Travel question-HELP!!

[mgillard]

Hi. I am travelling (w/family) tomorrow. I will, however, be at a conference for 3 days (and 1 night) and away from DD. I have found a pump rental place, but am having trouble coordinating w/the conference site to find a place to pump. They are less than helpful, to say the least. I am not staying at the conference hotels, so finding a spot w/privacy and an outlet is a challenge. I have a couple options, but I'm wondering if any mommies out there have had similar situations. I have plenty of frozen milk that I can take w/me (so at least DD won't be hungry), but I need to take it on the plane.

Question #1: Is is better to take it on the plane and pack in ice (about 7 hrs travel time) OR pack in dry ice and check it w/my baggage.

Question #2: So, assuming that I take all the milk w/me and don't find a place to pump during the day, will Fenugreek be of any benefit? I have used it in the past w/success. DD is 11 mo and I'm only pumping 1x day, so dropping a pumping session shouldn't be a big deal, right?

Any ideas/advice is greatly appreciated. I don't want to pump in a hotel lobby w/all watching, but I also don't want to be engorged and have a hungry baby. I will only be away from her 1 nite (and can definitely pump in my hotel room at night), so she'll still be nursing in the am and pm.

Sorry for the rambling. I, of course, procrastinated all this and am leaving tomorrow am!

Thanks!

[Erin M]

Is there any way for you to get a hold of a manual pump?  Or is there any option of a battery pack for the electric?  I know the Medela that I have has a battery pack you can use with the pump.  A car charger maybe?  Some pumps have that option too. 

As for packing the milk, I would check with the airline's website as there are all sorts of rules regarding transporting liquids right now.  Or call their customer service number and see if anyone could help you out there.  Good luck!

[Erin (redstarfalling)]

I was going to suggest the same thing about the battery pack - use the pump with battery during the day, then recharge at night sort of thing.

[mgillard]

Thanks for all the info. The trip is over and went reasonably well. I decided to use dry ice. Other than serious confusion at the airport it was fine. I called TSA in advance and the airport TSA people seemed to not understand how I had even gotten the info I had. I think they were curious about the whole thing, so I just made sure to say that it was BREAST MILK. FYI: you can take 3lbs or less dry ice on the airplane (I didn't ck it at the suggestion of the airline agents).

I didn't pump during the day as the hotel sites were less than helpful, plus the pump was unwieldy (Medela Lactina, I think), but I did when I was away over night. She seemed a little more hungry than usual, but I also got my period (first time) so that probably was a complicating factor. Since I was forced to eliminate pumping for a few days I have decided to quit for good (pumping, not nursing) so I'm hoping that the transition is smooth. We'll see...

Thanks for all the advice. Even though I've done this before I think that my mommy brain has forgotten. it's nice to have this resource available!!