Jessica Coakley Martinez has expressed her anger after being ‘humiliated and defeated’ by security staff at Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport.
The working mum from California had to dump 14.8 litres worth of breast milk for her eight-month-old son, more than half of which she said was frozen solid ‘like a rock’.
Jessica was told that because her son was not travelling with her whilst she travelled for work, she could not take the milk on the plane.
Upset, Jessica took to Facebook to openly write a letter to Heathrow Airport. She said: “You made me dump nearly 500oz of breastmilk in the trash.
“You made me dump out nearly two weeks worth of food for my son.
“I acknowledge my part in this equation. I should have looked up the Civil Aviation rule.
“That being said, more than 300oz of that milk was frozen. Solid. Like a rock. I was willing to let go of the liquid milk. But you also wanted the solid milk because it could ‘melt and become a liquid’.”
The UK Civil Aviation rules state that breast milk cannot be taken on board a plane, unless the mother is travelling with her baby.
In the post, Jessica also explained about her situation as a working mother who has to travel across the world for her job. Because of this, she has been pumping milk for months so that her son could still be fed breast milk whilst she was away.
Some might ask why she doesn’t just use formula, but Jessica gave her opinion on that matter too, saying: “Formula is perfectly acceptable (I clearly give it to my son), but as we had established a good breastfeeding relationship, it was my first choice and priority.
“I had also breastfed my first son until a year, so I wanted to give my second son the same.”
Since posting her status, Jessica has received over 4,000 shares, and you can read her full post here:
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