24 hours apart from my BFing 10 month old!

Annie Marie

How do I do this!?!?!  DS is still nursing quite often and 2-3 times at night.  How am I supposed to leave him with grandparents overnight when I don't even know how much milk he takes at a time.  He'll take a bottle, but also drinks from a cup great (which is how my MIL prefers to feed him).  I have no clue how the night will go if I'm not there to nurse him.  How will this go? Anyone else do something like this?

I need any tips & help desperately!  Thank you!

Emerald27

I've never done it, and the thought scares me. I know DH wants a night away sometime, but I can't bear the thought. Hugs!!! It will be okay!

So you have the first step covered - you know that LO takes a bottle and drinks from a cup. I would pump to have a good amount available for him while you're away. Also, even though your mom prefers to have him drink from a cup, if she can "bottle nurse" him during the night, that will be more comforting because his need to suck will be met. Google "bottle nursing" so that you can give her some tips to make it as much like real nursing as she can.

One thing I would do is sleep with a receiving blanket on your pillow for a few nights, give it to your mom so that she can put it between her and LO when she bottle feeds him during the night. I would expect that he'll wake frequently but will be comforted by rocking, the bottle, and your scent on the blanket. 

Familiar toys, plenty of milk, the blanket that smells like you, grandparents who love him dearly - LO will be just fine. He might not get the best night's sleep in his life, but he will be well loved and comforted all night long. Your parents will probably have a tougher time than he will.

 As for how much milk, it depends on his solids intake. My DS still mostly plays with his solid food and gets his nutrition from breast milk, so if I were in your situation I would try to leave 25-35 ounces. 

Good luck! You and your LO will do just fine! 

Sarahrun

I am delighted to say that I recently was able to successfully tackle a similar situation. Last week I had to be away from my 5 month old for the first time for a work retreat-two nights, three days. He has taken a bottle but I've never been apart from him for longer than 9 hours.

It was just fine. I pumped every 3-4 hours, although I forgot to get up at night (so easy to turn off alarm for 3am), but I don't think two nights of sleeping 7 hours is going to kill my supply). I came home with a cooler of milk. I didn't quite have enough in the fridge to last the entire time so we mixed formula and breast milk so he didn't have all formula (was worried about a shock to the system). My MIL came to help). The one thing my husband said was that at night the baby woke up more fully because it took longer to get a bottle ready, whereas when I'm feeding him I can get him on the boob before he wakes up all the way. 

 I was SO excited to see him when I got back, but it was nice to kick back at the retreat (saw a lot of friends from law school) and I'm so relieved that he took the breast like a champ.

 You'll be fine! Good luck!