Have you heard about this happening? - Page 2

[sapphire_chan]

Originally Posted by ulla

Exactly. I own a restaurant and nothing is permitted in the refrigerators or freezers that is not intended for the business. That would also include any food or beverages employees might bring from home.

It also has to do with liability issues. If we were to store breast milk in our freezer for a customer and a child later consumed it and coincidentally became ill, we could be held liable and become the target of a lawsuit, either justified or frivolous.

If this was a good restaurant, doubt that the freezer was "nasty".

If they had a policy like that they would have refused without asking what she wanted refrigerated. Also, they should have clarified that it was the risk of contamination of the breastmilk that they were worried about, not the risk that the breastmilk would contaminate other items.

[ulla]

Originally Posted by sapphire_chan

If they had a policy like that they would have refused without asking what she wanted refrigerated. Also, they should have clarified that it was the risk of contamination of the breastmilk that they were worried about, not the risk that the breastmilk would contaminate other items.

The liability issue can also go the other way. If food in the commercial refrigerator became contaminated and had to be thrown out and the breast milk was the suspected contaminant the business could sue the mother for damages.

It's just good business sense not to accept food or liquid from an unknown source and also prudent for a traveling mother not to let expressed breast milk out of her sight.

The front desk manager can say whatever he wants to handle the situation. The guest doesn't have a "right" to a particular explanation. If a customer is asking for special services or favors at my restaurant that we do not intend to provide we politely decline the request, but it is not my policy to explain myself to customers in such circumstances.

My question is why go through the hassle of pumping and collecting breast milk while on the road. After all, it's just breast milk and a woman's body can always make more when it's needed. I traveled professionally while I nursed my 3 children and I never even owned a pump. If I was engorged I would just express some milk in the shower under the hot running water.

[bdavis337]

Many women who are pumping are either EP'ing, and they NEED that ebm, or they're low supply mamas, and not pumping can put their supply in jeopardy, or maybe the supplement with an SNS or Lactaid, and want their own bm in the supplementer......it's valuable to soooo many of us. Not every woman can truly "just make more" as needed like that.

I'm a bfar mama and I can tell you that I treated my ebm like some sort of sacred object. I didn't even allow my own husband to feed the ebm bottle, for fear he'd feed to fast and baby would spit it up. Some women don't need to pump to ebf, others have no choice, and being told to casually throw away what they worked so hard for is like saying "sorry, we know you worked real hard this week but we've decided not to pay you for it. Try again next week, ok?"

[phreedom]

I work so my baby has to take EBM while I'm at work. Which isn't really all that much. I work night shift so she only gets about 2-3 bottles a week. When I'm off she is exclusively BF. But when I go to that conference she is going to need the EBM I have stored up. When I come back, I'm sure that there will be very little, if any left. That's why I need to pump, freeze and transport my EBM, to replenish what she drank. I have have some EBM stored up for her for when I'm gone. And since this is really the first time I've been away for an extended period of time, it's really important that I be able to "catch up" when I come back. If bringing her with me were an option, believe me, I would never pump. But when you have to be separated pumping is so important.

I don't have a supply problem, but I certainly don't make an abundance of it either, so every drop is precious to me. I HAVE cried over spilled milk

[TattooedMama]

Here is an EXCELLENT new article from Mothering about traveling with breastmilk that allows us to comply with TSA standards as well as travel with all the milk you can pump. I highly recommnd that everyone read it, bookmark it and retain the info to share with any mom that you hear will be traveling and pumping. It makes me ill to think of women pumping and dumping because they feel they have no choice.

http://www.mothering.com/articles/ne...reastmilk.html

[Ellien C]

Originally Posted by MadysonMom

Just another note. When I was at the hotel I had some milk that I had pumped and needed to freez. I went to the front desk and asked them if they had a freezer I could use. They asked me what I needed it for and when I told them they said I could not use the freezer because that it was not sanitary. Did they mean the milk or the freezer? I am sure my milk is the least of the worries in a hotel freezer.....

Your kidding? I used hotel freezers on at least 2 occasions when I travelled. I just handed them a bag with my room number on it (one of the plastic bags they give you for dry cleaning or wet bathing suits) and handed it over the front desk. No one ever asked me what was in it.

[Sandstress]

Originally Posted by ulla

My question is why go through the hassle of pumping and collecting breast milk while on the road. After all, it's just breast milk and a woman's body can always make more when it's needed. I traveled professionally while I nursed my 3 children and I never even owned a pump. If I was engorged I would just express some milk in the shower under the hot running water.

Yeah.....Unfortunately, what worked for you doesn't necessarily work for everyone else. Lots of women work really hard to maintain their supply, both while at work and while traveling. Hell, some even work hard to maintain supply when they're not WOHMs. This advice could really be damaging to someone's supply if they were not as lucky as you were to have a supply that didn't needed to be maintained so fastidiously.

-Sandstress

[Sandstress]

Originally Posted by TattooedMama

Here is an EXCELLENT new article from Mothering about traveling with breastmilk that allows us to comply with TSA standards as well as travel with all the milk you can pump. I highly recommnd that everyone read it, bookmark it and retain the info to share with any mom that you hear will be traveling and pumping. It makes me ill to think of women pumping and dumping because they feel they have no choice.

http://www.mothering.com/articles/ne...reastmilk.html

Quote from the article: "Ironically, the TSA policy also notes that breastmilk can be carried on in "unlimited quantities" by a mom traveling with her child —despite the fact that she could nurse baby and therefore wouldn't need to pump and carry precious breastmilk."

Unfortunately, EPing is again overlooked. I had to carry my baby, pump, and all the pumped breastmilk. The milk went through security no problem, but the pump was pretty well scrutinized.

Additionally, the Mothering article implies that you can refreeze breastmik that has thawed. The reference in Breastfeeding medicine also implies that you could thaw milk and safely refreeze it. This is not what the current recommendations are, which are to use thawed milk within 24 hours. Maybe more data like this will lead to a new recommendation, but for now, you're not supposed to refreeze.

[bdavis337]

Originally Posted by Ellien C

Your kidding? I used hotel freezers on at least 2 occasions when I travelled. I just handed them a bag with my room number on it (one of the plastic bags they give you for dry cleaning or wet bathing suits) and handed it over the front desk. No one ever asked me what was in it.

I think the difference would be found in the difference between a licensed food service establishment freezer/cooler/walkin and a regular, for the guests, isn't licensed for food service location. And THAT said, the hotel can take whatever precautions IT feels appropriate, and since bm technically IS a bodily fluid, if the hotel management prohibits storage of such in the common area freezers, it's their right to do so. I can't help but feel that this is a harsh and uncaring way to put it, but it's very difficult to separate one bodily fluid from another in a business realm like that.

[TattooedMama]

Originally Posted by Sandstress

Additionally, the Mothering article implies that you can refreeze breastmik that has thawed. The reference in Breastfeeding medicine also implies that you could thaw milk and safely refreeze it. This is not what the current recommendations are, which are to use thawed milk within 24 hours. Maybe more data like this will lead to a new recommendation, but for now, you're not supposed to refreeze.

I'm saying that I believe this to be the new recommendation. It would be more advisable to refreeze milk that had been thawed then it would be to dump it. To paraphrase the article "they basically beat up the BM and still decided that it would be OK to use." Like the article also said that if the milk packed into your luggage was still cold then it could be refrozen. I found that interesting too that BM freezes at a lower temp than water. So packing BM with regular ice in a cooler was actually speeding up the thawing process. To each their own, but based on the guidelines in this new article I would use it.
And a big shout out to all the working, pumping and traveling moms!
I WOH and pump part time, but I have never had to add air travel into the mix. Kudos to you all!

[mama2jack]

Originally Posted by eviesingleton

That prompted a story from one of the other hosts who said that her friend went to a conference, pumped all weekend, and airport security made her throw away all of her bottled breastmilk because she didn't have a baby with her.

Don't they realize that you have pumped milk BECAUSE your babe is not with you?

[Demeter9]

Originally Posted by mamasophy

At an outdoor theater I lived near, they didn't allow any food, including breastfeeding, because "it attracts bees".

[hellyaellen]

Originally Posted by mama2jack

Don't they realize that you have pumped milk BECAUSE your babe is not with you?

:

[tweedybird]

help packing milk with dry ice

Originally Posted by Sandstress

Please don't take these TSA rules lightly- they will most likely be enforced. I flew with about 20 frozen lansinoh bags in a cooler packed with dry ice. It lasted the night before (whole package in a deep freezer) and then the next day until about 6 pm when I finally to go my home (after a missed connection and BAD Houston traffic.) I was in tears thinking about having to dump all that milk out. When I got home, there was still dry ice in the cooler. I taped up the cooler with packing tape, and I think I had a label with my name and address and stuff. I can't rmemeber if I put "perishable" or not. The dude at the scanner (you check your baggage in a different place in PGH) asked what it was, and I told him frozen milk- nothing more said.

As for dry ice, I called a bunch of packing/shipping places, and they actually recommended the place I bought it- an auto supply store. It was actually listed in the yellow pages under "ice".

Good luck.

Can you please tell me more about how you packed your milk with dry ice? I'm flying this Sunday and I have about a week's worth of feedings in Lansinoh bags. I have about 24hrs of travel from freezer to freezer. I found a place that sells dry ice, but I read the airline only lets you pack 4lbs. I also got some ice gel packs. I'm so relieved to see your post cause I was nervous the dry ice would ruin the Lansinoh bags. Can you tell me how much dry ice you got, how long it lasted (I'll probably have to get it the day before since I fly on Sunday night) etc. Also, did you put gel packs too? did you wrap it in newspaper? I never posted here before but please help me out! Email me if you can, it's [e-mail] Thanks!