Flying with bottles of milk

[VeroBeachGirl]

We'll be flying to Florida this Friday for dd's 1st birthday! I've got flying with powdered formula down, but we have a new challenge....DD is transitioning to whole milk. It's about a 2 hour flight, but I'd like to be prepared because travel is so unpredictable. How many filled bottles can I bring aboard the plane? Am I allowed to bring a small lunch box cooler with ice packs? More experienced Moms, what do you do?

 

[aanderson5]

You would have to check with the airline for specifics. But once you pass through security you can buy milk, or any drink, and bring it on the plane with you. It will be more expensive but less hassle. You probably don't want to give DD too much liquids anyway. Changing a baby in the airplane washroom is not a fun thing.

ETA - you may have more trouble with the gel packs. They may not be allowed. If you want to keep the milk cold bring a ziplock and ask for ice. You might want to ask if the airline may carry some milk aboard for kids to drink. Also don't worry if they only have 1 or 2% available. One time is not a big deal. DS went right to skim with our pediatrions OK. He was still being breastfed and only had a few ounces of milk a day.

 

[daleswife]

for such a short flight, couldnt you just do juice? Thats what I did with my DS who was 21 months when we flew to orlando in August. Heres what I did....I brought an empty cup and a bottle of apple juice. They didnt say anything about the juice cause it was unopened and for the baby. once I passed security I just popped it open and put it in the cup for him. Then he had a little more on the way down on the plane. I wouldnt bother with Milk on a 2 hour flight. Its honestly not that long and she could do water or juice just as easy...

 

[plutolovr]

Gel paks are definitely not allowed. If I need to bring something on the flight and I want to keep it cold I freeze some grapes and pack them as my "ice."

 

[Tasmen]

Gel paks are definitely not allowed. If I need to bring something on the flight and I want to keep it cold I freeze some grapes and pack them as my "ice."

Actually it depends on the TSA agent. I traveled recently (2 different times) with my LO. I had pumped breastmilk that I carried on (3 7oz bottles each time) and had no trouble getting it through security. You need to tell the TSA agent before it goes through the xray machine that the bag contains milk for the child. Breastmilk, formula and regular milk are all allowed for children. There is no limit on what you can bring other than 'a reasonable limit for travel that day'. Both times I flew, I used my gel packs. I made sure to use gel packs that were packaged in clear plastic so that it was quite clear what was inside the packet.

I also brought with me some baggies just in case they took the gel packs. I planned to go fill the baggies with ice once I got through security and use that to keep the milk cold instead of the gel packs. I never needed to do this, though. Only one time did security even bother to look inside the bag and that was only because I forgot to declare the milk before it went through the xray machine.

 

[camlace]

You are allowed to bring reasonable amount of milk in bottles for a baby. Ice packs will probably be taken away. I have used a bag of frozen peas or grapes to keep milk cold.

The TSA official info...
http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtravel/children/formula.shtm

We also traveled for my daughter's first birthday and honestly we just postponed the transition to milk and kept her on formula for another month...so we just kept with the powder as it was much easier.

 

[disneybridetobe]

Watch out though-- a "reasonable amount" differs with each TSA agent. We had to throw out little juice boxes (with *#$%ing BIG BIRD on them)! I was SOOO upset. Couldn't they hassle anyone else? Seriously?

I really don't recommend bringing a lot. You may be better off bringing empty bottles and buying milk once you get past security.