Back to work - what to do?

[newbiemommy]

DD is almost 9mo and in 3 weeks I have to go away for business for 2 nights.  I am dreading it.  She is EBF and well-started on solids (3xday) but she is still nursing 4Xday and once at night (around 4-5am).

Since I work from home she does not have a bottle very often and is not very good with them.

Any advice?  I am so worried about how she will react emotionally if I am gone for 3 days and 2 nights.  Does anyone have any idea what kind of impact that will have on her?  Obviously, I will pump while I am gone, but I am just sick wondering what will happen at bedtime when mom's not there, or when she wakes up in the night and mom is not there.

Should I start weaning now?  Gradually dropping a feed each week until I leave to at least get it down to only 2xday?  OR, I am overthinking this and she will be fine for three days since I'm not here she will just adjust to taking a bottle from nanny and dad during the day and at night.

What to do?

Maria

[~ Vik ~]

Unless you are wanting to wean, and you're using this trip kind of as a kick start to doing it, I wouldn't start dropping feeds TBH. (Just my opinion though!)  There are a couple things that you could do though...

- if she doesn't take a bottle well, how is she with a cup?  Straw, sippy, or anything?  Could you try offering ebm in a cup and see if she'll take it?
- could her dad start tackling the night feed at all?  If he offered ebm in a bottle or cup for that night feed would she take it?  (and you could pump to keep supply/build a stash)
- alternately, could he do the first thing in the morning feed, or bedtime?

[newbiemommy]

Thanks Vicki.  We just started trying to introduce a sippy cup yesterday.  Not great, she didn't drink anything, but at least she got the concept that she put her mouth on it and liquid comes out.

I think she'll be okay taking bottles while I'm gone and I'm working on stockpiling enough.  She has taken bottles before, but she usually only drinks a little bit, like 1 or 2 oz, and then holds off until she can nurse.  I don't want to wean but I was thinking that it might make it easier on her when I'm gone if she was already nursing less often?

I think it's a good idea to have dad start handling the nighttime feed with a bottle.  We'll probably try it this weekend and see how it goes.

I'm mostly worried about how she will react emotionally if she is used to nursing 5X a day and then suddenly mom is gone for two days.  Am I just begin neurotic?  Taking away the breast for two days while mom is gone and then bringing it back is not the same as weaning, I know, but I keep on reading horror stories about moms who stopped nursing cold turkey and I'm worried that from her little baby perspective that is what it will seem like - "no more booby / what did she do wrong!"

OR, will she just accept that there's no booby because mom is not there and accept the bottle and comfort from dad?  Does anyone have any experience with this?

[~ Vik ~]

will she just accept that there's no booby because mom is not there and accept the bottle and comfort from dad?

That is my experience.  When I was on mat leave I did all bedtimes for Dylan, and always nursed before bed.  My DH never did bedtime, not once.  I've never been away for days, but when I went back to work I worked the night shift (1pm-9pm) Friday nights and then the day shift (7am-4pm or 8am-5pm) Saturdays.  So suddenly I was not there to nurse at bedtime or first thing in the morning (DH did bottle of ebm instead) and DH was doing bedtime alone.  We never had a problem

Hopefully some other moms will jump on with their experiences too!