Mini Fridge/medical necessity

[Mrs D]

My question is a bit OT. I am staying at a hotel in my area for unpaid training and will be away form my infant overnight. I requested a mini fridge in my room and was informed there is a $25 charge. I know at Disney the fridge in no charge if medically necessary, so is needing to pump breastmilk considered medically necessary? Would you say that at check in if you were me (I am on a tight budget)?
Thanks!

 

[bunnyscootles]

Sure! You can always have your doctor write your baby a prescription for breast milk if your worried about them not taking you seriously.

 

[becca011906]

They better give you one... when a good friend checked in they said "I see you need a mini fridge is there a medical reason or will you be paying for that?"
My friend said "well my youngest who's 18 months can't tolerate much juice at all or she breaks out so it is important for us to keep milk in the room"
The check in person said "well that's medical enough for me"
and they were never charged So i'd hope that you wouldn't be either... but i agree take an RX from the babies dr just incase!

 

[barkley]

call and ask the hotel what their policy is. some simply only have certain rooms that have mini fridges in them and don't keep a large supply of extras on hand to put in lower cost rooms. some are nice enuf to waive the cost for medical necessity and some simply don't.

a $25 charge leads me to believe they may not even have them and they use an outside vendor to rent them from so they pass the cost on to you.

if cost is a big issue i would think a small styrafoam cooler could be purchased for less than $2 and that would also provide cooling until you got it home and in the fridge (cuz i know lots of training sessions go all day the day of check out so that fridge won't help if you are out of your room at 8 am for a training but don't leave for home till 3 or 4 or 5).

 

[scrapnmom]

call and ask the hotel what their policy is. some simply only have certain rooms that have mini fridges in them and don't keep a large supply of extras on hand to put in lower cost rooms. some are nice enuf to waive the cost for medical necessity and some simply don't.

a $25 charge leads me to believe they may not even have them and they use an outside vendor to rent them from so they pass the cost on to you.

if cost is a big issue i would think a small styrafoam cooler could be purchased for less than $2 and that would also provide cooling until you got it home and in the fridge (cuz i know lots of training sessions go all day the day of check out so that fridge won't help if you are out of your room at 8 am for a training but don't leave for home till 3 or 4 or 5).

This is a good point, they might not even have them. If it is just for one night, you can keep it plenty cold in a cooler.

 

[hoosiergirl7]

Is there any way you can pump and dump? My SIL started pumping extra a few nights before she went away for a class for the weekend when her youngest was still nursing. However, while she was away, she just pumped and dumped.

 

[Nanu57v]

We stayed at a Holiday Inn Express once and DD was on a prescription that needed refrigerated at the time. At check-in I asked if there were mini-fridges in the room (no), is there a lobby fridge to store the medicine (no), what should I do? (don't know). I loved staying at Holiday Inn Express, but this was a big hole. We ended up sticking it in a cooler for one more dose and then trashing it.

 

[Mrs D]

Thanks for the input. I check in tomorrow, so I'll post the outcome when I return. Because I DO have to check out of the room in the AM then training goes to 4pm, I'm hoping I can get a fridge to check the ice pack somewhat frozen. If not, I will go with the ice in the cooler route and that should get me through to when I return home.
Funny thing, it never even occured to me to pump and dump. I suppose I sort of view the breast milk as 'precious'.
Overall, I'm sure I can make it work. Again, I appreciate hearing what others thought of the situation.