Flying with my whole freezer stash for a wedding, will security make me bin it?

Right, the stash I have cried over for four months now has to get on a plane. Wedding abroad, five days, baby is coming with us but she takes a bottle at nursery and I want the milk there rather than starting again at the other end.

Things I cannot find a straight answer to. Do I freeze it solid and hope, or take it thawed in the fridge and use it fast? Will security open the bags, and if they open them is the milk then ruined? Do I need a cool bag with ice packs and are ice packs even allowed. And the big one, if it part thaws on the way and then goes back in a freezer at the other end, is that milk gone?

Four months of 5am pumping is sitting in that freezer. I would genuinely rather leave my luggage behind.

Did this twice. Frozen solid, packed tight in a hard cool bag with the bags standing on their edges so they hold each other cold, ice packs frozen rock hard around them. A full densely packed bag stays cold far longer than a half empty one, that was the biggest lesson, so fill the gaps with more ice packs or even rolled towels.

Carry it on. Do not put it in the hold. Mine came out of a four hour flight still solid at the core with slush at the edges and went straight back in a freezer.

Security did look at it both times, swabbed the outside of a couple of bags, asked how old the baby was, and handed it back. Nobody opened a bag. But I rang the airline beforehand and printed the page from their website, which felt paranoid and then was extremely useful at 5am with a queue behind me.

Rules differ by country and by airport, that's why you can't find one answer. Check the specific airports at both ends, not just your airline, and check the return leg separately because the country you're coming home from sets its own rules.

Also worth knowing before you get there: some places let you take milk through in larger quantities than normal liquids but want it presented separately at the scanner. Have it out of your bag and ready rather than buried.

Boring practical one. Whatever the airport says, plan for the milk being delayed with you. Book the accommodation with an actual freezer rather than a hotel minibar shelf, and confirm it in writing, because I once arrived with a cool bag of slush and a "fridge" that was a warm drinks cabinet, and that was a very bad evening.

Becky, the part I can actually be useful on is the milk itself rather than the security queue, since Jess and Priya have that covered and the rules genuinely do vary by airport.

The answer to your big question first: milk that has part thawed but still has ice crystals in it, and has stayed cold throughout, is generally treated as still frozen and can go back into a freezer. Milk that has fully thawed should not be refrozen. Once it is thawed in a fridge, use it within about 24 hours. Those are the lines worth memorising for the journey, and the rest of the times and temperatures are set out in breast milk storage guidelines so you are not guessing in a departure lounge.

For the packing, a few things that follow from that. Freeze the bags flat, then pack them upright and densely, because a solid block of frozen bags is its own cooling system and a loosely packed bag warms fast. Put the bags you care least about, the oldest ones, at the outside where they will thaw first, and the newest at the core. And decide in advance which milk is the travelling milk and which is staying, rather than moving the whole freezer.

One caveat I have to name. These are the general guidelines for a healthy term baby. If your baby was premature, is in hospital, or has a health condition, the storage rules are stricter and you should follow the specific advice you have been given rather than a forum thread. And whatever the journey does, remember you will be with her, so the stash is a convenience, not the only option.

Home, and reporting back for the next person who searches this at midnight. Frozen solid, hard cool bag, ice packs, carried on, printed page from the airline that nobody asked to see. Security took it out, swabbed two bags, done in about ninety seconds.

Arrived with everything still frozen at the core, into the freezer at the apartment, which I had emailed about twice like Gemma said. Brought two bags home unused. Nothing was wasted and I did not cry once, which for me is a first where this milk is concerned.