When Breastfeeding Is A Terrorist Act

When you think of getting stopped at the border or pulled aside by airport security, what sorts of violations do you think of? Drugs? Contraband sausage? Breast pump? Breast milk?

Wait, what? Not those last two? Obviously, you're not Canadian, or haven't brought your lactating boobs to Canada. Because apparently, breast pumps and breast milk are, according to Canadian authorities, suspicious items that you can't just waltz across the border with. God, no. What if you were going to make a lacto-bomb with that stuff? The terrorists would win.

This is what one Canadian mom discovered last month when she went on a business trip without her baby. Because she was still nursing, she pumped while she was away. So far, so straightfoward. But then she made the mistake of trying to fly home with her breastmilk and her pump. The Canadian airport authorities didn't like that. Because, you know, that stuff is potentially dangerous. "Biohazard" is, apparently, the word they used. So they made her subject it to examination and then check it with checked baggage, where, predictably, it kind of exploded all over her underthings and went to waste. All because that shit might be dangerous.

Really? Really? Breastmilk as a potential biohazard; breast pumps as potentially dangerous? Doesn't that sound more Bush-era American than any-era Canadian?

Apparently not.

Canadian rules about travelling with nursing devices and breastmilk are stricter than those in the U.S.. From Babycenter.ca: 

According to the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA), passengers are permitted to bring liquids, like breastmilk on airplanes, but it is limited, even for breastmilk. As of June 2008, you must carry your breastmilk in containers not bigger than 100 ml (3.4 oz) and you can carry as many as will fit in a one litre/quart clear plastic bag. One bag of liquid is allowed per passenger. However, when
you are travelling WITH your baby, breast milk, baby formula, and
anything else needed for your baby are exempt from this rule but you
must declare what liquids you are bringing for your child.

The U.S. rules are different, however. The US Transportation Security Administration allows nursing mothers flying without their babies to bring breast milk in greater quantities than for other liquids as long as you declare for inspection at the security checkpoint. Hopefully, the Canadian rules will changed to something similar in the near future. Until then, it's best to check with CATSA before you go so you understand the rules before you fly with your breast milk. 

Okay, seriously: why is anyone worried about this? Why can't a nursing mother, travelling WITHOUT her baby, bring along her pump and whatever milk she has pumped and carry it onto the plane and just manage it herself? Why is the default assumption biohazard? And why should a breastpump be looked upon with any suspicion whatsoever?

Being without pump or baby is brutal for a nursing mother. BRUTAL. Any travel restrictions that promote this are cruel. And similarly cruel are restrictions that would have nursing moms toss away any breastmilk that they do pump while travelling. If you're a mom who struggles with milk production, whatever ounces of milk one can save are worth their weight in gold. NOT biohazards.

GAH.

It's hard enough to be a nursing mom without having to deal with social phobias concerning boobs and boob-fluids. And really, we're kind of damned if we do - getting asked to cover up if we travel with nursing babies - and damned if we don't - having our breastpumps seized as potential weapons of mass lactative destruction.

Seriously. You'd think that people have issues about boobs or something.

Catherine Connors blogs as Her Bad Mother and as Their Bad Mother, and when she says that she's bad, she's not joking.