Went over weekend to Hong Kong to find XL, as he was there for business trip for 2 weeks. It is an extremely short trip, reach hk fri evening, leave hk mon noon. So I actually only have 2 full days, one evening n a morning there. Din dare to go any longer coz I dun have enough milk stocked for mm. She dun drink a lot, but still doesn't eat solid yet, and sometimes will wake up quite frequently at night to feed. Counted probably needed 30 bags of milk to be safe, but even on the day when I left for hk I think I only have 20+ stocked. I have learnt to 'let it go' and ask my in law to buy powder in case there isn't enough stock left, and hope that she will slp like a baby these few days.
Brought my super huge pink luggage to hk, not because I plan to shop a lot, coz the small luggage couldn't fit my pump! The luggage was half empty when I leave, out of the occupied half, 50% is the pump, 30% is my fridge to go. But, I am only planning to bring the milk from the last day back (the day I am coming back). So much for just 4bags (600ml) of milk!
Couldn't make sure that I could ensure hygiene while pumping on the go, nursing room in hk doesn't seem common after researching a while (probably need to express in toilet on plane for eg), and its actually just troublesome to carry milk through custom. So I have decided to just pump and throw for most of the trip. Added bonus is I can drink wine or beer for some of the meals!
So below is my experience as a nursing mum travelling to hongkong without my baby:
The tricky thing about expressing milk during trip is when, where and how?
When?
If u are like me, the nursing schedule is 3-4hrly, then its a bit complicated. U may think, hey flight to hong kong is just 4hr, no need to pump, then u are wrong! U need to be at gate abt 20min b4 departure time, and clearing custom plus finding the nursing rm n walking will take another 10-20min, after touch down at hk, u will take abt an hr to clear custom n collect baggage, so total time is actually abt almost 6hr! So it's actually best to be able to latch just before u head to the gates, or like me, just pump before I go to the gate, then express a bit (I did it in the plane toilet) maybe mid way thru the flight, then pump again when I reach hotel. If u have a pump with portable battery or u're using manual pump, u might wanna try pump at ur seat, maybe request for a corner seat or wat, but I am just not used to pumping milk in public, and its a full flight, I dunno who will be sitting beside me! so. .. hafta do it in toilet. ....
Some tips:
Do online check in , so can choose seat near toilet. Can pop in the toilet when its not crowded, so wun really hold everyone up, hopefully.
Where
Nursing room at Changi airport
I found one very close to my gate (d4+ I think). Its in the transit lounge near some jet star counter. In fact all nursing rooms are clearly marked on the directory. The one I went was a one room with one changing top and nursing area is seperated by a door which can be locked. (Sorry no picture coz I tot I was running out of time.) So if someone is using it, u have to find another one which is quite far away!
Nursing room at hk airport is together with the changing top, hence no privacy at all and cannot lock . Unless u have a portable pump with nursing cover, impossible to pump there.
Best place to pump , in my opinion is in the hotel room. Got privacy, comfortable n clean. And there's minI fridge in room to store milk, if u want to. So I am glad I am with my husband who dun mind to come back hotel every 4 hrs or so to pump milk.
How
To bring milk back, ask hotel to freeze the ice pack at least a day before flight. I think my hotel freeze it in some deep freezer, the ice pack is solid frozen when I collect it. I used my fridge to go, but still added extra ice pack I bought from qoo10 for extra security. I used storage bag with double zip, no leakage at all . Milk still ice cold when I reach home. Only brought back last day (the day I fly home)'s milk coz I found not wanna freeze the milk and risk them being thawed during the trip home. Thawed frozen milk cannot be refrozen. I had packed the milk in the checked in luggage, no trouble going thru custom and temperature at the luggage compartment on plane is supposedly lower.
Ok, that's abt all for the pump and throw trip. .. brought back 4bags of milk and had a great trip at hk!
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