Hey Mamas- I have an adoptive mom who wants my breastmilk and I was under the impression that it is illegal to exchange body fluids...? I was told that Fedex will keep it frozen for me, but what do I tell them it is? Do any of you have any advice or knowledge about laws and shipping breastmilk? I REALLY appreciate it! You can e-mail me: Tara @ totallytrinity.com

I have done this.

I don't know about "legalities," but UPS won't give you a hard time.

Here's what I did:

Purchased dry ice (I think you are not allowed to ship more than 5 lbs of dry ice, so make sure to not get anything heavier than that).

packed frozen breastmilk in a soft cooler at the very end of the day and went straight to the UPS store.

paid for them to pack the cooler (prefilled with frozen breastmilk) with the dry ice.

shipped it priority with early morning delivery.

Mine shipped from Kansas to California and arrived still completely frozen.

I shipped about 20 lbs of frozen breastmilk.

Cost? a little over $100

Good luck!

I just shipped a box full on the greyhound yesterday. They don't need to know what it is anyway, and dry ice is not necessary. Frozen milk will insulate itself if there's not extra space in the box/container/etc. Stuff rolled-up newspapers into all the spaces and it will stay frozen for at least a couple of days. Even if it arrives slushy, as long as there are still ice crystals in it it's still perfect to refreeze and use later. But it's always arrived still frozen for us.

Kerri

the mama that lives in cali had fed-ex come pick it up at my house. iirc, she had me just store them in freezer bags (like ziploc) freeze, then put several fo the smaller frozen bags into larger (like gallon-size) bags. these then went into a styrofoam cooler, and i packed in some blue ice packs as well. it went from the eastern coast tot he western coast safely, and she said it arrived still frozen.

hth.

the mama that lives in cali had fed-ex come pick it up at my house. iirc, she had me just store them in freezer bags (like ziploc) freeze, then put several fo the smaller frozen bags into larger (like gallon-size) bags. these then went into a styrofoam cooler, and i packed in some blue ice packs as well. it went from the eastern coast tot he western coast safely, and she said it arrived still frozen.

hth.

sort of OT: Might I ask which mama in California?