Breastfeeding & Traveling: Bringing Breastmilk Home from a Trip

I recently took a 4 day trip without my then 5 month old baby and I was able to successfully bring home ALL the milk that I pumped throughout the trip. That’s around 150 oz! No more pumping and dumping for me!

If you’re traveling without your baby and planning to bring home breastmilk for the first time, hope you find this useful. Have a fun, guilt-free (hehe) trip!

Everything I packed

I might as well have packed the entire house! Just kidding. But I did bring a lot of things with me just so I can bring home breastmilk. Here’s a complete list of everything I brought in relation to expressing and bringing home breastmilk. I’ll be explaining how I used each of them later on.

1. Freezable Cooler Bags
2. Insulated Cooler Bag
3. Large Zipperbags
4. Microwave Sterilizer Bag
5. Bottles
6. Marker
7. Breastpump + Parts
8. Nursing Cover
9. Ice Packs
10. Breastmilk Storage Bags
11. Mini Breastmilk Storage Bags
12. Bottle Wash Spray
13. Breastfeeding Tissue Wipes

PUMPING & STORING ON-THE-GO:

This was no doubt the hardest part because pumping and storing on-the go means you have to bring so many things with you as you go sightseeing! I was lugging around my pump, pump parts, bottles, milk, cleaning materials, ice packs and cooler bags the entire time!

My backpack was 90% full with my pumping gear and 10% was for our other needs (Luke’s extra clothes, our water, etc.)

• I pumped every 3-4 hours or whenever there was an opportunity for me to sit down for 15 minutes.
• All the milk I expressed, I would transfer into storage milk bags so it’s less bulky.
• I only brought 4 bottles (2 pairs) with me daily for pumping, which I reused. I would clean them after each use (more on that below)
• You can make do with just 1 pair but I always had an extra pair in case I was in a hurry and didn’t have time to clean.
• Also kept the used bottles inside my cooler so that in case there’s still milk residue left, it won’t spoil. That’s a trick I found online!
• If there’ still space in my cooler, I also put my pump parts inside it.

KEEPING MILK FRESH ON-THE-GO:

Our daily itinerary did not include hotel breaks. We were out the whole day and I did not have the luxury of putting my milk back on the hotel’s mini ref. This means I had to make sure my cooler bag was cool enough to last me until the night.

So what I did was, I placed Profreeze ice packs (which you can cut to your desired size) inside my freezable Pack-It cooler bag to make it extra, extra cold. This is where I would put all the milk I expressed the whole day, to make sure it’s still fresh when I get back at the hotel at night.

Freshly expressed breastmilk can be stored in an insulated cooler bag with ice packs up to one day. But just to be on the cautious side, I give myself a mental note of keeping it only for 12 hours max. I try to make sure I’m back at the hotel by then.

STORING BREASTMILK AT THE HOTEL

Every night upon arrival at the hotel room, I would immediately store all the milk bags I pumped at the mini refrigerator.

I was traveling with my 4 year old so I would attend to him first. After giving him a bath and putting him to bed, I would pack all the milk bags in my large zipperbag (I used the ones from Sun Mum and Mother-K), go down to the hotel’s main restaurant and ask the staff to freeze it for me. I would also ask them to freeze my ice packs and my Pack-It freezable bag (and will retrieve them each morning during breakfast!) Whew!

We were staying at The Shangri-La Taipei and as you can expect from Shangri-La, the service was beyond. They did everything I asked and also helped me when I needed to arrange the bags at one point and return it back to them. I was at the restaurant every night just to have them freeze my milk bags and I felt so bad for all the trouble but they were very accommodating!

I’ve read from other blogs that most hotels are usually very understanding. But I recommend calling the hotel beforehand if they would help assist you on this. Smaller hotels might not have enough freezer space even if they wanted to help.

CLEANING ON-THE-GO

I would have around 4 pumping sessions throughout the day so that means I needed to clean my pump parts and bottles on-the-go to be able to reuse them.

I used Mother-K Breastfeeding Tissue Wipes to clean. It is made of 100% purified water and placed in a sterile packaging. SUPER MUST-HAVE if you plan to do this. I don’t know how I’d survive having to ask for hot water or cleaning it in the public restrooms if I didn’t have these wipes! Love that they are also travel-sized and come in small packs.

For those wondering about sterilizing, I did not sterilize anymore while I was out. I only sterilized at the hotel. Happy to report that my baby has already consumed all the milk from the trip and is perfectly fine. Haha.

CLEANING AT THE HOTEL

As mentioned, I clean my pump parts and bottles on-the-go but I give them a more thorough washing every night at the hotel room.

I didn’t want to bring a brush, drying rack and liquid soap anymore so I just brought my Nimble Baby Bottle Cleaner spray. You just spray, add water, shake the bottle and rinse! Hehe. Super easy and perfect if you don’t wanna pack so many things especially since it comes in travel size too.

I would use very hot water to rinse all the bottles and parts. Then I’ll leave them to dry.

In the morning, I would place my pump parts in my SunMum Microwavable Sterilizer Bag and ask the hotel staff at the restaurant (again haha!) to please microwave it for me.

And that’s how I sterilize the pump parts. I didn’t sterilize the bottles anymore. You could, but I was too lazy and also didn’t want to bother the staff anymore (they would have to go back and forth to do that)

FLYING AND BRINGING BREASTMILK HOME

Checking it in on the plane

• All the milk I pumped from Day 1-2, I packed inside my small Pack-It Freezable Bag (polka dots)
• Then I placed that polka dotted bag INSIDE my big Pack-It Freezable Bag (the colorful striped one). This is to keep them extra-extra frozen.
• The rest of the milk bags were placed in giant zipper bags and placed inside the big Pack-It Freezable Bag
• Then I filled the entire big Pack-It Freezable Bag with all the Profreeze Ice Packs I can stuff.
• I packed this super heavy bag inside my luggage and checked it in.

Carrying it with you on the plane

I still had a lot of milk that I pumped from the time I finished packing early in the morning all the way to our flight. Since all my Pack-It Freezable bags were checked-in, I used my So Young insulated bag (the linen one with cute black prints) and also filled it with Profreeze Ice Packs.

NOTE: Some airlines require that all liquid, including breastmilk, be separated into 3oz packs.

I was riding EVA Air and wasn’t sure about their regulations; they had no info on their website about this. So to be sure, I brought small milk storage bags with me (used the Sun Mum 4oz bags) and made sure I only had 3oz in each bag.

The airport staff made me open my cooler but that was all. I didn’t encounter any problems and I was cleared to go!

Additional Tips:

• Don’t forget to ask the hotel prior to booking if there’s a refrigerator in your room and if they have space on the hotel restaurant’s freezer.
• Wear breastfeeding friendly outfits all throughout so it’s easier to express milk anytime, anywhere.
• Label your zipperbags and cooler bags especially if you’re gonna leave it at the hotel’s freezer.
• If possible, plan a chill itinerary with hotel breaks if possible; it’s a hassle to lug everything around!
• Make sure you have enough luggage space: the milk and ice packs will take up a lot of space (and weight!)

And there you have it! Hope that helps! I know that sounds like a lot of work… and it really is a lot of work! Haha! But don’t be discouraged. As all you breastfeeding moms know, it’s all gonna be worth it, in the end!

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