Traveling on business for three days, what to do with EBM

[flagger]

Ms. Flagger has to leave tonight for business in Mississippi. She is going to take her hand pump with her, but doesn't know how she will store three days worth of pumpings. If she has to, she will pump and dump as she wants to try to keep up some semblance of a supply. We think 3 days would be too long and too painful to go without the fear of her drying up.

She has ZERO choice in the matter and has to go. We talked about driving down there, but 11 hours is a long time.

Any ideas on what to do with the EBM?

Thanks.

[cinrein]

Will she have a fridge in her hotel room? Or maybe the hotel can provide one for a fee?

I would transfer whatever milk I could into the storage bags and keep them cool in a fridge. The milk should last 3 days without having to freeze it. I would take a nice soft cooler and those blue freezer packs. She can freeze the packs either in a hotel freezer or maybe the hotel will freeze them for her if she explains what it's for. Than pack it all up in the cooler for the trip home and hope for the best. If it goes bad, well not a big loss since the alternative was to pump and dump anyway.

Sorry, but I'm now amusing myself at imagining what the TSA folks will make out of a cooler full of breastmilk. :)


Cindy
Mama to Anna 2/11/03

[Momof3Labs]

Personally, I pump and dump when on business trips. I don't feel that I can get the pump clean enough on the road (and then who knows what oogies are living in the hotel room, on the linens, etc - I often have to pump in airport bathrooms, ick ick ick) to turn around and give the milk to my baby. So I wash the pump the best I can, and just dump whatever I pump.

[stillplayswithbarbies]

I ask for a refrigerator in my hotel room. (usually it's free, the most I have ever paid is $15 for the whole stay). I pump and put the milk into Gerber Breastmilk storage bags. When I am at the office, I keep it in a refrigerator there.

I have a lunch size cooler that I use to bring it all back with me. (I carry it on rather than put it in checked luggage because I am afraid the pressure will cause the bags to leak if it is in checked luggage.

If there is no freezer in the hotel refrigerator, I ask them to freeze my blue ice packs for me. Or I just put some ice in a ziploc bag.

I try to pump more often that she eats, since I know the pump is not as efficient as the baby. I pump as soon as I wake up, three times during the work day, as soon as I get back to my hotel, once more before bed and just before I go to sleep. Even if I only have 10 minutes to spare, I'll pump. The morning one and the bedtime one, I pump as long as I can, through two let downs if possible.

...Karen
Jacob Nathaniel Feb 91
Logan Elizabeth Mar 03

[cinrein]

I've never had to travel on business since Anna was born, so I'm not speaking from experience.

Don't a lot of hotel rooms have microwaves? You could clean the pump parts in one of those Medela microwave bags. I would probably bring my own towels to lay the parts out to dry, or my little Munchkin drying rack which wouldn't take up a lot of space. It just seems such a shame to dump it.

I almost wouldn't be able to bring myself to even stay in a hotel if I think too much about what's living (or did live) on the bedspread. First thing I always do is strip it off!

Cindy
Mama to Anna 2/11/03

[nola]

I agree with other posts about milk storage. I would not dump. Just wash your hands before pumping and rinse/wash equipment immediately after. Germs are everywhere anyway and a baby is always exposed to that. Just avoid growing petri-dish quantaties of them, and then feeding it to the baby (Nobody does this. It would be like leaving milky equipment in a nice warm place for two days and then using it again to pump more milk.). Of course, I don't mean to imply that there is anything wrong with being conservative.
I like the idea of packing it home with ice or freezer packs, but was also thinking that an electric cooler might work for the hotel stay. They sell them in all sizes now and they have adapters for plugging in to the wall.
I have related questions. I am going to go to Taiwan next month. Usually I use a PIS. Should I bring a small manual one for using in the plane bathroom? Or should I bring a battery pack for the PIS? Also, will the flight attendant mistake me for a terrorist if I disappear into the bathroom for 15min with a black bag? :)

[egoldber]

I would ask the flight attendant (female hopefully) where would be the best place to pump. On most (if not all) international flights there is a seat in first class that is curtained off. It is meant for pilots to be able to sleep on overnight flights, but they might be able to let you use it. And most first class seats these days have power outlets meant for laptops, but whatever works!!

[Momof3Labs]

Even though I stay in pretty nice hotels (business traveler), I rarely, rarely have a microwave in my room.

[cthuynh91]

I have pumped on the road. I think she'll be all right with cleaning the pump and laying on the towels to air dry. (I don't trust the blankets and bed covers but I know they always wash the sheets and towels.) I usually bring a little cooler and use ice from the ice machines to keep the milk cool. I think if you have the right container and such, most hotels would be more than willing to accommodate the storage part. I might horrify some here but I also usually dry the parts with papertowel and just stick them back in the ziplock for the next use (w/o sterilizing). DS hasn't had any problems yet!

HTH

Carina