Expressed breast milk and holiday

[emmarose1991]

I am going away and would like to express so I can feed when out. I'm going to holland in September (I'd need to start making my stash now). When it comes to it and I defrost the milk how long can I keep it in a cooler bag with ice packs? It's quite a long journey (around 10 hours). Is there any way I can keep some expressed breast milk fresh for each day of the holiday of 5 days? I assume not but maybe someone has some genious idea that I've completely missed.

Thanks

I'm confused - do you mean you are going away without your baby?

There's some great information on storing breastmilk on kellymom (sorry can't link as I'm on my phone).

Sorry, yes I'm going on holiday with my baby but I want to give him some expressed milk while I'm there as well as feeding him myself.

Thanks :)

I'd check Kellymom but I think defrosted stuff would need to be used within 24 hours (and stored in fridge as it defrosts). You can keep 'freshly' expressed stuff in the fridge for 7 days but I'd be a bit worried about that guideline if you were using a cool bag and pack rather than a fridge.

What teds said. How old will your baby be? When dd was tiny I needed to express for comfort if she missed a feed so bear that in mind.

He will be 4 months. I will be taking my pump with me to express as he is c

*as he is combination fed at the moment anyway so I express a few times a day. I just wanted to make sure he didn't have too much formula while on holiday but I didn't think there would be a way.
Thanks for the advice xx

*there would be a way to take the expressed milk.

Not making much sense today. Sleep deprived haha

I don't really understand sorry - why would you need to build up a stash? If you are there with him, and taking the pump, then can't you just express in the morning and feed him that during the day?

Also why would you need to express and feed him EBM rather than BF? is it so that others can help out?

I guess OP means she will be leaving him with other people some of the time when she is on holiday?

If so then you will just need to give him the milk you have expressed while you are there, as minipie says. Provided that there will be a refridgerator where you can store the milk that you express while you are out.

Sorry I really havnt made myself clear have I.

I want to give him expressed milk in a bottle as I do not feel comfortable feeding in public on holiday especially with my father and brother present who are going with us. I also don't want to have to search for a private place to feed in a foreign country when baby needs feeding when out. I will be breastfeeding as much as I can though obviously. If anything, expressed breast milk for the journey there is more important then actually on holiday.

I am not able to pump enough to express in the mornings. I only make an ounce after 20 minutes of pumping.

kellymom.com/bf/pumpingmoms/milkstorage/milkstorage/

I went on holiday with a relative who didn't want to bf in front of family. If we were out and about she would go and sit in the car. Is that an option? How are you travelling? Keeping expressed milk cold enough is going to be really tricky on a 10hr journey.
I know how you feel - I ebf and never fed in front of close relatives (but didn't go on holiday with them) so always had a room or car or similar to go sit by myself every 3hrs.

Oh I see, well in that case the simplest thing to do would be just to take the plunge and feed him in public. When your baby is tiny I know that seems hard due to the amount of faffing trying to get them latched on, but by four months you will probably have it down to a fine art and your ds will latch on like a pro, without anyone even noticing what you are doing. If you want to be a bit more discreet then a floaty scarf is great, or layer two tops and pull the bottom one down and lift the top one up.

Or, IMO the perfect solution for a holiday is a sling, as you can bf him in the sling without anyone having a clue what you are doing, plus you don't need to faff around taking a buggy on the plane.

When I took my dd on holiday I had to breastfeed her on the plane as it was the only way to stop her screaming on the ascent / descent because of the pressure in her ears.

Hi emmarose,

We have a very similar situation, going to the Netherlands for 1 week, with a 4 month old. He is fed a mixture of my milk and milk from donors as I have a very low supply. I wasn't sure if we'd be able to stick with bm cos of the storage situation but hopefully we have now worked out a solution. This involves:

1. packing frozen milk v carefully for journey, lots of insulation & freezer packs inside a solid cool box
2. taking as much fresh milk as it is possible to build up in the week before the holiday
3. locating a freezer/fridge to use there. Are you staying at a hotel? Do you have any friends there? It may be worth asking if you can borrow some freezer/fridge space. Some people have to keep medications in fridges so hotels might have had similar requests before. (Also have been assured by friends Dutch people aren't fazed by being asked about breastmilk storage!)

As people have said, you can use defrosted frozen within 24 hrs, and fresh (kept at fridge temp) for up to a week.

Good luck!

R x

Hi everyone,
Thankyou very for the advice. I feel a lot better knowing holland isn't fazed by bf. And like msbug said, I will probably have gotten the hang of it more by then which I didn't consider. This will probably mean feeds will be quicker. A lot less faff just breastfeeding. Think I am going to get a sling, they look so handy! Need to do some research in to which one to get :)

Rainandroses thankyou very much for the storage advice :) took a screenshot of that, if you don't mind, for future refence nearer the time :)

Bf is daunting initially but my 5mnth old now feeds for 6mins a side Bush, bash, bosh. We have a Moby sling and I have managed to bf in it whilst walking!

Try to find a sling library asap so you have a chance to get comfy with your chosen one.

Good luck and take every day as it comes.

I've recently discovered the 'fridge to go' - www.amazon.co.uk/Koo-Di-Fridge-To-Go-Maxi/dp/B0040AJP5W - which keeps milk at under 5 degrees for 8 hours. That's better than a normal cool bag and ice packs.

hollow

That's great! Thankyou :)

If you are shy about it have you considered a breastfeeding cover. I didn't use one when out with DH or female friends. But I find it difficult with male relatives.

I had this and is very useful
www.johnlewis.com/bebe-au-lait-breastfeeding-cover-yoko/p231024501

You can look the baby and position her all under the cover. Nothing is on show at all. Would definitely recommend something like this then trying to keep milk cold enough when on holidays. I mean think about the logistic of keeping a pint of milk cold and safe enough for a very young baby!

Definitely get a sling - parts of holland are very cobbly and not much fun with a buggy.

Do you have a full length mirror at home? Sit in front of it and feed - it's a great way of perfecting a discreet feed so you can see exactly what other people see (almost nothing).

The Netherlands is a lovely, friendly country. You'll have a great time.