Advice about travel and weaning
bithy75
member
I will most likely need to take a 2-week trip in Europe for work next May. My DS will be about 15 months when that time comes. It seems common to wean after a year, but I would like to continue BFing beyond that time as long as both of us want to. However, I'm afraid that this trip will pretty much force me to wean him earlier than I would like because I'll be away from him for too long. Although I know that this trip is important for my career, I feel really bad that weaning will be based on my work schedule, and not on our schedule. For those who might have experience with this kind of situation, do you think we could still keep BFing after I come back or is the separation too long? Besides the BFing issue, I feel terrible knowing that I'll be away from DS for that long, not to mention the fact that DH will have to drive an hour out of his way in the mornings to drop him off at daycare. All of this will be really tough on him too. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Re: Advice about travel and weaning
I agree with the pp-- a lot can happen between now and then. You just don't know how you'll feel about weaning at that point anyhow. I think it's still possible to continue bf'ing even with a trip that long.
It's hard to be away from your family and 2 weeks is a long time, but in the grand scheme of things, it will be over quickly. Maybe you can have family/friends come over to help out with DS, or even drop him off for your DH.
I wouldn't worry about this too much. I'm sure that the anticipation of this trip is probably way worse than the actuality.
Are you planning to continue BF'ing full-time past a year? Or are you planning to partially wean at a year (e.g. give whole milk during the day) but keep some nursing sessions?
I did the latter. At a year, I stopped pumping at work, but continued nursing before/after work. We kept this up until DD was about 22 months old. I absolutely loved that time... I got to keep all the benefits of BF'ing without the hassle of pumping at work.
It also made traveling for work incredibly easy, because I only had to pump twice a day. So it was really easy to fit pumping into my day, and I didn't have oodles of milk to bring home.
It's hard to explain when your little one is still so young and so dependent on you... but extended BF'ing is a totally different experience. I know it seems inconceivable to go away for two weeks right now and come back and pick up right where you left off with BF'ing, but it's really doable. I was never gone for that long, but I did have multiple trips of up to 6 days during DD's second year, and it never affected our nursing relationship.
As for your DS and DH, don't worry, it's not forever. It'll be hard, but it's great bonding time for the two of them. It's tough on my DH when I go out of town too, but he really enjoys having that 1:1 time with DD.
Like pp's said, next May is really far away. Your entire family dynamic is going to be totally different. Try not to stress too much about it right now. It will all be OK
Mommy to DD1 (June 2007), DS (January 2010), DD2 (July 2012), and The Next One (EDD 3/31/2015)