Breastfeeding Mother Irate After Heathrow Airport Security ‘Humiliates’ Her, Makes Her Dump Four Gallons Of Breast Milk

California mother Jessica Coakley Martinez claims that she was “humiliated” by airport security at London’s Heathrow Airport after she was forced to dump four gallons of breast milk. The working mother says she pumped breast milk throughout her two-week work trip for her 8-month-old son. However, she says all of the hard work was in vain. Martinez says when she arrived at the Aviation Security at Terminal 5 she was forced to dump all of the pumped breast milk. The breastfeeding mother says that while liquids are limited to 100 milliliters for carry-on luggage, a large portion of her breast milk should have been exempt from the “liquids” rule as it was frozen into a solid block. However, security officials did not agree and noted that the block of frozen breast milk could melt and become a liquid in flight. Therefore, they forced the mother to discard the 300 ounces of frozen breast milk along with the 200 ounces of liquid milk she was attempting to carry with her onto the plane.

The Daily Mail reports that a mother from California was irate after she was forced to dump four gallons of breast milk she had pumped during a two-week work trip. The mother says that airport security at London’s Heathrow Airport forced her to dump the milk after they determined she was violating carry-on baggage rules. However, the mother says that at least 300 ounces of the milk was wrongly banned as it had been frozen into a solid block; therefore, was no longer a liquid.

Jessica Coakley Martinez was on a two-week work trip while her husband cared for her children back home in California. Martinez notes that she felt an extreme sense of personal guilt when she was unable to pump enough breast milk before her work trip to sustain her 8-month-old son for her 15 days away. Therefore, she says she decided to pump as much milk as possible during her trip to help “ease the personal guilt.” As a result, Martinez says she pumped breast milk in closets, conference rooms, public bathrooms, airplane toilets, and showers. While it was difficult logistically to pump as needed, Martinez says it all seemed worth it at the end when she was able to secure four gallons of breast milk for her son. However, everything came crashing down for the mother when she says all of the product of her labors were dumped into a trash can.

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Martinez says that during her trip she went through eight difference cities and multiple airports, each one allowing her to carry her breast milk through security points after testing to ensure the milk was as she described. However, she says that all changed when she arrived at Heathrow Airport Terminal 5. The mother says that not only was she forced to personally dump her four gallons of breast milk, two weeks worth of food for her 8-month-old son, she was also humiliated.

“Beyond literally taking food from my child’s mouth, you humiliated me and made me feel completely defeated as a professional and a mother. I hope the next time you encounter another mom just trying to make it work and looking for a little help along the way, you consult your conscience (as well as a physical science textbook) and reconsider your options.”

While Martinez acknowledges that her 200 ounces of liquid breast milk violated carry-on policy, she says the 300-ounce block of frozen milk did not as it was no longer a liquid. The mother says she was more irate by the fact that the security officials would not allow her to go back to the airport counter to place her breast milk in her checked baggage, which would not have violated airport policy. However, she says the airport security refused her compromise and instead was told if she left the security line, the milk would still be confiscated as a non-compliant item.

“I offered to check it. But that wouldn’t work either according to you because I had crossed the border and the only way for me to check the bag now was to exit the airport and re-enter – which I was also willing to do. But you wouldn’t give me the milk back – because now it was a ‘non-compliant item’ and needed to be confiscated. It was as if you were almost proud to deny me at every possible point of compromise. Despite my begging, pleading and even crying out of sheer shock and desperation for a solution (which you essentially scoffed at with annoyance), you treated me as if I was trying to smuggle liters of hydrogen peroxide onto the plane. There was no room for discussion; ‘it’s the law.'”

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The mother says that the damage has been done but she wants to share her story so that Heathrow may reconsider their breast milk policy which would ensure this doesn’t happen to another mother in the future. This isn’t the first time that Heathrow has garnered media attention for forcing a mother to dump breast milk. Actress Alyssa Milano took to Twitter to blast Heathrow last year after she says she was forced to dump pumped breast milk. The actress says she followed procedure by ensuring her breast milk was placed in baggies of less than five ounces.

(1 of 2) @HeathrowAirport just took my pumped breast milk away. 10 ounces. Gone. Not okay.

— Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) April 9, 2015

[Image via Facebook/Jessica Martinez]