I traveled with baby, breast pump and laptop in tow last year for a conference when my daughter was six months old. My tips for traveling with baby/breast pump? Don't do it alone if possible. There is a lot of stuff to carry and way too many TSA-required steps to manage alone if you can help it.

Use the security bypass line for wheelchairs, infants and TSA personnel. With the restrictions on 3 oz. of liquid or less, including water bottles through security, pumping moms have to plan ahead.

When I traveled, a couple small 6 oz. bottles of milk and a breast pump got through with no problem, but even if you need the water to make formula, you have to mix it before you go through security or throw the water out. And of course you are not supposed to keep formula at room temperature for more than an hour after you mix it. Grrr. Obviously no recent parents or pediatricians on the panel deciding TSA rules and exceptions.

Another option is to buy the handy single serving packets of formula or make your own in zipper baggies that you can just mix with bottled water they'll give you on board the plane. If you've pumped milk that you need to bring back and you have a relatively short flight, put the tightly sealed and as full as possible bottles (to eliminate air pockets that could expand and burst the bottle) into two big zipper bags with an ice pack and put it in your checked bagged. Breast milk is actually safe at a room temperature of 66-72 degrees F for 10 hours (Dr. Sears storage times/temp chart: www.askdrsears.com/html/2/T026900.asp#T026901), so with an ice pack, it should be fine for even a cross-country flight.

If you're traveling with pump and/or baby, once you get to the x-ray machine, tell the agent that you have a pump as you put your bags, laptop, belt, jewelry, coat and shoes in the bins, and put the stroller and car seat on the conveyor belt. Take the baby out of the car seat! Carry her through the x-ray machine. Pray your pants don't fall down since you no longer have a belt. Retrieve everything on the other side. Ignore rolling eyes, heavy sighs and looks of annoyance from people behind you who feel anyone carrying more than a laptop bag should have to use a separate line, preferably far away from them.

If you need help, ask for it. On one flight as I tried to gate check the car seat, hold the baby and fold the stroller at the plane door, a pilot asked if I needed help. Uh, yeah! I handed him my baby while I got everything else situated. She dug the gold wings on his tie pin.

Flying with a pump or baby is do-able, but like anything else after kids enter the picture, you have to think ahead, be organized, plan accordingly and ask for help if you need it.

I didn’t succeed with breastfeeding my daughter, but feel sure if I had had the Medela breast pump we would have suceeded.