you see, i had to travel to Houston last month. for about 9 days and i couldnt take my little girl with me. the long hours flight with long hours transit would be too much for her petite 3 months body endure. so I opted to go alone with my colleagues and left her behind with hubby.
Since I'm a breastfeeding mother, i had to consider pumping while travelling to ensure milk production will still continue even after i come back home. I was very nervous. I had never not nurse her in a day, and this will be almost 9 days without nursing her. gah. so freaking takut. but i had no option.
I was supposed to travel with another colleague as well, but his visa was temporarily refused. so, even i wanted to bail out at the last minute, i wont be allowed.
I did some preparations prior travelling. Googled up stuff on pumping while abroad and taking the milk with you on planes. Some scary stuff came up also and so does some positive ones.
Especially with issues to cross the customs with bag containing litres of milk and i'm travelling without the baby. Thankfully, i came across the TSA website which says that there's a new regulation that allows nursing mothers to travel with milk without infant.
(http://www.tsa.dhs.gov/travelers/airtravel/children/formula.shtm)
SO legally, it is okay.
But i read somewhere in the stories told by mom's all around the world that you may face difficulty as some customs officers are ignorant, so i printed out the article with me and kept it in my hands during customs clearance.
Then it came down to the issue of how the hell should i carry the litres of milk on board with them kept cool. Of course, i asked mr google again and after a few considerations, I decided to carry these few items with me:
1. Fridge-to-go bag (it's called Victoria) - it can fit almost 20 milk bags (each filled with 9-10oz of milk)
The rule of thumb about carrying milk is, declare to custom officer beforehand AND tawakkal. NEVER marah2 and regardless how mad you're at them for opening your cooler bag which has been packed neatly to endure the longgggg hours flight, still talk to them politely as what counts is your milk will pass the security line.
Oh, i forgot to tell you that I managed to fill up the entire mini bar in the room with milk. and ended up has to throw some away cause I could fit all of them in my cooler bag. I also got one spare from a friend in Houston, a small cooler bag that can fit about 5 bags.
On the day i was travelling home, I was carrying one fridge-to-go, one mamago cooler bag which is empty, so that I can still pump while on the plane and during transit and one cooler bag which i got from a friend in houston. bare in mind, those liquid are heavy.......patah bahu.....hahahaha
The first officer that I declared before going thru the scanner said, it is okay to carry the milk with me and just let the other officers at the scanner knows. so i did.
and she's a female ye. she was so ignorant. all the other male officers i told during i arrival in Houston had no problem with it and didnt even open my bag. they let me pass and was even polite enough to educate themselves on how long does mother's milk lasts.
the lady, took my bag and told me she had to open them and run some tests. man i was FURIOUS. i took out the printed material from their website and she nodded. but she got another lady to look at the notice and finally said they won't open the milk bags and will just wipe the outer of the bag for security purposes. boleh pulak pompuan yg tk understanding kan? so, u can imagine that i was about to cry cause i was so mad with them. (but i kept reminding myself not to marah cause nnti every effort dah jadi tk berbaloi).
alhamdulillah, all went thru. on the flight, i asked the stewardess to keep all the cooler bags in their chiller. and once again alhamdulillah, the Emirates flight attendants were kind enough to help me with it. They even took them out for me everytime i had to pump and told me to be careful while pumping on the plane.
We had to stopover at Dubai for 8 hours and nasib baik we got free transit hotel. so, sampai saje, I asked the housekeeping to keep the bags in their blast freezer.
I did the same thing on the connecting flight to Kuala Lumpur. Alhamdulillah, all the bags were kept cool and in good condition. I quickly put all the milk in the freezer once i reached home.
Oh oh, i didnt freeze the milk while i'm abroad. I travelled with all liquids cause never frozen milk will last longer and can then be froze.
ooh i had to go. baby calling! until next time.
alhamdullillah all my efforts are worth it! :D
mothers, dont get easuly too discouraged by your workload and the hardships ya..be strong for your baby and for yourself.
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