Hi guys! It’s that time of year again when fourth years are
getting ready to submit their ERAS applications and begin interviewing for
residency spots across the country. Having gone through the process last year I
know how insanely tiring and stressful it can be. But my heart goes out to all
the mamas with babies out there getting ready for this crazy adventure. I hope
I can make it easier on all of you by sharing what I learned along many, MANY
trips. I will preface this by saying that Noah has flown on 40+ flights in his
first year, the majority of those being for residency interviews. I will
attempt to offer advice and share how we could have done things better, but
mostly I will share what worked for us in the hopes it helps one of you!
Honestly, looking back, it was a crazy experience but each step worked
out.
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Traveling for interviews would have
not been possible without my husband, J. I know it’s not possible for everyone,
but he had a very flexible job last year that allowed him to work remotely
during our travels. Basically, he worked in the office for a few weeks out of the
entire 4.5-month interview season. We went everywhere together. It was amazing,
sometimes stressful, but always memorable. Traveling solo with a baby is
possible, but when it comes to interviews someone has to be with the baby while
you’re away interviewing & at the interview dinner the night before.
Basically, we would arrive at our destination the day of the interview dinner
with enough time to settle in before I had to leave. J and Noah would then
hangout together (dinner, a walk) before bedtime. Once J got Noah into bed, he
would get work done / watch NBA games. When we visited Detroit, J waited until
I got home from my interview dinner and then met up with some of his friends! For the actual interview day, I
would get up really early and leave Noah & J in bed. I’d pump while I got
ready and I’d sneak back in the room to leave the fresh milk for when Noah woke
up, I’d put on my suit (it’s key to leave it out and ready so you don’t wake
the baby lol) and get all of my gear – my purse, my milk cooler, my jacket. I
was always the one with the most stuff. Then I’d either take a Lyft or Uber to
my interview. At the end of the day J and Noah would pick me up.
Noah’s very first flight was at 8 weeks old. It worked out
that his first set of vaccinations were literally a couple days before. Nothing
can really prepare you, or the baby, for the chaotic schedule of travel. At six
weeks we started a nap schedule & bedtime routine with Noah. We did our
best to stick with it and did a pretty good job through it all. I will say
this: good flight times are worth the
money and convenience. You will not regret it. Pick flight times that get
you to your destination early in the day, that way settling into bedtime is
easy for baby (and you!) and jet lag is less likely to an issue for baby. At
the end of the day no baby asks for the stress of travel, so we did our best to
make it as easy as possible on Noah.
Essentials:
-
AirBnB is your best friend when it comes to
accommodations. You will need a full apartment/house wherever you go so that
you have at least a kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom. Make sure you’re looking in
safe areas, it can be hard to tell from pictures but do your best to Google the
neighborhoods.
-
Nursing cover. I love the ones from Copper
Pearl. They’re quality, stretchy, opaque and breathable. Most importantly you
can wash and dry them with the rest of the baby laundry and the material keeps
its integrity very well. I still use this cover but during airplane travel it
was essential because 1. It gives the baby a darker place to nurse + nap on the
plane, 2. Protects baby as much as possible from people’s nasty coughs and
recycled airplane air, 3. Keeps baby warm so all you need is a light travel
outfit. Each time I’d pull out the cover Noah knew what time it was: boob &
sleep. Often he would be asleep for 2+ hours before we even took off. Also,
nursing your little one for take off and landing will also keep their ears from
hurting!
-
Solly baby wrap / ergo baby wrap. You cannot
travel without a good baby wrap. A stroller is necessary but at some point
you’ll need to get the stroller through security and take the baby out, or
you’ll have to check the stroller at the gate. Noah fit in the Solly until he
was about 5 months old, then it was always the ergo baby. Another thing about
the Solly wrap that I love so much is that it keeps people’s wandering hands
away from your baby – people are less likely to touch the baby when they’re so
close to your body. There are always those who don’t care though, sigh. And
that’s what hand sanitizer and a polite mom glare are for lol.
-
Sleeping. Noah was 8 weeks – 4.5 months during
the interview season and he loved to be swaddled / didn’t roll over that
frequently until almost five months. So it was easy to put him down, swaddled,
on the bed without worrying about him falling off. We also coslept, Noah in
between us, at night. You will need to bring your baby monitor and sound
machine as well – we love our sound machine because it’s a huge part of Noah’s
“sleep associations” and when he hears it he automatically knows it’s time to
get cozy and sleep. Plus, it will keep baby sleeping soundly even if you’re in
a noisy neighborhood.
-
Travel light & with plenty of time.
Seriously, only the essentials. Our very first trip was to Chicago, through
phoenix. So we had to drive from Tucson to Phoenix before dawn, we packed way
too much, Noah had a blow-out in the security line, and we were generally a hot
mes. After that we always gave ourselves at least 2 hours before our flight to
get through security and settled in. Avoid checking baggage whenever possible
and use carryon bags instead, especially for baby’s things!
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Rental cars. We rented a car in every city
except for 1. With a baby, we felt more comfortable being able to drive
ourselves. Though we did use Uber or Lyft as a family a few times.
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Cleaning & bath time supplies. As you
pumping moms already know, cleaning pump parts and bottles is no easy feat. So
for the interview day I used medela pump wipes. I’d also travel with a travel-sized
bottle of baby safe dish soap (Honest/Puracy/etc) and a bottle-brush, as well
as a sterilizing bag (Dr. Brown / Medela) for extra sanitizing. As for baby’s
bath time, we used the sink wherever we stayed but I would have loved to buy
one of those inflatable tubs I’ve seen on Amazon. Noah was also small enough
that we could shower with him which as always so sweet.
-
Stroller & Carseat. If you get any
stroller/carseat for interview travel – or any travel - let it be the Doona.
You can travel without the base, it’s sturdy and feels safe, and it’s SO light.
I cannot say enough good things about it. It’s a stroller that becomes a car
seat with a simple button. And you can use your nursing cover to use as a car
seat cover when the baby is sleeping.
-
I never once considered my status as a mom, a
nursing mom at that, to be detrimental to my application or competitiveness.
That’s because I figured if a program sees that as a negative, then I don’t
want to be at that program. You will learn quickly what programs are more
welcoming to mothers. One way I got a feel for it was by sending out an email
to the program coordinator a couple days after I accepted the interview
invitation. It went something like this: “Hello xxx, I’m really looking forward
to my interview day. I’m a nursing mom and will need to arrange for a time
(/times) to pump (~20 minutes) at some point in the middle of the interview
day. I hope this isn’t an inconvenience and I appreciate your help!” All
programs (except one – message me for info about that one, lol) were very
accommodating and even encouraging.
The logistics of pumping & storing breast milk on the
“trail:”
As far as experts go, I’ve proudly become one on this
subject. I’ll take you back to the first time I flew with breast milk. At 6 weeks
postpartum I traveled to LA to take Step 2 CS, which means I was engorged every
2-3 hours. At the exam, I got to pump during the half-way point which was
already an hour longer than I could wait. But I pumped nonetheless, as well as
the night before. I froze all the milk I pumped during the night my test, took
it with me to the testing center and asked for more ice to keep it frozen. When
I got to the airport that afternoon I had frozen milk from the night before,
and cold milk from that day – like 32 ounces. The TSA is good at many things,
but dealing with breast milk is not one of them. They started handling my
frozen bags as well as the bottles. I cringed every time they touched it and
could not wait to sanitize them. (mom anxiety). Then they let them sit at room
temperature for 10 minutes while they even called their “explosives squad” to
come test the condensation outside of the bottles. I started crying. I couldn't
help it, it felt like they were ruining my baby’s nourishment. As soon as they
saw tears they apologized and let me pack it all up. It was all very dramatic
lol.
So when we traveled for our first interview when Noah was 8
weeks old, I was more prepared. We bought a big cooler (can’t find it online,
but any with good insulation will do) to put about 8-12 ounces of frozen milk
in. I did this each time we traveled, so it would be frozen when we got on the
plane: TSA-approved! Basically this milk would be used for bedtime / wakeups
after I left for the interview dinner (I’d nurse Noah before I left so he
usually didn’t drink much) and during my interview day when Noah and J were out
and about. I would also pump the morning of my interview while getting ready
and promptly bring that bottle bedside for J to feed Noah when he woke up.
Often there would be some milk left at the end of the day that would get
wasted, but better more than not enough!
I would also pump once during the interview day. I’d store
this milk in my little medela cooler. Some programs were nice enough to let me
keep it in a secure refrigerator during the day. The timing worked out such
that I was engorged right when Noah and J would pick me up and I’d nurse Noah
right away, usually in the parking lot. The milk I pumped at the interview
stayed in the individual bottles. Since we’d usually fly out right after the
interview, I’d just put them in the cooler with the cooler packs and when we
went through security I’d let them know I had breast milk. If they asked to
pass it through any scanner, I’d politely refuse and ask for whatever the
alternative was. To my surprise I didn’t have much trouble with breast milk in
airports.
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Final blurbs: You will feel like you can’t do it. You will
question if you have any energy left. You will question if it’s all worth it in
the end. You do. It is. It will be okay. No parts of this post are sponsored, just
my honest recommendations. How did we pay for it? After every few interviews I
submitted budged reevaluations to my financial aid office and got “reimbursed”
in the form of federal loans for my tickets (not J’s), accommodation, and
transportation. As for J’s tickets, the credit cards we used to pay for
everything before reimbursement would give us points for travel. Soon there
were enough points to fund all or most of J’s ticket costs for subsequent
flights. Also, I had to start my frozen milk supply EARLY. That meant pumping
at night on top of regular feeds as soon as my milk came in aka week one. It
was rough, but it also helped me establish a really great milk supply. When we
finished interviews (11 total, trust me you won’t want to do more) in January,
J, Noah & I sat on the bed and honestly felt like we had the flu or
something. We were just exhausted. But we survived and got to see a lot of cool
places together and make so many memories. I apologize if this post is a bit
rambly and a lot of random advice, but I know you fellow mamas out there will
understand. For fun I’ll include some restaurants we loved:
Chicago: Wildberry
Café, Café Monsivais
Cincinnati: Pho Lang Thang at Findlay Market (the best
spicy beef pho we have ever had and great vegan options), Dusmesh Indian
Restaurant
Los Angeles: Tatsu Ramen, Open Sesame
Norfolk: The Handsome Biscuit
And because we
miss the food in Tucson, these are our favorite places: Miss Saigon, Samurai,
Chars Thai, Café Poca Cosa, Tucson Tamale Company
Please email me
with any questions or ask on insta!
