Gate F · Food & Drink · Updated July 25, 2026
Can I Bring Baby Formula or Breast Milk on a Plane?
Last checked: July 2026 — sourced against TSA “What Can I Bring?”, the TSA powder rule and GOV.UK’s baby-milk rules. Rules change; re-verify before you fly. This is not medical advice.
The verdict, in one line
Breast milk, baby formula, toddler drinks and baby/toddler food (including puree pouches and juice for babies) are all welcome on a plane, and they get special treatment: TSA classes them as medically necessary liquids, which means they’re exempt from the 3-1-1 rule. You can carry any reasonable quantity in your carry-on — no 3.4 oz cap, no quart bag — as long as you declare them to the officer at the start of screening. Powdered formula is treated more leniently than other powders, but with an important limit explained below. And here’s the detail most parents don’t expect: your baby doesn’t have to be traveling with you to bring these items.
Why these liquids are exempt from the 3-1-1 rule
The standard rule for carry-on liquids caps each container at 3.4 oz / 100 ml, all fitting in one quart bag. TSA carves out a specific exception for feeding infants and toddlers: formula, breast milk, toddler drinks, and baby/toddler food (including puree pouches) in quantities greater than 3.4 oz are allowed in carry-on baggage and do not need to fit within a quart-sized bag. Juice for babies gets the identical exemption. The trade-off for skipping the size cap is a short extra screening step, covered below — TSA isn’t waiving inspection, just the ounce limit.
What’s covered — and how much you can bring
- Breast milk — expressed, refrigerated, or frozen, any reasonable quantity.
- Baby formula — liquid, concentrate, ready-to-feed, or powder, any reasonable quantity.
- Toddler drinks and baby/toddler food, including puree pouches.
- Juice for babies.
TSA doesn’t publish a hard ounce ceiling for any of these — the standard is “reasonable quantities” for the length of your trip, the same forgiving language used for medically necessary liquid medication. Bringing what a baby would realistically need for a multi-day trip is normal; bringing a suitcase of formula as checked-bag overflow is more likely to draw questions.
Ice packs, gel packs and cooler bags
Cooling accessories — ice packs, freezer packs, and gel packs — are allowed to keep formula and breast milk cold, and this applies regardless of whether breast milk is actually present in the bag at the time of screening. They can be fully or partially frozen; they’re screened along with the liquids they’re cooling and may get an extra look.
You don’t need your baby with you
This is the fact that trips people up: your child or infant does not need to be present or traveling with you to bring breast milk, formula, or related supplies through security. A parent flying ahead with a stash of pumped milk, or a caregiver transporting formula separately, is covered by the same exemption.
How the extra screening step works
- Notify the TSA officer at the very start of the screening process that you’re carrying formula, breast milk, toddler drinks, or baby/toddler food in excess of 3.4 oz.
- Remove these items from your carry-on so they can be screened separately from the rest of your belongings — they do not go in your quart bag.
- Use clear, translucent bottles where possible; it speeds up visual and X-ray screening.
- Expect the officer may need to test the liquid or ask you to open a container as part of additional screening.
None of this requires advance paperwork or a doctor’s note — it’s a declare-and-separate step at the checkpoint, not a pre-approval process.
Powdered formula and the 12 oz powder rule
Separately from the liquids rule, TSA treats large carry-on powders differently. Its own wording: “Powder-like substances greater than 12 oz. / 350 mL must be placed in a separate bin for X-ray screening. They may require additional screening and containers may need to be opened. For your convenience, we encourage you to place non-essential powders greater than 12 oz. in checked bags.” On flights from an international last point of departure to the US, powders over that size may also get secondary screening at a central checkpoint, and anything that can’t be resolved there is not allowed into the cabin.
Baby formula is named as an exception to that international secondary screening: when TSA announced the rule, carriers relayed the carve-out as “certain powders will be exempt from secondary screening, including baby formula, medically necessary powders and human remains.” Note the limit of what that covers — TSA’s current public guidance does not publish a formula exemption from the domestic “over 12 oz goes in its own bin” step, and formula isn’t “non-essential”, so the practical advice is simple: bring the powdered formula you need, declare it with your other infant items, and expect a canister over 12 oz to be binned separately and possibly opened. It is not treated as freely as liquid formula or breast milk, but it is also not the item TSA is nudging into checked bags.
Quick reference
| Item | Carry-on | Checked | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Breast milk (any amount) | Yes, no 3.4 oz cap | Yes | Declare & screen separately; baby need not be present |
| Formula — liquid/ready-to-feed | Yes, no 3.4 oz cap | Yes | Declare & screen separately |
| Formula — powder | Yes | Yes | Over 12 oz still goes in its own bin; exempt from international-inbound secondary powder screening |
| Toddler drinks / baby food purees / juice | Yes, no 3.4 oz cap | Yes | Same medically-necessary-liquid exemption |
| Ice packs / gel packs / freezer packs | Yes | Yes | Allowed frozen or partly frozen, even with no milk present |
The airline & international layer
US carriers layer their own baggage-allowance perks on top of the TSA exemption. Delta, for example, states that “in addition to the one-bag carry-on allowance, passengers may bring the following infant items onto the plane as an additional free item,” and lists a breast pump and associated cooler bag among them — so the pump and its cooler don’t eat your carry-on allowance. Delta doesn’t publish a formula or breast-milk quantity cap of its own; the quantity question is governed by the TSA exemption above. Check your airline’s own baggage page before you fly, since the free-extra-item allowance is an airline policy, not a TSA one.
Internationally the broad shape is the same — infant feeds are exempted from the base liquids cap — but the details are not the same, and two UK rules will catch out a US traveller. GOV.UK’s baby food and baby milk rules apply at every UK airport, whichever liquids regime it is on (Heathrow, Gatwick, Edinburgh and Birmingham now allow containers up to 2 litres after CT-scanner upgrades; Luton, Manchester and Stansted are still on 100 ml for general liquids):
- Frozen breast milk is not allowed in UK hand luggage at all — it has to go in the hold. TSA allows it; the UK does not.
- Formula milk, cow’s milk, soya milk for babies, sterilised water and baby food are only allowed in hand luggage if the baby is with you. The “you don’t need your child present” rule above is a TSA rule, and it does not carry over — in the UK only breast milk can travel without the baby.
- Individual containers of breast milk must hold no more than 2,000 ml, and each one is screened separately; staff may ask to open them. This is a UK-wide breast-milk rule, not a perk of the newer scanners.
- There’s no legal limit on how much baby food, baby milk or sterilised water you can take for the journey — but check with your airport before you travel.
The EU and Canada apply comparable infant-liquid exemptions. As always, confirm the departure airport’s own current rule before a connection.
The screening officer always has the final say. Information last checked July 2026; this is general guidance, not medical advice.
Sources & verification
Every claim on this page was checked against the primary sources below and last verified July 2026.
- TSA — Baby formula is a medically necessary liquid, exempt from the 3.4 oz / quart-bag limit. tsa.gov/…/baby-formula
- TSA — Breast milk exemption; child need not be present; cooling accessories allowed. tsa.gov/…/breast-milk
- TSA — Juice for babies carries the identical exemption. tsa.gov/…/juice-babies
- TSA — FAQ confirming breast milk, formula and juice are exempt from the 3-1-1 liquids rule. tsa.gov/…/breast-milk-formula-and-juice-exempt-3-1-1-liquids-rule
- TSA — Powder rule, quoted verbatim above: powder-like substances over 12 oz / 350 mL go in a separate bin for X-ray, may need additional screening, and TSA encourages checking non-essential powders that size. tsa.gov/…/items/baby-powder
- TSA — Powders FAQ: the over-12 oz secondary-screening step applies to travel from an international last point of departure to the US. tsa.gov/…/what-policy-powders-are-they-allowed
- Delta — TSA powder restrictions advisory, carrying the exemption wording: “certain powders will be exempt from secondary screening, including baby formula, medically necessary powders and human remains.” delta.com/…/tsa-powder-restrictions
- Delta — Children & infant baggage items: breast pump and associated cooler bag allowed as an additional free item beyond the one-bag carry-on allowance. delta.com/…/children-infant-items
- GOV.UK — UK baby food and baby milk rules: breast milk allowed without a baby present in containers up to 2,000 ml; frozen breast milk not allowed in hand luggage; formula, cow’s/soya milk, sterilised water and baby food allowed in hand luggage only with the baby present. gov.uk/hand-luggage-restrictions/baby-food-and-baby-milk
- Which? — Which UK airports have moved to the 2-litre CT-scanner limit and which are still on 100 ml. which.co.uk/…/100ml-rule-at-uk-airport-security-new-scanners
- London Stansted Airport — Stansted’s own security page: 100 ml general liquids limit, breast-milk containers up to 2,000 ml, frozen breast milk not permitted. stanstedairport.com/help/security
Related rules: Flying with medication · Medication · The 3-1-1 liquids rule · CBD oil
FAQ
Is there a limit on how much breast milk or formula I can bring in carry-on?
No fixed ounce cap. TSA exempts formula, breast milk, toddler drinks and baby/toddler food from the standard 3.4 oz / quart-bag rule — bring reasonable quantities for your trip, declare them, and be ready for a short separate screening.
Do I need my baby with me to bring breast milk or formula through security?
No. Your child or infant does not need to be present or traveling with you. The exemption applies whether or not the baby is on your flight.
Can I bring ice packs to keep formula or breast milk cold?
Yes. Ice packs, gel packs and freezer packs are allowed, fully or partially frozen, and this applies even if there’s no breast milk or formula in the bag at the time of screening.
Does powdered formula have to go in checked bags like other powders?
No — TSA’s “put it in checked baggage” advice is aimed at non-essential powders, which formula isn’t. But don’t expect it to sail through either: a container over 12 oz still has to go in its own bin for X-ray and may be opened. Baby formula is specifically named as exempt from the extra secondary powder screening applied on international flights inbound to the US.