Have Breasts, Will Travel

Breastfeeding Your Child During a Family Trip

By Julia Rosien

Whether you have five children or one, traveling with a breastfed baby is easier than with a bottle-fed baby. Without packing a thing, you have all the food your baby needs for a long or short journey. No sterilizing, cleaning, making formula or heating bottles is required. It's all there ready to use and at the perfect temperature whenever your baby needs it.

Lisa Viger has flown, camped, hiked and driven with a nursing baby. "I wouldn't have been able to do this had I been bottle-feeding there just weren't the facilities needed to mix or refrigerate formula," she says.

Car travel is easy with a breastfed baby, as long as you remember that travel in general is strange to her. She will most likely want to nurse more often for comfort than for food. "I've never seen one of my babies refuse a breast when they're fussy, though I've seen babies refuse bottles," says Wendee Holtcamp, mother of two.

Holtcamp took her 8-month-old son on a seven-day trip to Alaska. She found that breastfeeding in the car took a bit of maneuvering, but it was better than having to stop the car. Her husband drove as she sat in the backseat nursing her son, who was safely strapped in his car seat. "I would never take the risk of taking him out of the car seat," she says.

It is illegal in most states and very dangerous to hold a child on your lap while the car is moving. Many women find it possible to breastfeed a child while both Mom and Baby are securely strapped in their seats. If this is uncomfortable for you or you are driving alone, then pull over to a safe place and stop the car.

Some mothers offer expressed breast milk in a bottle on car trips, but make sure your baby is familiar with the bottle before you try this. If you are driving alone, never try to feed your baby and drive at the same time. As always, pay attention to your own needs for nutritious food, plenty of liquids and rest. All these things will affect your milk production and your baby's temperament.

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