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Breastfeeding
Wedding 1 Month After Baby is Born?
An old friend is getting married almost exactly one month after my due date. Baby could be anywhere from 3-6 weeks old. It is an adults-only wedding. If I am still EBF by the time the wedding rolls around, do you think I will be able to attend the wedding? For how long - one hour, a couple hours? I guess my question is the same even if I have introduced the occasional bottle by then... How long will I be able to go without pumping? Should I plan to bring my pump to the wedding? Is it possible that my RSVP should be non-committal (i.e., "I plan to attend, but life with a new baby may make it impossible to know until the day of the wedding")? Thanks for your help!
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Re: Wedding 1 Month After Baby is Born?
My best friend got married two weeks after Drew was born and DH performed the ceremony (he's a pastor). She knew that I was always a tentative yes b/c of how close it was to my due date. I'd highly recommend staying flexible - you just never know how you'll feel.
Best case scenario: you're totally recovered from the birth, feeling adjusted to life with newborn, feeling confident with breastfeeding, no medical issues for you or LO, etc. You could go to the wedding for as long as you feel comfortable but I'd definitely bring the pump with you. Even if LO is 6 wks old, you'll still need to pump every 2 hours or so, both to maintain supply and so you're not painfully engorged.
I think it would be challenging, honestly, since that will be so early in LO's life. Even if you had pumped enough milk beforehand, you will likely get engorged if you don't pump during time you're away from baby. On the other end of the spectrum, it could hurt your supply if you don't pump.
The best solution, if you can swing it, is if the wedding is at a hotel... could you stay the night at the hotel and have whoever is babysitting come with you? Then you can leave the party to go nurse when you need to and come back. Not an ideal solution, obviously, but you're going to have to figure out when/where you can pump if the baby is not around.
Tough call. You could go and plan to just skip one feeding (and even choose not to pump), but even then, you could only be gone from your baby for like 4 hrs total, including drive/park time to and from your house to the event.
I honestly would RSVP regrets. It might be nice to get out of the house but I was too exhausted and focused on bfing around the clock to really want to put in the effort to get ready for a wedding. You say it's an old friend, not a best friend?, so I'd skip.
This is how I felt.
If you can go, try to go. We had a wedding at 3 wks after LO. I was a reader and my 2 yr old was the flower girl. It was my cousin's wedding and was adult only. I talked to the bride and let her know that I was BF so I would have to bring Marshall. She was okay with it. We left him with someone during the ceremony, but we lived 10 minutes away. I had a few oz I had pumped that week for her to give him. I fed him right before and when I came to get him. Then, I just had to feed him a couple of times at the wedding.
If you can bring someone with you and have them in your room and call you when needed. Or, ask the bride. Of course, you don't want to make her nervous. I didn't want to worry about him during the ceremony and it worked out. The bride told me a week ago that she wants a baby like Marshall cause he didn't make a sound. However, a reception she wouldn't know. After all, a newborn does not require them to buy another meal or run around making messes!