Unlike Lindsay Sterling, I researched what I would need to do to safely pump and get my breastmilk home safely, so I didn’t have to dump any. And I got lucky because my luggage wasn’t lost.
(And lucky for me, I’m not very shy in real life. So I didn’t have a terrible time saying “nursing” “breastfeeding” “breast milk” and “pumping” to TSA screeners, airplane, or hotel staff.)
The TSA did almost confiscate my lanolin. It was the only “gel-like” substance in my carry-on luggage, and instead of putting it in a quart-sized zip-lock baggie, I put the 2 oz tube in a gallon-sized zip-lock baggie. It was obviously much smaller than the allotted size, and medically necessary to boot.
TSA screener #1 refused to let me go to the X-Ray area, and ultimately agreed to call a supervisor for me.
TSA supervisor #1 allowed me to go forward, but only if I took the tube out of the baggie.
TSA X-Ray screener told me “no way!” His supervisor heard the baggie-no-baggie story and allowed me through since I also used the phrases medically necessary, nursing mom, and pumping milk. I was, in fact, about to escalate to talking about nipple pain, but fortunately, he didn’t make me. (Yeah, I’m not so shy, but I don’t love talking about my breasts with strangers, in spite of the evidence of this blog.)
Edited to note that this should have been entirely unnecessary, according to the TSA’s web page (I could NOT make this up) “Straight Answers To Help You Understand The Latest Security Measures,” which reads in part:
Do prescription and non-prescription medications have to be packaged in a quart-size clear plastic, zip-top bag?
No. Medications (prescription medicines and over-the-counter medicinal products, i.e. Tylenol®, Pepto-Bismol®, ointments, etc.) that come in liquid, gel, and/or aerosol form in containers greater than 3 ounce must be declared at the screening checkpoint, but do not have to be packaged in a quart-size, clear plastic, zip-top bag. If the medications are in containers of 3 ounces or less, they may also be included in the quart-size zip-top bag with other items – as long as it all comfortably fits.
The TSA rule saying you can’t transport breastmilk if you are travelling without your baby is still incredibly stupid.
The agent who made the woman in the article dump her milk said she was the 6th woman who he had made dump her milk that day. And that was at a small airport, in Madison, Wisconsin. How much breastmilk do you suppose gets dumped at O’Hare or JFK or LAX or Atlanta? I’ll bet that thousands of gallons of breastmilk is dumped daily. What a painful waste.
Sure, some women might want to take milk in a bottle with the baby, so they don’t have to nurse in public. Personally, I’ve nursed Noah on every airplane he’s boarded, but as noted, I’m below-average shy. That doesn’t change the fact that ALL women who are nursing and have to travel away from their babies want to bring that milk back to the baby safely.
The percentage of working women in the US to whom that circumstance applies may not be huge, but it isn’t insignificant either. And since in the US highly-educated women are the most likely to breastfeed, it stands to reason that working moms with the kinds of jobs that require airline travel are probably also among the most likely to be hurt by this stupid TSA rule.
The TSA, of course, is an agency of the same United States government that is pressuring women to breastfeed for at least six months.
You know, if all the mothers would just be good little ladies and stay at home with their babies, preferably barefoot and with another bun in the oven, we wouldn’t be having these problems.
