Business travel and the nursing mother

 

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Business travel and breastfeeding seem an unlikely combination, but for many mothers, including myself, the two are impossible to separate.  Any mother who nurses her baby and works outside the home is familiar with a breast pump, cooler bags, frozen gel packs, and storage bottles or bags.  Pumping and lugging around all the necessary accompaniments through airports and security creates more stress and mandates organization and planning.  So why bother? Because I love my daughter, I love nursing her, and I believe there are benefits to breast milk that no synthetic formula will ever be able to replicate.   

Consider normal business travel.  For me that meant bringing a carryon with my laptop, projector, and paperwork for my job.  I also brought another wheeled bag with my clothing, and checked a bag with all my other gear for my job.  Once I returned to work following maternity leave, I now had to juggle bag space to bring a bag for my breastpump, cooler bags, frozen freezer packs, etc. – all while remaining compliant with the TSA’s guidelines on liquids travel.  Thankfully I can now travel with breastmilk in my carryon without my infant in “reasonable quantities” as long as I declare it and am aware that it may be tested for explosives.  

I am forced to get special screening for having more than “reasonable quantities” nearly every trip – whether I have 4 ounces or 40.  This results in the agent making me stand aside while they unzip my cooler bag, take out all the milk, wipe it down with a special bomb-sniffing pad, run that through a machine, and then give the all clear.  Some airports are better at this than others, but most of the time I need to allot for an extra 15 minutes.  When I try to get the TSA to tell me why I need a special search, I usually get a response along the lines of “Something doesn’t look right.”  I have had some more extreme responses, but most of my security checkpoint adventures involve screeners who have no idea what a breast pump is.  They make me take it out of the case, run the motor unit through the x-ray machine alone, and demonstrate how it turns on.  I keep the instruction manual in my bag just in case they want to see how it all attaches; keeping pump parts sanitary is hard enough without random TSA workers playing with my horns

The most difficult part about pumping while traveling is that there are seldom any sanitary locations where I can express milk.  While there are a small number of airports that offer nursing rooms, the majority does not.  How much time would you like to spend in an airport restroom?  Would you prepare a meal there?  I take every possible precaution, including wiping down areas with disinfecting wipes, keeping my pump parts scrupulously clean, and minimizing the time it takes me to pour my milk from pump bottle to storage bag.  I still worry about airborne bacteria and viruses.  When I am in a slow airport or during off-peak hours, I sometimes go into a deserted gate and pump there.  It’s a little tricky but I can get my pashmina to cover up the horns and at least I won’t appear too strange, but I still gamble with being arrested.  The legislation that protects mothers nursing in public exists in most states, but no laws protect pumping mothers from indecency charges.  

Pumping in a restroom stall alone is difficult enough, but what about when you are in flight?  Using an airplane bathroom is even more difficult, and is more hazardous for germ reasons.  The tap water on airplanes is not safe to drink or wash bottles in, and in my opinion that means it is not safe to wash my hands with.    The stalls are cramped and the ire of many passengers will be upon you should you take the usual 20 minutes to pump.  I have been lucky on many flights where the airline staff is friendly and sympathetic to my need for privacy, occasionally an outlet, and a seat reassignment.  I have pumped in my airplane seat after moving to an empty row, pumped in the galley using a power outlet for the coffee machine, and once on a jump seat by the emergency exit door.  Yes, it can be a little embarrassing having strangers see me set up my pumping rig under my clothing, but at least the roar of the engines drowns out the hum of my pump.  

Thankfully, once I arrive at my destination things smooth out.  I have had great success with hotel management; they often bring me a mini-fridge to my room at no charge that they keep on hand for medical needs.  I have taken everything out of the mini-bar fridge and stored milk there in a pinch.  Once I ran to the ice machine every hour to keep refilling zip top bags that I used to keep the milk cool after my freezer packs began to thaw.  Once I begin my seminars during the day, the catering manager takes my freezer packs and stores them in the walk-in so they will be rock hard and chilled for my return trip.  I can usually arrange for late check out so I can pump in my room during breaks, and if that isn’t possible I usually get access to an empty meeting room and pump there.  

Yes, it is a lot of work.  It takes coordination and planning and an unquestionable devotion to breastfeeding your baby.  I feel no sense of martyrdom for it; I feel elation and confidence.  I am doing this for my baby, because I love her.  I think it helps me feel connected to her while I am away.  I talk on the phone to her and sing her songs while I pump.  When I can’t do that I stare at her picture and sometimes I bring one of her onesies that she slept in to smell while I pump to help with letdown.  There is no sweeter reunion than nursing my baby after a long trip away, stroking her soft hair and feeling her hands reaching to touch my face.  Pumping for her is a labor of love, but a worthy one.