My topics on breastfeeding have not come quite as often as I thought they would, but when we received the comment/question on Scott’s post “Dad’s Are Just Big Kids“, I knew it was time to bring them back into the fold. So, here goes:

A month or two ago Colleen went away on a business trip and I believe at the time was still nursing. Does she have any tips on how she survived the business trip without losing her milk?

The reason I am asking is I am slotted to do a three day business trip this month and I am having problems finding any information on keeping your milk while travelling without baby.
- Sharlene

Sharlene (this sounds eerily like a Dear Abby column),

Just after Thanksgiving, I had to travel to Nashville for work. Three and a halk whole days away from my little one. Being away from Scott was no big deal – I was used to that, but, I had been with Avery every day of her life until then. Luckily, Scott is so great with Avery – things went very well while I was gone.

One of my biggest concerns while I was away was keeping my milk supply at a level that would allow me to continue breastfeeding Avery when I returned. In order to make this happen, I did a several things:

First, about a month before I left, I began supplementing one bottle a day with formula. I would pump at that feeding time and freeze the breastmilk. There were two reasons for this: 1) it allowed me to freeze enough breastmilk that Avery would most likely make it through the week without having to go totally on formula for the week and 2) just in case we ran out of frozen breastmilk, she was used to taking formula.

Second, I called the hotel and requested a small refrigerator in my room. Most hotels have a limited number of refrigerators available for medical requests – you just have to ask.

Third, I took my pump, Avent storage containters, and a collapsable cooler with me so I could bring home the milk I pumped while I was in Nashville. The hotel was nice enough to freeze my ice packs until I picked them up when I checked out, in order to keep the milk cold on my way home.

Finally, I was very careful to make sure that I pumped every three hours (Avery’s normal feeding schedule), and still got up each night at 3am to pump once overnight. This way, I was sure that I pumped as much as Avery was typically eating each day. In fact, I actually returned home with more milk than Avery had eaten in my absence. All of that went back in to the freezer for the next trip.

I have to say, it was a lot of work, but totally worth it to continue nursing Avery when I returned home. Fortunately, my employer was very supportive of me taking the time during breaks to pump, rather than have meetings or socialize and network.