Pumping in airports

And the two things that helped me survive it

I’m writing this from the Brussels airport on the way home from my first night away from Stella since she was born. I was away for one night only, and Stella is home with her very capable father, so it’s not that big of a deal, but it felt weird to leave her for a night! I woke up a bunch of times, probably out of habit, but I do feel much more rested than I’ve felt in 11 months.

Weirder than being alone for the night was traveling alone. Breezing through security without juggling a stroller and baby. Reading a magazine on the flight instead of trying to contain an extremely wiggly 15 pounds. Traveling with one tiny bag! A dream.

Only a few months ago, pump supplies took up an entire bag of their own. Stella was born a month early at 3.8 pounds. She was in the NICU for about a week, where they wouldn’t let me breastfeed or give her pumped breast milk because it wasn’t sterilized…. (this was a saga and one that I will write about eventually. Giving birth in Italy was in some ways better than I think it would be in the U.S., and in other ways worse). When she was released into my room, there was no lactation support and I was really struggling to pump.

When we finally got home, we met with a lactation consultant and tried everything, or at least what felt like everything, for months. I was pumping (that part slowly got better) and kept holding out hope that she would get it one day, but when she was about six months old the lactation consultant was like, “you know, some babies never get it.” I gave up. It was freeing! Trying to breastfeed was so frustrating for both of us. Once I accepted that she just wasn’t going to breastfeed, things got easier mentally. Pumping still sucked.

I know lots of people choose to exclusively pump. I would not be one of those people. I found it time consuming and a huge hassle, especially while traveling, which we do a lot. Finding places to pump every few hours, keeping milk cold, finding ways to keep Stella from crawling away while I pumped if Nathan wasn’t around…it was exhausting.

Partially because of lifestyle and partially because I think no matter what I did I just didn’t produce that much milk, Stella was fed about 70% pumped breast milk and 30% formula for the first eight months of her life. There were times it was closer to 90-10 and times it was closer to 50-50. It was a rollercoaster. I planned to keep it up for a year, but when she was eight months old we were heading on a two-week trip to London and Denmark and the thought of finding places to pump in museums, between restaurants, etc. was overwhelming. We were traveling with my family who would have been understanding and accommodating, but I was over it. The week before had been challenging (low supply for no apparent reason) and I just decided to stop. I didn’t bring the pump and never looked back.

HOWEVER - I am glad that I did it for eight months. And a lot of it was done in airports, on trains, in hotels, in the car, sitting outside at cafes around Europe with the pump hidden under a coat..

The two things that helped me survive pumping while traveling

Of course, we could have traveled less during this period, but we would have missed out on so much fun. And pumping in airports wasn’t that bad, mostly because of lounge access. We get Priority Pass through our credit card but I would 100% pay for it if we didn’t. We get more value from it than most things I can think of, especially in Europe where there aren’t as many airline-specific lounges and even small airports usually have a Priority Pass lounge.

We save money on coffee, drinks, food, and most importantly are guaranteed nice bathrooms. (There are a few lounges that don’t have their own bathrooms, but it’s very rare.) Pumping in the lounge bathrooms versus the public airport bathrooms is so much better. There are never lines, so you don’t feel bad about taking up a stall for 20 minutes, and they’re generally a little cleaner and bigger. I’ve also never never been to a lounge without a changing table. (This is not sponsored in any way.)

The Spectra 9 Plus portable pump is one of my most-used travel items of all time. This thing is a powerhouse. I honestly think it works just as well (actually sometimes I thought it worked better, which I know doesn’t make sense?) as the at-home S1 Plus.

It’s small and light––only half a pound––and holds a charge for a long time. I don’t remember exactly, but I think I could pump maybe six or seven times without having to charge it. I had the U.S. charger but it works abroad with an adapter. The pump has two massage modes and 10 levels, so not quite as many variations as the at-home version, but still options. It can be used as a single or double pump (but I found it’s stronger when used as a single).

The only downside, which would not be a downside for most people, is the bottles. Stella hated the Spectra nipples, so I would always have to pump into the Spectra bottle then transfer to a Medela or other bottle for her to drink. Not a huge deal, but one more thing to pack. The Spectra bottles are also not completely leakproof. They are mostly leakproof, but if they’re really getting jostled around in your bag, expect spilled milk.

The pump is very easy to use and convenient. I would pull it out on road trips in the passenger seat, on trains with a shawl, etc. It does make noise, of course, but it’s pretty quiet. (Still, that vroooom, vrooom noise sometimes haunts me in my sleep.)

The pump and charger and bottles took up half my backpack at least. I am SO glad I am no longer traveling with them. But I’m also thankful and proud that I was able to feed my daughter this way, even if it wasn’t the ideal situation.

Now we travel with formula, which is another packing hassle but at least not a physical or time consuming hassle. These formula tablets are a game changer for travel.

The gear:

Spectra portable pump and all the supplies that go with it (bottles, duckbill, flanges, backflow protectors. Forgetting a part was one of my biggest fears, because they’re harder to find in Europe and often we were traveling to small towns. I would keep a separate set of all the supplies ready to go in a travel bag, so I wasn’t packing from my normal stash and potentially forgetting something.

Cooler, either something like the Momcozy bottle coolers or sometimes an insulated cooler bag with an ice pack. Depended on the trip.

Formula tablets (you can drink the water in most of Europe but if we’re traveling elsewhere I just buy or bring bottled water)

Bebe Comfort or Medela bottles are Stella’s faves. Maybe your child isn’t as picky.

Thanks for reading!

-Rebecca 💛