Long question re- traveling, pumping, supplementing at home

[fashionx]

I'm sure this has been asked and answered, but I'm looking for suggestions on logistics, and what kind of bag/cooler I should have for storing milk. I'm sorry in advance that this is so long.

I'm traveling twice in a few weeks - to NY for 4 days/3 nights, back home for 3 days, then to Atlanta for 2 days/2 nights. I'm excited but also it sounds exhausting even before I'm trying to figure out when and where I will get to pump and how to store milk.

The first trip is a conference and has a pretty tight schedule of activities. Day 1 is travel day and an evening event, so I'm free to do my own thing, and that should be an easy day. Day 2 is an all-day tightly scheduled day, starting at 7:30am for breakfast (so I'll plan to wake up extra early to pump), and fully scheduled until 9:00pm, with a dinner/awards ceremony 7-9. Looking at the schedule I'm not sure there's even time to change into a cocktail dress, let alone really do pumping sessions. Obviously it will require me missing some things, which I'll need to figure out. Day 3 is scheduled 7:30-3:00, and Day 4 is a travel day, my flight is at 11am.

I usually nurse at 8am, 11am (short, before nap), 1:30pm (after lunch), 3:00pm (short, before nap), 5:30pm and 7:30pm (bed). I also do one over night but have been working on cutting that down to wean her. When DD takes bottles during the day it's usually 2-4 oz at a time, and about 4oz at bedtime. Sometimes I skip the 5:30 feed depending on the day. When I have a sitter during the day, and am missing the 11, 1:30 and 3pm feeds, I usually pump at 1 and 3 only and am ok as far as volume pumped.

I have 54 oz of milk in the freezer, and to my best estimation DD is drinking 23-25 oz per day. She is 9 months old, eating solids meals and snacks during the day very well. Obviously this is not going to last for the first trip, and we'll need to supplement with formula. I'm not sure if it matters which feedings I should have her take formula or if that matters? In my head I'm thinking her wakeup and before bed feedings should be milk but during the day and overnight could be formula since she's eating already and those are her shorter nursing sessions.

I'm planning to store as much as possible during the first trip, so that she has milk available for when I go on the second trip. I know I will have a mini fridge at the hotel, but those freezers are not reliable so I'm planning on just storing in the fridge while there, and then traveling with it. Should I use a hard-sided cooler or is a soft-side ok? Packing on ice for to/from the airport? Do I need to throw away the ice to go through security? Any experience with this specifically at LGA would be great too..

Second trip - it's a trade show and my hotel is across the street, so this will be the easiest as far as leaving for 20 minutes a couple times during the day to pump. The only thing that sucks is that I'm sharing a room with someone, but she knows I'm nursing and will need to pump so we'll figure that out. Here, any specific experience flying from Atlanta would be helpful too.

I discussed this with a friend and she told me I should just pump and dump.. which I think would break my heart to do, especially all of it. I don't feel ready to wean totally and would hate to do it in this abrupt way on a trip. She then suggested I pump after every feeding up until the trip, which is 2 weeks away. I don't think that's really a good idea either because I don't want to create an over supply, especially as I'm trying to stop the MOTN feed. I had pumped a few times before I went to bed since the night feed has been shortening and figured that's fine, but I'm also not trying to go crazy and pump an extra 50 oz in the next 2 weeks. That is not happening.

Ok.

Short version - I have 2 work trips out of town basically back to back and only have 54 oz of milk at home. Need help with logistics for me for pumping/traveling with milk, and also want to get suggestions on the best way to supplement with formula since we have not used it before.

[momin2013]

For trip #1, I would pump early in the morning, then once mid-morning/lunchish, once mid-afternoon/early dinnertimeish, then when you get back to your room at night. Store in the fridge while you're there, then pack in a cooler with ice packs just before leaving to travel. I've never travelled with milk before, so I have no advice re cooler type or getting through security.

For trip #2 do the same if it worked for the first trip. I wouldn't worry about sharing a room, you can always pump under a cover if need be if she needs to be in the room, but I bet she'll make herself scarce if she knows it's your pumping time.

I would probably give your DD the formula bottles midday, when she has a chance to fill up on more solids if she doesn't end up taking as much formula as you'd expect.

[sarahsas]

I would suggest mixing some formula into her BM bottles NOW and freezing your extras. Then you can get more frozen stash for when you're gone and keep mixing 50/50, too.

When I traveled for work while pumping, I took a soft sided cooler and some of those frozen packs that go in lunches. I checked then in my suitcase on the way there so I didn't have to deal with them.

When I check out of hotels, the front desk always is really helpful to keep my stuff frozen/refrigerated in their fridge if needed.

If you prefer to do ice, no need to dump it. When going through security, declare you have BM. They will check your containers in this machine quickly and you'll get through. Do leave a little extra time for this (it's taken 5-10 mins with a lot and a little wait for me). It's NBD. THey have never done extra checks on my frozen packs.

[ngdgtco]

Make sure you bring storage bags to transfer milk into to save space. Then some ziplocks for ice. If you need to pump at the ATL airport, they recently added some nursing pods, but you'll have to find out which terminals have them.

[fashionx]

Apr 15, 2016 4:54:21 GMT -5 ngdgtco said:

Make sure you bring storage bags to transfer milk into to save space. Then some ziplocks for ice. If you need to pump at the ATL airport, they recently added some nursing pods, but you'll have to find out which terminals have them.

Yes, ordering more storage bags so I don't have a chance of running out! Good call on the ziplock for ice, and I'll look up about the nursing pods, that's awesome.

[lindsaymg]

Bring a box of gallon sized bags. I put the milk storage bags in gallon bags and then in the cooler with gallon (or quart size) bags of ice. That way if you have leaks, it is contained. I learned this the hard way. Learn from me!

When I am on trips I leave my milk during the day in the hotel fridge. I've never had problems with this.

I have a giant Yeti soft sided cooler I use. It is giant though so I don't recommend it if you are opposed to the size.

[Susie]

I am traveling (3 days) next month, with a similarly packed schedule. I just finished sitting down with Google maps, my calendar, and my appointments, and I added pumping appointments with where I'd be for each one (I have meetings in different hotels/restaurants). It is helping me feel less stressed. I'm trying to pump 5x per day. Basically every 4 hours, except going 8 hours overnight: 7am, 11am, 3pm, 7pm, 11pm. Some of those will shift one way or another by an hour or less to accommodate meetings. My coworkers will just have to either wait for me or catch up with me when I'm done, and I'm just going to have to schlep a tote bag. I am not willing to go through all that to pump & dump, so I'll be carrying a cooler too.

I don't have any advice on the supplementing angle, because I have a large enough freezer stash to cover the trip. This whole thing is so hard though, so *comisseration*.

[fashionx]

Apr 15, 2016 11:31:58 GMT -5 Susie said:

I am traveling (3 days) next month, with a similarly packed schedule. I just finished sitting down with Google maps, my calendar, and my appointments, and I added pumping appointments with where I'd be for each one (I have meetings in different hotels/restaurants). It is helping me feel less stressed. I'm trying to pump 5x per day. Basically every 4 hours, except going 8 hours overnight: 7am, 11am, 3pm, 7pm, 11pm. Some of those will shift one way or another by an hour or less to accommodate meetings. My coworkers will just have to either wait for me or catch up with me when I'm done, and I'm just going to have to schlep a tote bag. I am not willing to go through all that to pump & dump, so I'll be carrying a cooler too.

I don't have any advice on the supplementing angle, because I have a large enough freezer stash to cover the trip. This whole thing is so hard though, so *comisseration*.

Do you call ahead to your hotels/restaurants to find out what the options are for pumping during the day between meetings? Or just figure it out when you're there?

I'm also stressing that I'm going to end up in a bathroom stall pumping, which would suck so hard. The second trip I'm way less worried about, because I know I can go back to my own hotel room any time during the day.

I'm not sure if I should email the conference organizer about it or just wait and figure it out.

[Susie]

Apr 15, 2016 21:41:47 GMT -5 fashionx said:

Do you call ahead to your hotels/restaurants to find out what the options are for pumping during the day between meetings? Or just figure it out when you're there?

I'm also stressing that I'm going to end up in a bathroom stall pumping, which would suck so hard.

In most cases I'm planning to wing it. I think on my trip I'll have to pump 2x in airports, 5x I can get back to my room, and 5x I'll have to do on the go. For those I'm assuming I'm going to have to pump in a hotel lobby bathroom. If you prepare for it, it still sucks, but it can be done. I'll be at the same one a couple times (not my hotel) so hopefully I can at least figure out where I can go most easily. I plan to try to catch our server in restaurants away from the table to ask for ice for my cooler as needed during the day. I also need to figure out a way to haul laptop, pump, cooler, and shoe change (flats) for walking between meetings without looking homeless. (Does anyone else have anxiety about milk and a laptop in the same bag? The fact that I'm in a male dominated industry is not helpful, but it's life.

[fashionx]

Susie - maybe you can put your laptop in a sleeve and then inside a bag to keep it protected from a possible leak?

I need to figure out my bag situation next, and make sure I have extra batteries for the pump. Preparing my Amazon order now!