In October of 2024, I had the opportunity to travel to a friend's baby shower in NYC. Although it was only a 36 hour round trip away, I felt panic about how I'd navigate pumping while traveling and more importantly, safely flying the breastmilk back to Atlanta.
I spent hours doing research for products and recommendations, as well as discussed it with my lactation consultant. I've complied my tips in one place to hopefully make preparing for a trip easier for you!
Purchase a Ceres Chill or similar insulated bottle. This bottle was worth the price! It keeps the milk cold for HOURS. For longer trips, I typically store milk that is within 12 hours of my departure in here, and freeze it once I am home. TSA will ask you to open the bottle and they will wave a test strip over the milk (this is for the US).
Pack a light cooler bag and large Ziploc bags. For the milk I freeze on the trip, I place the breastmilk bags in a double Ziploc, then in the insulated cooler bag to store in my carryon backpack. Typically TSA just needs to see it.
If staying at a hotel, call ahead. Speak with a manager about your request to store milk in their deep freezer. I had a label on EVERYTHING I gave them - the milk was in a double ziplock and cooler bag. They will "check it" similar to leaving a suitcase before or after you check in with concierge.
Freeze the cold milk. This tip came from my lactaction consultant! Once milk is cool, freeze it. My typical travel plan is to freeze everything up until 12 hours prior to traveling home. My flights have been 2-4 hours, with 2-4 additional hours of airport transit and wait time. When I am home, the milk is still mostly frozen but I allow it to continue to defrost and use this milk first.
For my trip to NYC, unfortunately there was a misunderstanding so my milk was stored in the fridge instead of freezer. I had the hotel give me ice to place in one of my Ziploc bags to place in the insulated bag. Thankfully, this was my shorter trip away, so the milk didn't necessarily need to be frozen to be within the 4 day guidelines.
I have TSA Pre-check, but I have shared when going through security I have breastmilk with me. The first time I went through and they had the test stripes, I was terrified they were going to place it in the milk. I recommend just asking to ensure they do no, or if they need to, pour a little milk into a cup to discard. Again, my experience was with the Atlanta, Denver, and Newark airport that did not do this, but read in a few posts online it may be different for international travel.
Finally, my last tip is that if you have the opportunity to spend time away to see family or friends, take it! I am grateful for a husband who was supportive of the trips I have taken to reconnect with friends away. I hope these tips give you ideas to make your travel easier!