On a recent trip with my husband, my first time away from my exclusively breast-fed six month old, I had the privilege (nay – chore? task? assignment?) to pack not only a weekend’s worth of reading material into my carry-on bag, but also a roughly 10” cube of a breast pump, all of its hoses, nozzles and attachments, and a soft-sided beer cooler (because I’m KLASSY) full of empty zippered bags which would hopefully return home full of about a gallon of my breast milk. Nothing says “I make a great travel companion” quite like blocking out an extra 2 1/2 hours a day for pumping at the writing desk of a hotel room or ordering a beverage at an airport restaurant just so you can ask for an empty cup of ice to throw in the cooler you’re nonchalantly schlepping through the terminal (is that a sack lunch? a vital organ? Nobody knows).
I fed Merritt moments before our departure for our trip, trying to begin the travel day on empty, lest my (bra) cup overfloweth. Like most moms leaving their babies for the first time, I had my fair share of travel anxiety. I was a little more jittery and sent up a few more prayers than my usual calm and collected traveler-self would. Aside from a little extra anxiety and the added weight and girth of my travel tote, however, things were off to a smooth start.
Once we reached our layover airport, I knew I should start looking for a pumping pod. Yes, you heard that right, a pumping pod! I knew these pods existed in major airports, but had never had to use one before. See, I’m a very comfortable nurser. I always have my MilkSnob nursing cover available and I have no shame or issue with using it in almost any setting. I pretty much draw the line just shy of whipping it out in a church service. Anywhere else is basically fair game because I maintain privacy and respect for myself, my baby and others around us by using the nursing cover discretely. Pumping, however, seems like such a different situation. Being a stay at home mom, I only use my pump to relieve myself after a period of time away from Merritt (say, date night or another span of time during which I miss a feeding). I’m not as comfortable or familiar with pumping etiquette and the gear required leaves little room for discretion. What are the rules? Do you still use a nursing cover if you’re nursing a fake baby-simulator? Do they have outlets in bathrooms? Do I need to plug in to the terminal hallway outlets or at a phone charging station and pretend that nobody hears the telltale and rhythmic “whomp-whomp-whomp” of my breast pump?
So, the pumping pod. I was looking for the pumping pod. The pumping pod, I eventually learned, is a space provided by a company called Mamava, and it is truly a gift to nursing/pumping, traveling mothers worldwide. It is a perfect little teardrop-shaped mobile room for nursing mothers to feed their babies or pump in a dignified, clean and private space. I asked the gate agent upon exiting our first flight “where is the nursing/pumping room-thingie that’s really just a pod, you know what I mean, I know it sounds weird because I don’t have a baby, I’m actually just pumping, well I DO have a baby, she’s just not here right now, uh, sorry, please help” (I’m extremely articulate when I’m nervous). She graciously pointed me “down the hall and to the right, honey” and I made my way there. Like a sweet little baby-less dumdum, I tried opening the door, disregarding the VERY CLEARLY MARKED instructions to “Download the app to unlock this pod” which resulted in a few minutes of fumbling with my phone outside of the pod making a rather obvious spectacle of my CLUELESSNESS. As Stockton likes to point out whenever someone acts like a rookie, every awkward movement and sweat bead conveyed the message “I’M NEW HERE!”
Quickly, my Traveling Business Woman guise dissolved into Desperate Engorged Mother which, along with finally following the instructions, gained me access to the pumping pod. I gave Stockton the “OK, you disappear for 15 minutes while I sit in here and milk myself” nod and locked the door behind me. The first thing I saw was myself, schlepping the largest carryon bag I’ve ever carried, reflected in a mirror ornately decorated in love notes from other breast feeding moms encouraging their fellow food sources on this, both literal and figurative, journey.
I immediately became a weepy, emotional mess (HORMONES! TRAVEL! MISSING MY BABIES!). I casually sent Stockton an SOS text of just this photo and was met with his reply: “Do we need to go back home?” That’s a compassionate man right there. He wasn’t even kidding. I replied with “No, of course not, I’m fine, we’re fine, everything’s fine, I just need to try not to get my hot tears in this milk” or something to that effect. Pumping took a little longer (ok, a lot longer) than nursing normally takes, but I finished my business, sent up a prayer of thanksgiving for this opportunity to breastfeed, for the babies that I love back home, and for this privilege to travel with my husband, and exited the pumping pod.
While I was in the pumping pod, I began texting with my dear friend and lactation consultant, Ashley, who gave me encouragement as well as practical advice for storing my milk. As it turns out, while I thought I would need to store my milk on ice for the duration of our 3-night trip, she told me my milk would be fine refrigerated in the room’s mini fridge. I was relieved at this, because it allowed me to easily store and save all 90+ ounces of milk that I collected while on the trip. She also told me that breast milk will smell bad if it has gone bad, so I checked each bag upon arriving home before slipping it into the freezer for storage. Sniffing your own breast milk isn’t weird at all. Just keep telling yourself that until you believe it.
Over the course of our three day stay in Palm Beach, I managed to pump about 4 times a day, sometimes getting as much as 12 ounces in one sitting (however, those sittings took up to 45 minutes). A few things that surprised me, a person to whom breast feeding comes pretty naturally:
- Pumping is not natural. Pumping is frigging hard.
- Merritt is a much more efficient eater than my pump.
- I like my pump.
- I do not like to pump.
- Even after pumping up to 12 ounces, my breasts never felt emptied (see #2).
- Pump is such a weird word. Nurse sounds much prettier.
I have such incredible respect for women who pump for their babies. Whether you’re a working mom and you must pump during your working hours, you travel for your job, or maybe your baby just can’t get the latch thing down and the only way you can give your baby breast milk successfully is through a bottle: I salute you. Truly, madly, deeply. Your dedication to providing breast milk for your baby is sacrificial (WAY more sacrificial, even, than my choice to breastfeed). Pumping is lonely. It’s draining, in both the physical and emotional sense. It’s isolating. It isn’t glamorous, not even in the slightest. While I can latch my baby onto my breast nearly anywhere and be heralded as sharing a sweet intimacy with my baby, there is nothing intimate about hoses and nozzles and and vacuums. It’s just a grind. And I absolutely, unequivocally salute you. Also: I have nothing but respect for women who choose formula over breastmilk. We all have our “why” for how we choose to feed our babies. Or maybe, as was the case after my stroke in 2013, the choice is made for us. Knox was formula fed from the age of 2-weeks old. He is beyond fine. I never tasted breastmilk as a baby. I am fine(ish). As my lactation consultant/friend/hero, Ashley, says: fed is best.
Even though I didn’t cherish the experience of having to pump for all of my “feedings” while away from Merritt, I must give credit to my pump. It was new to me this pregnancy after my original pump from Navy’s infancy finally bit the dust. Our insurance covered it completely which was amazing, and also a new benefit since having my first baby. I carefully weighed the options when making my selection and ended up choosing the Spectra S2. I found the entire system to be easy to use, easy to clean (especially with limited cleaning resources in the hotel), quiet and efficient. Oh and for the most part, quite portable. I only brought one bottle and attachment even though it has the ability to be a double pump. Yes, I know this is largely why it took me so long to pump during each session, however, I was trying to be conservative with how much I was packing. Prior to our trip, I considered using the service Milk Stork, which provides you with a refrigerated shipping box to overnight your pumped milk home to your baby. Their technology is impressive and I’m sure if I were traveling for business, I would write the expense into my demands for my company. However, as a leisure traveler, I couldn’t quite justify the expense. On to plan B.
The morning of our departure I had an “Oh crap” moment and realized I didn’t have a cooler. Obviously this is because I had been ticking off countless other more important details in preparing for our trip including our kids’ care and keeping, OUR packing, baking 3 dozen muffins because I get distracted when I’m stressed out, etc. I could use Knox’s Pottery Barn Kids lunchbox, or Stockton’s beer cooler which is specifically sized and designed to accommodate a six-pack of beer. Beer cooler trumped digi-rhino monogrammed lunch pail, and in it I stuffed as many breastmilk storage bags as I had on hand (also didn’t quite think that one through but happened to have exactly the right amount of bags, so Yahtzee!) and 3 ziplock gallon bags. The gallon bags would later come in handy for storing ice which I would procure from whatever smoothie stand or Starbucks would hook me up, as well as all of my milk bags.
Overall, I made it. I, a nursing-not-pumping mom, successfully left my baby for almost 4 whole days and managed to maintain my milk supply, if not perfectly, then at least well enough to resume normal breastfeeding upon returning home. I managed to come home with almost a gallon of pumped breast milk to be stored for future use. I didn’t have to dump a single ounce. And I’ve never been happier to be reunited with my baby.
Pumping while traveling must-haves
- Spectra S2 Pump (or whatever portable breast pump you’ve got). NOTE: I do NOT recommend heading on a trip with the sole use of a hand pump. I have used a hand pump only on the occasion that I still have my baby with me, and while it may be decent in a pinch, I fear if it was all I had to work with on this trip, I would not have been able to successfully or adequately express milk and it could have cost me my milk supply. Go for the real thing if you’re going to be separated from your baby for any more than a few hours.
- Breast milk storage bags (This is Courtney. Courtney doesn’t plan ahead. Do not be like Courtney. In other words, bring more than you will need).
- Ziplock gallon storage bags (to keep the pumped milk stored in a more sanitary way to contain potential leaks, and to serve as disposable ice packs)
- A decent, insulated, soft-sided cooler (like this one, for instance). Order the appropriate size/number of coolers based on length of your trip.
- Optional: freezer packs for your bag. I used ice but kind of rolled the dice with this. A couple of flexible ice packs would have certainly been helpful and could have been frozen in the hotel ice bucket.
- Mamava app. You can look up Mamava pumping pods by location, so even if you don’t know if the airport you’re traveling through has a pod, you can look to be sure. (Also: if you don’t believe your airport has a Mamava Pod, ask a gate agent if there is a room for pumping. I have seen designated rooms for this at certain airports, and would personally opt for this over a bathroom if given the option).
- Your rights as a nursing mom. This one is important, ladies. You do not have to sit on the terminal floor under a blanket or stand awkwardly at the bathroom sinks for 30 minutes to pump. You do not have to spend hundreds of dollars to ship your milk instead of carrying it on (yes, you can travel through TSA with a beer cooler full of pumped milk. Three ounce liquid limits and strange looks be damned). You have rights, use them.
Have you pumped on a trip for work or leisure? What must-haves or tips and tricks did I miss? High five to all the moms out there who make a living while doing this. My hat comes off to you!