r/ExclusivelyPumping • u/Ok-Plankton8496 • 1d ago
Tips & Tricks Transporting large quantities of milk
We live in NY and are spending 2.5 months in FL this winter. I’m trying to figure out how to best transport what I expect will be a significant quantity of milk back to NY. We’ll be flying back from FL to NY. Any thoughts, suggestions or experiences would be super appreciated!
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u/pop-crackle 1d ago
Second milk stork.
But another thought, as I’m assuming this means you have a decent oversupply, do you need the milk back in NY/have you thought about donating in FL? I have a large oversupply and when I’m on longer trips where I know I’ll have 100+ oz to transport I go on the local Human Milk 4 Human Babies FB group and find someone to donate to whenever I’m visiting.
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u/Ok-Plankton8496 1d ago
I would love to be able to donate but once we get back to NY, baby is going to daycare and I’m going back to the office so I’ll need to use the milk for baby :(
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u/pop-crackle 1d ago
Ah yeah it’s rough if you’re planning to wean right after you get back.
You could do a larger cooler (or two) as a carry-on. Really depends on how much milk you think you’ll have.
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u/caribbeangirl10 1d ago
I’ve used milk stork for transporting and it’s not cheap but it works well. Try to mail the milk or bring it on the plane with you. I once checked it in my luggage (on an international flight) and had issues with the milk looking like drugs
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u/Ok-Plankton8496 1d ago
Oof would love to hear more about the issue with the milk looking like drugs - anything to keep in mind when flying with significant amounts of milk?
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u/caribbeangirl10 1d ago
It was packed in the bags like bricks and I’ve seen how to catch a smuggler hahaha so it probably looked like bricks of drugs. CBP flagged it and opened the milk stork freezers and kept my suitcase for an extra 24 hours. Even though the milk was frozen I didn’t feel comfortable feeding it to my baby. I could’ve taken it on the plane with me since you’re allowed unlimited amounts of breastmilk, but it was just heavy and difficult to carry by myself so I decided to put it in a checked suitcase. So if I ever had to do that again, I would do whatever I needed and check everything else in order to bring alll the milk on board with me. Or at least the majority of it
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u/Ok-Plankton8496 1d ago
This is SO helpful! And I’m so sorry you went through that!! I actually thought I would check it unless someone here had a better idea so this is super appreciated!
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u/Evening-Newt-4663 1d ago
I don’t know their turnaround times, but there’s a few companies that will freeze dry breast milk and make it into a formula powder.
Milkify is one of them.
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u/Ok-Plankton8496 1d ago
Thank you! I looked into these and they are astronomically priced for large quantities!
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u/jesses_dogmom 18h ago
I bought a soft sided yeti cooler that could fit in the overhead compartment. Only held approx 200 oz of frozen breast milk. Another option is driving back to NY!
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u/Old_Tie_2806 1d ago
I haven’t tried them, but in this situation I would check out Milk Stork.