Flight attendant shares breast-milk pumping adventures from around the globe

Pumping milk at work can be tough even for moms with flexible jobs, but it’s especially hard for women with careers that don’t allow for pump rooms or breast-milk breaks. One flight attendant and new mom details the lengths she has to go to pump with her Instagram account, Ziggy’s Flying Mooommy.

The account features various close-ups of milk and all of the places where it’s been pumped by Ziggy’s Flying Mooommy, who chooses to remain anonymous. There are shots of her pumping in a room with a view in Jakarta, of her trying to jam bags of milk into a cooler for a flight home to her baby, and of her suitcase (yes, suitcase) packed full of milk.

The mom of two tells Yahoo Lifestyle that she created her Instagram account to encourage herself to pump more. “When I was gaining followers, I realized I can help other moms when it comes to storing and traveling with breast milk,” she says.

Due to the demands of her job, the Manila-based mom isn’t able to get home as often as she’d like. She says it’s often a challenge to ask her colleagues who are based in her hometown to bring her milk home when she can’t make it herself.

“I had an experience wherein I went home with 32 kilograms [70 pounds] of milk because I wasn’t able to find someone willing to bring my milk home,” she says. The Instagrammer produces a lot of milk, and she says she donates anything extra to moms in need.

While Ziggy’s Flying Mooommy pumps in her hotel room between flights, she also does it in her in-flight jump seat when she can find a co-worker to cover for her. “I have a poncho nursing cover [that is the] same color as my uniform,” she explains. She used to pump in the bathroom but says she stopped after she had a “terrible” experience on a flight to Pakistan.

Keeping all that milk safe and secure is tough. The Instagrammer says she always has an insulated bag with gel packs on hand during her flights. She then moves her milk to a freezer when she’s in a hotel, and packs it up again in an insulated bag with a lot of dry ice to be sent to her baby in Manila.

It’s a lot of work, but Ziggy’s Flying Mooommy is determined. “I want to breastfeed my child exclusively,” she says. She says she plans to keep on pumping as long as she has milk and her baby wants it. And, after that, she says she’ll continue to pump to help other moms.

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