your trip.
4. Never check your milk cooler if you are traveling in and out of a country that allows you to bring the milk on board. You do not want to risk losing the precious cargo. Check with your airline and airport before traveling.
Readers also loved: