Travel With Infants and Toddlers: Nursing and Pumping

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Travel for a nursing mom – with or without her baby – has some extra challenges, but they are not insurmountable.  In fact, I found that an exclusively nursed infant is one of the easiest travel companions.

Nursing Covers

When my first son was born, nursing covers had not yet gained popularity. In fact, I did not know one person who owned one and had never seen one in use.  Whenever I needed to nurse him in public as an infant, I took him to the car or inquired about a private room.  It was truly a struggle to discretely cover a fidgety baby with a blanket that I was really nervous about our trip to London when he was four months old and exclusively nursed.  We got through the plane journey and our first few days traveling into Central London.  Even without comments, glares or stares, I was on edge every time I needed to feed him in public.

Bank of the River Thames

Riviera Maya

Then, we traveled to Barcelona. Our hotel was just outside the main tourist area, so it was not possible to retreat to our room for feedings every few hours.  During a short rain shower, we ducked into a restaurant for some food, and I began feeding my son at our table.  An older gentleman leaving the restaurant stopped as he passed, picked up the blanket and gently gave my son a soft pat on his head.  My husband and I were shocked at first and then we realized that Spaniards are less conservative than Americans, and he was just interested in seeing the baby and completely unaffected by the fact that I was nursing.  That one incident made me more relaxed while traveling in Europe.

Thankfully, nursing covers made their debut before my second son was born. They were not widely available as they are now, so I ordered my Bebe Au Lait cover through the specialty online store  and carried it with me just about every time I left the house with a nursing baby since it arrived in my mailbox.  While nursing in public with or without a cover is legal in most places, nursing covers make discreet public nursing possible just about anywhere.  And, the new nursing scarfs and nursing ponchos picked up right where covers left off and added important back coverage. 

National Gallery in London

 

With my nursing cover, I never had an issue nursing my second two children in public. I would nurse anytime I was sitting – on a plane, train or bus or at a restaurant or stop and find a convenient seat or bench (preferably with back support) whenever my baby needed to eat.  If we were out shopping, I would use a fitting room.  At first, I used to carry in a few items to make it look like I was planning to try on, but in later years, I would simply ask if I could nurse in a fitting room and was never once denied.

While at a museum, I would find a spot where I could sit for about 15-20 minutes.  Sometimes I had to get creative if no benches were available and perch myself on the floor up against a wall or even on the stairs.  Although Pope Francis told mothers to nurse during Mass, I never felt comfortable nursing during a religious service, except during Evensong at the York Minster when our family was seated in a small box that no one else could see inside.

Tate Modern

It really is possible to find a place to nurse wherever you are while traveling.  For example, I’ve nursed at all of these places:

Plane Travel

I think nursing moms have the advantage when traveling by plane with their babies.  Nursing is not only a great way to calm a baby, but swallowing is a also a cure-all for most ear pressure or pain.  Anytime my baby became slightly cranky on a plane, I would nurse, and that almost always immediately pacified the baby.  Before my first flight with an infant, someone recommended an inflatable travel nursing pillow.  It was a total life-saver.   The pillow fit easily in carry-on luggage and was easy to inflate after boarding.  Our babies (and our arms) were so much more comfortable when we brought this with us.

Pumping

If you are a pumping mom or traveling without your baby, there may be challenges finding an appropriate place to pump while traveling. I have sat in the back seat pumping while covered with my nursing cover many times. Although restrooms are generally not what I would consider an appropriate place to pump, I have pumped in a restroom during a wedding reception at least three times.

Also, cleaning pump parts and storing pumped milk are also considerations. It is helpful to carry dish washing liquid in travel containers and also to notify your hotel in advance that you are a nursing mom and need a refrigerator in your room. Many hotels have additional fees for refrigerators, but I have always received one without charge when requesting for the purpose of storing milk.

Nancy had more experience than me as a pumping mom and has this advice:

“I exclusively pumped for four months with my oldest and six months with my second. As a result, I have way more pumping experience than I care to admit. I have pumped on numerous flights and on the Amtrak, have pumped in a disgusting janitor’s bathroom in Manhattan…. My advice to you is to approach it as you would nursing – if would you nurse there, then go ahead and pump.
I usually travel with multiple sets of pumping parts – at least two pairs. The nice thing is that if I end up needing to pump 3-4 times because I’m away all day, I can just split up the pump parts and pump one side at a time for a total of four pump sessions. I also bring a stack of milk storage containers, a thin sharpie to use for labeling, and many, many gallon size ziplock bags. For transportation, I like using a medium size soft sided cooler which holds the milk, the pump parts (stored in gallon sized zip locks and clearly labeled as clean or dirty), and a few ice packs. I also have my pump (including AC adaptor), cleaning brush and soap, and milk bags in my carry on. When I’m ready to pump, I cover myself with a jacket or blanket and pump away. The times I have pumped on the plane or train I have been lucky to have the row to myself, or at least an empty middle seat, so I just turn my back to the other person and pump quietly. No one has ever said anything or even shown any signs of being aware that I was pumping.
Once I’m done, I simply store the dirty parts in a ziplock bag to wash when I get to my destination. Most hotels now come equipped with mini fridges, so if I am away for 1-2 nights, I just lay it flat in the fridge, I don’t worry about it. I just store in the fridge, along with the ice packs, until I’m ready to go. On the day of my trip home, I fill gallon size ziplock bag with ice from the hotel’s ice machine, and securely pack my milk into the cooler with said bags of ice! I’ve never had any trouble traveling with the milk.  The one time I wasn’t allowed to bring the gallon size bags of ice across security, I simply asked a restaurant to give me ice when I got through security. Upon arrival home, I put the milk directly into the fridge and fed my baby from that milk first. If the milk froze or developed some ice crystals – even better, as that gave me less to worry about in terms of developing freshness. I always fed baby first from the milk pumped while traveling, though, just to be sure none of it went to waste!”

Luckily, nursing rooms (aka “mother’s rooms”) are becoming common in airports.  My friend Kate shared an amazing US airport nursing room locator.    The Louis Armstrong New Orleans Airport offers mother’s rooms on each concourse, including this one that features comfy chairs, a power strip and a diaper changing station.  Traveling for a nursing mothers does require advance planning, but the challenges are not insurmountable, and availability of these types of facilities is making it easier.

Mother’s Room in Louis Armstrong International Airport.

Check out our other Travel Tips for advice about traveling with kids.

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