The Ultimate Guide: How to Ship Frozen Breast Milk
Are you nursing and need to go on a trip or be away from your baby? Shipping frozen breast milk can save your baby’s life by making sure they get the food they need even when you’re not there. This detailed guide will teach you everything you need to know to ship frozen breast milk in a safe and effective way.
Why Ship Frozen Breast Milk?
Breast milk is a valuable resource because it is full of important nutrients and antibodies that keep your baby healthy and prevent sickness. But if you are breastfeeding, you might need to be away from your baby for work, travel, or other reasons. Shipping frozen breast milk lets you keep giving your baby the benefits of breast milk even when you can’t be there in person.
When babies can’t get breast milk right away, either from the mother or from a storage container, they may need to be shipped. Here are some reasons a baby might not be able to get breast milk, which is why sending breast milk is a good option.
- Traveling Mothers: When new moms move long distances for a long time, they might not be able to breastfeed their babies directly. One example is when the mother works in the rescue services or the military.
- Surrogate Mothers: If a baby is being raised by its real parents, the surrogate mother may think about sending breast milk to the baby.
- Non-lactating Parents: A pair who doesn’t breastfeed might think about getting donor breast milk or breast milk from the biological mother sent to them for their adopted child.
- Breastfeeding Contraindications: The baby may get donor breast milk sent to them if nursing isn’t possible because of something about the mother’s body or health.
- Surgery: If you or your baby need to go through a medical treatment, you should be kept away from each other.
- Milk Donation: If you are a breast milk donor, the milk bank will usually ask you to ship your milk to them according to their specific directions.
In some rare cases, you may need to ship breast milk if you want to send it to a lab for testing or a research project.
How to Ship Breast Milk
Get your breast milk together and freeze it before you ship it. Make sure there is some room in the containers for the milk to grow. Next, put it safely in a Styrofoam cooler with dry ice. It’s possible to ship this in a cardboard box.
Supplies You Will Need
The supplies you will need to pack and ship your breast milk include:
- A hammer in case you need to break the dry ice.
- A box for shipping.
- A heavy cooler.
- Gloves for dry ice.
- A newspaper or packing paper .
- Tape for packing.
- Strong plastic zip-top bags that can be sealed.
- The right stickers for shipping.
- Breast milk that you’ve frozen.
Preparing Your Breast Milk for Shipping
Getting ready is the first thing that needs to be done before sending frozen breast milk. What you need to do is:
1. Store Properly: Use bags or containers made for freezing to store breast milk. Write the date it was expressed on the outside of each bag or container.
2. Freeze Quickly: It’s important to freeze your breast milk as soon as possible after releasing it to keep its quality. This should be done within 24 hours, if possible.
3. Use Clean Equipment: Before you express and store breast milk, make sure that all of the pumping tools and storage bins are clean and germ-free.
Choosing the Right Shipping Method
It is very important to choose the right shipping way when sending frozen breast milk. Here are some things to think about:
1. Speed: Choose faster shipping options, like overnight or rush shipping, to cut down on the time your breast milk spends traveling.
2. Packaging: To keep the breast milk frozen while it’s being shipped, use coolers or shipping crates with insulation. Make sure there are lots of ice packs or dry ice to keep the temperature where you want it to be.
3. Carrier: Pick a shipping company with a good reputation that has experience with medical supplies and things that go bad quickly. Look for shipping companies that let you watch your package so you can see how it’s doing.
Packing Your Breast Milk
To make sure that your breast milk gets to you safely and stays frozen during transport, it needs to be properly packaged. To send your breast milk, do the following:
1. Use Insulated Containers: Pack your frozen breast milk in bags or containers that are kept cool in shipping containers or coolers with insulation. The milk will stay cold longer in these packages while they’re being shipped.
2. Add Ice Packs or Dry Ice: To keep the breast milk packages cool, wrap them in ice packs or dry ice. Make sure you use enough ice packs to keep the milk cold while it’s being shipped.
3. Seal Tightly: Make sure that all of the packages are tightly sealed so that nothing leaks while they’re being shipped. Before sending, check the seals again to make sure nothing goes wrong.
Labeling and Documentation
Proper labeling and documentation are essential when shipping frozen breast milk. Here’s what you need to do:
1. Label Clearly: Make it clear on the outside of the shipping box that it contains “Perishable” and “Frozen Breast Milk.” Add the recipient’s information along with your own name, address, and phone number.
2. Include Instructions: Tell the person who will be receiving the frozen breast milk how to handle it when it gets there. Include instructions on how to safely thaw and store the milk.
3. Documentation: Make a copy of the shipping paperwork and keep it for your notes. This will be useful in case the package has any problems or is late.
The Importance of Clear Labeling
Labelling your package correctly and clearly can help make sure it is treated correctly while it is being shipped. Put signs on the box that say things like “Comes with Breast Milk,” “Perishable,” “Keep Refrigerated,” “Fragile,” or “Handle with Care.”
People who work for FedEx and UPS are people. They take pride in their work, and we’ve seen that in a lot of them here at Milkify. These labels let everyone who handles the package know that the contents need extra care, which increases the chance that your package will get the care it needs.
Monitoring the Shipment
Once you ship your frozen breast milk, you need to keep an eye on it to make sure it gets there safely. Here are some ways to keep an eye on your shipment:
1. Tracking Information: Keep track of the tracking number that the shipping company gives you. This will let you keep an eye on your shipment’s progress and plan for any delays.
2. Temperature Monitoring: If you can, use temperature-monitoring tools to keep an eye on the shipping container’s temperature while it’s in travel. This will make it more likely that the breast milk stays frozen at the right temperature.
3. Communication: Make sure the recipient knows when the package will come by staying in touch with them. Give them any reports or information they need about the progress of the shipment.
Additional Considerations
It can cost a lot to ship breast milk. So that you don’t have to ship so many cases of breast milk at once, you might want to wait until you have more to ship.
The amount of dry ice you need will depend on how big your cooler is and how long the package will be en route. Get in touch with a dry ice provider to find out how much dry ice you will need. This is where you can find a dry ice list near you.
Call the shipping company you want to use to find out how to properly package and name breast milk and dry ice. As a dangerous good or a dangerous object, dry ice can be put in the same category as breast milk. It’s likely that both will need special labels.
The staff at a hospital, especially a NICU, may give you specific directions when you ship breast milk there.
When you send your breast milk to a volunteer milk bank, be sure to carefully follow the milk bank’s instructions for how to handle, store, and ship the milk.
Can I ship breast milk overnight?
Yes, It is possible to ship breast milk overnight with UPS or FedEx if you choose fast mail or express delivery. This is a possibility if you choose “priority overnight” when you ship the package.
Should You Ship Breast Milk with Signature Confirmation?
FedEx and UPS both offer a service called Signature Confirmation. This means that the driver will not hand off the package until someone is at the address to sign for it.
This could be helpful if you are sending milk to a house where package theft is common or to an apartment block where packages are often “lost” or forgotten. If you check your signature, your package won’t be left on a porch or in a common area.
One big problem with signature proof is that the package will be sent back to the delivery truck if no one is there to sign for it. Most of the time, FedEx or UPS will try to send it again the next day. This extra day can mean the difference between getting your milk cold or having it thaw on the way.
Checking Temperature at Arrival: The Final Step in the Process
The person who receives your breast milk should open the cooler right away and check the bags to make sure they were frozen the whole time. Check the bags for ice crystals if they have thawed.
Most likely, the milk is still safe to drink if these are present. It’s not safe to eat anything that came from bags that had totally thawed. Use a Sharpie to make it clear that these are not for feedings. They can still be used for milk baths.
What can I do with unwanted breast milk?
You have two hours to use up the breast milk after it has thawed. But if that doesn’t happen, the milk has to be thrown away. Alternatively, you can make bath soaps with the extra milk to help treat skin problems like acne and cradle caps.
Also, they might help with bug bites, sunburn, and nipple sores. If the parent has too much milk saved and hasn’t used or thawed it, they can give it to people who need it. In this case, though, you need to make sure the milk hasn’t gone bad.
Final Words
When nursing moms need to be away from their babies, shipping frozen breast milk can be a quick and easy way to do it. If you follow the steps in this plan, your breast milk will get to its destination safely and stay frozen during the trip. No matter where you are, you can keep giving your baby the health benefits of breast milk as long as you prepare, package, and keep an eye on it.
