United Airlines Can't Explain How 1 Woman's Breast Milk Went Missing

Those who have said it's not worth crying over spilt milk have clearly never had to go through the process of pumping. A lot, and I mean a lot, of time goes into creating a sizable stash of milk for a little one who needs it to survive. That's why Kimberly West, a nursing mother of a 7-month-old, was heartbroken to discover that United Airlines had lost 12 days' worth of her "liquid gold."

While on a 15-day deployment exercise, her busy schedule, time zone differences, and a terrible bout of mastitis made pumping difficult. "I had wanted to give up and throw in the towel during the worst of the mastitis," she wrote in a post to Facebook. She added proudly, "Yesterday I filled up that Igloo cooler to the top with my liquid gold." Sadly, however, when her flight arrived back home, her cooler was significantly less full. Instead of bags of pumped milk filling the cooler to the top, what remained was only a handful of bags she worked so hard to pump.

Frustrating matters further was the airline's unwillingness to help or provide a reasonable response. "When I told the woman what happened she threw her hands in the air, rolled her eyes and stated, 'And what exactly do you want me to do about lost breast milk?! Who would want to steal THAT?'" explained West.

Beyond the flippant response from the customer service representative, when the manager came over, West's concerns at the loss of milk were devalued. "When her manager arrived she told me I could put in a claim but it probably wouldn't do me any good because breast milk is free," she was told. Despite spending hours creating a stash of milk for her infant, the acknowledgment of her wasted time was dismissed. "I told her my time and energy was not free. She stated, 'I can't repay you for your time.'"

Wanting recognition of her situation, and hopefully an explanation from the airline, West hopes that people will share her story. "I am so distraught. I'm exhausted from traveling. This is the last thing I thought I'd be dealing with," West wrote.

Hopefully, conversations around West's experience and others like hers will finally force airlines to create clear policies about breast milk that benefit the mother and the child she is feeding. After all, no one wants to pump for nothing.