A Mother’s Breast Milk Tested Positive For Explosives

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On a recent flight to Los Angeles, a mom was preparing for her 3-month-old’s first flight. The unnamed, nervous mom firstly did her research and tried to cover all of her bases by bringing frozen breast milk as well as pumping four ounces before going through the security.

She explained that her baby can be picky with breastfeeding, so she wanted to have options during the flight. According to the mom, going through security took a lot longer than expected because of issues with passengers before them, so the baby was getting hungry and fussy by the time it was their turn to be screened.

“Once I got through the metal detector and started collecting my things, I was directed to another area where TSA needed to inspect something inside my bag,” she shared on Breastfeeding Mama Talk’s Facebook page. “I figured it was the frozen breast milk. That cleared right away, but they were having problems with my four-ounce bottle of fresh milk.”

At this point, she explained, her daughter Amelia was “really starting to lose it,” so she asked the TSA agents if she could just stand there and feed her the bottle. “Nope,” she wrote. “They put it in a machine and it somehow tested positive for explosives.” 

Additional TSA agents were then called over and even though Amelia was “making all of the motions of desperately needing to feed,” they made her put the distressed child in the stroller while they called a woman over to give her a “detailed” pat-down.

“[Amelia] lost it. She just started screaming and screaming,” she wrote. “I started crying because I couldn’t do anything, looking down at her while the TSA agent took her sweet time with a very detailed pat down.”

When she finished, the Mother was allowed to hold her baby but couldn’t leave until they tested the gloves. “Finally, they came back with a negative result. I was forced to dump the bottle of breast milk,” she wrote. “I grabbed my stuff and walked over to the nearest place to sit,

The mom immediately sat to try and soothe her baby but another TSA agent quickly approached. “[He] came up to me and asked if he could find me a cover while I breastfed. No thanks, I told him,” she wrote. “He tried to argue, but I said she doesn’t like having her head covered while feeding. Besides, she’s almost done.”

The employee finally gave up. “We caught our plane to LAX, where I found a wonderful nursing room to feed her the next meal. I’ve read so many stories of other women having issues, and really never thought I’d end up having such a hard time myself,” she wrote. “Thank you, TSA for an experience I’ll never forget!”