https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...east-milk-she-says-almost-four-gallons-of-it/
I feel for her and I have sympathy for her wanting to take it home, but why in the world did she think they were going to let her bring 4 gallons of a mysterious liquid with her?
But Jessica Coakley Martinez didn’t just cry over it. She penned an outraged open letter on Facebook that has resonated with working mothers everywhere.
“I normally would not post something this personal, but I do not remember the last time I felt so justly upset,” she writes.
Larger amounts must go in checked luggage, it says. That’s stricter than the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which says baby formula, breast milk, and juice in quantities larger than 3.4 ounces can go in carry-on luggage. The TSA also advises passengers to tell them at the beginning of the screening process that they’re carrying baby formula, breast milk, or juice in excess of 3.4 ounces.
Coakley Martinez’s open letter to Heathrow security says she became tearful and “irate” because she felt as if no one in security was interested in compromise. She writes that she was willing to let go of the liquid milk, but tried to make the case that she should have been allowed to carry on more than 300 ounces of frozen milk because it was no longer in liquid form. But officials would not relent.
Martinez acknowledged that she should have looked up the guidelines, which state that “a reasonable amount” of breast milk can be carried in the cabin when the mother is traveling with her child.
That said, it’s also hard to imagine why the airport security officials didn’t work with her to find a compromise. The science is settled on why breast feeding is important for an infant’s health. Women shouldn’t have to feel like criminals for nursing –even if they’re inside a court of law, as happened last week. And women are right to fight for acceptance of the practice everywhere, and to be militant when others try to shame them or prevent them from doing it.
I feel for her and I have sympathy for her wanting to take it home, but why in the world did she think they were going to let her bring 4 gallons of a mysterious liquid with her?