I don't know. I have an 18 month old and they let us bring milk on in his bottles. We had to declare it and put it in a clear plastic bag. I don't know how much milk these kids would need, but I'd say the 24 ounces we brought on is probably more than comes out of the breast in a feeding or two. I stil don't know what these moms do when they aren't available for their children? What are the children supposed to do? Cry? For how long? Why foster a dependency? What happens when the mom has to take a narcotic because of some pain (toothache, backache, migraine). What then? The baby goes hungry? Some, not all, drugs pass into the breast milk,,,so,,let the baby have the medication with the mom? I don't think so.
What do you want your kid to turn to when he or she is in need -- an artificial substitute (blanket, stuffed animal) or the loving arms of a parent?
Toddlers who nurse generally eat food and drink water and maybe juice -- the breast milk is weaned away slowly. Most illnesses can be treated with safe medications. The mother often has to challenge the doctors on this -- they are quick to say just quit nursing without looking into alternatives. If a mother has to quit for medical reasons, what has been lost? The child had a few more months of breastmilk. That's a good thing.
It sounds like you had some TSA folks who were willing to sensibly bend the rules. IIRC, the limit on fluids is 8 ounces. (That's the total amount; not the amount per container.) But getting back to my original question: "Which is worse: Seeing a boobie or listening to a shrieking, hungry infant for 6 hours while trapped in an aluminum tube, 7 miles above the surface of the earth?" Since a bottle wasn't present, a bottle isn't an option here.
Many postpartum mothers take vicodin and very little passes though to the breastmilk.
It is perfectly fine to exclusively breastfeed an infant. Many, many women do, all over the world, throughout all of history, including in these United States in 2006. It is not "fostering a dependency." LOL! You crack me up.