? Re: Nursing, bedtime and babysitters...

KirstieC

I nurse Betty Jane before she goes to bed which is usually around 8:00pm. For those of you who nurse your LO to bed, how do you deal with nights out with DH and babysitters? We have a holiday party to go to and we have to leave by 6:30pm. I'm not sure how well she's going to go to bed with A) a bottle and not having DH or I put her to bed. This could potentially be a nightmare for the babysitter. Suggestions? Advice?

Thanks!

ScoobyM

I don't necessarily nurse DS to sleep and I didn't with DD either, BUT, I was extremely nervous about leaving my DD to be put to bed by anyone other than me or DH when she was still nursing or takng a bottle.  All I can say is that we just took the plunge and had MIL babysit one night and she did great - she had no issues at all.  I think sometimes they are better for other caregivers, I'm not exactly sure why -  but I think they do know the difference and can usually handle it just fine.

All that said, the way we did it was that we explained our nighttime routine to MIL in detail and just told her to follow that as closely as possible and to call us if she just could not get DD to go to sleep and we would come home.  Worst case would have been that DD would have slept in my MIL's arms until we could leave wherever we were and get home to put her to sleep.  It helped for us that we see my ILs at least once a week, usually twice, so my DD was very used to her and I knew for sure that at a minimum she would fall asleep in MIL's arms.  If you have a babysitter who has been around your DD previously that would probably help some.

Good luck!  I hope you have a great time at the party and that everything goes great for your DD's bedtime!

Piranha54

We told sitters - mainly my mom - what the routine is and that was that.  I knew that my mom was going to rock her to sleep, and that was fine - she was asleep!  Given that Ellie wouldn't take a bottle from anyone but me, we never had too many problems, we were also accepting that mom or a sitter might have to hold her longer, etc than we would.  On nights I was away at bedtime, whether DH and I were out or DH was in charge of bedtime, I did often get her up and nurse when I got home so that she wouldn't wake up during the night hungry - since she wouldn't take a bottle from anyone else - and this worked well, usually nursed for 20 minutes and she was back to sleep once she hit the crib.  I did find bedtime was easier as Ellie ate more and more solids.  We don't generally give her a snack with her milk at bedtime, but if we leave her with my mom, we'll have her add a fig newton or something to bedtime.  You might try an ounce of oatmeal with BM before bed if you're worried about her being hungry.

GL and enjoy your night out!

ateytelb

Do a practice run with the babysitter a coupe of nights before the party and see how it goes.

Sunsh1ne

This probably won't help. LO is an early bird and goes down between 6 and 6:30.  He gets solids at 5, bath after that, and then nurses at 5:30.  Then we read stories before bed.  So on the few occasions we have had sitters, I have asked them to come at 6.  Then, LO sees they are there, reads some stories with the sitter, and we all put him down together.  I get dressed after we put LO down, so I generally have 15 minutes to listen to him chatter on the monitor and make sure he is down before we leave.

It might be easier for you to go out if you can transition her to an earlier bedtime - maybe 7-ish.  8 seems late for an infant's bedtime.

mtnrider

If it were me I'd put her to bed at 7 and leave late for the party, just seems to be the easiest solution.