Breast Milk Versus Airport Security

Unless you are currently breastfeeding and traveling via airplanes these days, you may not have thought much about breast milk counting as one of the liquids banned from carry-on luggage. Lugging the pump around, finding a place to get half-naked and keeping the milk refrigerated seemed challenging enough at work, didn't it? But due to the new ban on liquids in carry-on airplane luggage, taking a breast-pump and milk on business trips has gotten a lot more complicated.

Here's the limited guidance from the TSA site about getting breast milk on airplanes:

Baby formula and breast milk are allowed in your carry-on baggage or personal items. You can take these through the security checkpoints and aboard your plane. However, you must be traveling with a baby or toddler. All items including formula or breast milk will be inspected.

You or your baby or toddler will not be asked to test or taste breast milk or formula. Our Security Officers will not test or taste formula or breast milk.

Florida mom and self-described "road warrior" Dineen Pashoukos Wasylik brought alive how the TSA ban makes working motherhood that much more challenging (these comments appeared originally on DC Working Moms group on Yahoo and are reprinted with Dineen's permission):

Thanks to all who answered my query about how to handle a day trip for work with my pump and breastmilk in tow in light of the new TSA liquids restrictions. I had been concerned about checking the bag because of temperature issues (my flights were to/from airports in Florida). One mom told me she was forced to throw out her cooler packs (the blue ice melts into liquid) as well as her milk by TSA. ... I decided to chance the heat [in the luggage cargo] rather than try to get my milk through security without an accompanying baby.

My trip was today. I checked my Medela Pump In Style Traveler Backpack. I put three blue ice packs in the standard issue black cooler bag, which made it too full to hold the usual bottles. So I transferred the milk to bags after pumping so there was more room for ice and more of the milk was in contact with the ice. ... I am happy to report that despite having to leave the bag in the rental car in the hot Boca Raton sun between noon and 3 (in for a penny, in for a pound!), the cooler packs were still cold (though no longer frozen) and my milk was still cold when I finally got home at 8:30 p.m. I packed my bag and left the house at 7 a.m, so they were good for more than 12 hours! I had a bit of a scare when I arrived at my destination in that my pump did not seem to be on the carousel at first, but the baggage collectors found me, thank goodness. I had to pump at the airport before checking the bag for the return flight (whereas my original plan before the ban was to pump once I was through security and checked in, and I had set the flight times with that in mind). That made me cut things a bit closer than I would have liked with heightened security. ... There was some added hassle with my having to check luggage for such a short trip, but my boss thankfully took it in stride.

Best of luck, road warriors!

In an addendum message, Dineen, and then a second mom, reported that the faceplates on their Medela pumps had been damaged after being checked as cargo on planes, causing the pumps to not work as well.

What strikes me about Dineen's story is the incredible lengths moms have to go sometimes just to feed their babies the liquid gold every pediatrician and study and even the government recommends. What's your most outlandish breast-milk battle tale?

By Leslie Morgan Steiner |  August 28, 2006; 7:00 AM ET  | Category:  You Go Girl!
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