Weekend Away from Breastfed Baby

hi E., if you do want to continue breastfeeding when you return, then i wouldnt really try to wean him at all. you dont need to. just be sure he will take a bottle before you go and leave it at that. i assume you will be pumping while you are away, that will decrease your supply a bit in itself. nothing you wont be able to bring back up once you get back to your schedule, but weaning and then solely pumping will be that much more of a blow to your supply, plus the fact that he is probably decreasing anyway due to his increased solids... a triple blow all at once. if anything, what i would concentrate on is making sure that he is comfortable taking a bottle, and especially for the feedings you think will be more difficult for him to substitute the bottle, i am guessing to go to sleep and overnight. and if you arent going to pump enough milk before you go, then be sure he will take the formula. if he will take it a little while you are here, then he should have no problem taking more of it while you are away. oh, and be sure he will take the bottle from whoever it is that will be watching him, sometimes they will take it from you but not someone else (and sometimes they will not want to take a bottle from someone else if you are around, but will have no problem when you are out, try it). i would sub a bottle at different times, especially those times, a bunch of times before you go. you have plenty of time and 2 days away really isnt so much. but switch it up, sub a couple of times a week at different times. you dont need to get into a regular substitution unless you are wanting to make that change overall.
i left my first son for over a week when he was 6 mos old, had surgery when he was about 11 mos, no nursing for about 4 days, left my daughter for 4 days when she was 6 mos, had another surgery when my daughter was 7 mos, no nursing for about a week, and went on to nurse all my kids for over a year and a half each. you will be fine :)

Hi E.,

I recently went away on a weekend business trip and had to leave my then 7-month-old. We had a freezer accident and he was staying with my in-laws so I was able to leave very little breast milk. I was devastated about letting him have formula, but asked the pediatrician what would be best since he'd never had it. As it turned out, he was throwing it up and having diarrhea, but as everyone mentions, babies are very resilient. He more than made up for missing nursing when I was back. I would not try to wean or drop a nursing session because as soon as you hit another growth spurt, everything will change again. Also, your baby will be different taking bottles away from you because a lot of nursing is for comfort as much as food. Pump when you can, but I ended up pumping only about 3 times per 24 hours, just waiting until I was quite full and could dedicate a solid 20-25 minutes to pumping thoroughly. I asked the hotel for a mini-fridge and kept everything for later. Good luck and you (and your baby) will be just fine! :)

When my baby was 6 mths old, I had to go on a week long business trip, so I wanted to share my experience.

I left my family as much pumped milk as I could that they could bottle feed her while I was gone. I also tried to PUMP my breasts the entire time I was gone on the business trip to save + refigerate / freeze til I got back home. That didn't work so well as I was in + out of meetings all day + night, so it was hard to get back to my room to pump.

Now, my daughter was a hungry girl as a baby and really, she didn't care at all how the milk got to her, so she happily gulped up any + all milk that was fed to her in a bottle.

All babies are different though, your baby might be upset to not get the milk from your breasts instead of a bottle. You might want to start "training" him to take both the bottle + the breasts, alternating before you leave.

By the time I got back, my breasts had dryed up quite a bit. Which was unfortunate because I wanted to keep breast-feeding for at least 1 year! It didn't go so well when I got back. I weaned her off of the breasts pretty quickly after that trip, because I didn't have much of a choice at that point.

So - DON'T be disappointed if that happens when you get back from your trip! ANY breast feeding that you've done is SUPER beneficial to your baby, no matter how long you do it. And I've read that the 1st 3 mths are the most important ones to breast feed, and you've already made it that far!

If you are adamant about breast feeding when you get back from your trip, you'll want to be dilligent about pumping as much as you possibly can while you're gone to keep the milk coming in + flowing.

GOODLUCK!

Lucky that you have the luxury of planning ahead! I was admitted to the hospital as an emergency when my exclusively breastfeeding son was only 8 months... he wasn't even on solids yet! I was there for almost a week. It was painful for both of us... him, emotionally, and me, the engorgement. I was TERRIFIED he would wean during this time. (And to make matters worse I couldn't even nurse him during visits because I was on meds that weren't safe for a breastfeeding 8 month old!) Fortunately when I was finally released he was just as happy to continue nursing as I was.

Anyway, my point is, babies are incredibly adaptive, and what is meant to happen will with your nursing relationship.

I wish you the best of luck with it!! Don't worry too much about it, it will work out fine!!

E.-

At 9 months old, I would aim to drop the night time feeding.

I went to a destination wedding in VT and could not take my 7 month old daughter with us. After spending three nights with her grandparents, that was the feeding she choose to drop. She was only nursing once at night anyway. I guess they were not as cuddley and warm as Momma and I know my father (he was sleeping on the second floor near her room as my mom had a broken foot and was confined to the first floor) was also giving her formula at night. Of course, formula was not my choice, but as the grandpa, he did not have quite the same devotion that us parents do for running downstairs and warming up BM and trying to get it to her before she managed to fully wake herself up from crying for attention.

It actually was a life saver and the whole family has slept way better for it since that time. I would recommend getting Daddy involved in the weaning process as I think if Momma enters the room to tend to baby, there is an expectation already in place and that is the hardest part - breaking the expectation and pattern.

Good luck.
~C.

PS. A formula bottle or two while you are away won't hurt your baby or the nursing regimen either.

I don't think you should drop a feeding just because of one weekend. 6 times a day is fine at his age. My son is 14 months and we are still breastfeeding 3-4 times a day. Just try to pump once a day and freeze the milk every day up until you leave for your trip. This should be enough.
Make sure you take a pump with you and try to pump around the times you usually breastfeed him. If you have access to a refrigerator in your hotel room or something then you can take the milk home with you since it will easily last over a week in the fridge. Take a picture of your son with you to look at while you pump- this helps get the milk flowing. If you don't pump at all while you are away, you will be very uncomfortable just like when he was first born and leak at inopportune moments and be at risk for a blocked milk duct (not fun at all).

E.,

Congratulations on deciding to breast feed - it's the best you can do for him!

Are you planning to stop nursing soon anyway? The numbers you have listed for nursing don't seem high at all, even with food.

Can/would you take him with you on your trip? Possibly have someone watch him in another room? This is such a short time in his life to have the best food - and something to fill the gaps on nutrition. If he's not getting it from food, he's getting it from you.

If you don't want to wean him - don't. I hope someone else out there has a better idea of how to get your son what is best for him.

Good luck, and I hope you find a solution equitable for the both of you,
M.

When I went back to work full time we went through this... I think it was harder on me. Needless to say, I found that having my husband give our son his bottle was most successful and we started with his "wake up" feeding. I must admit it was very nice to have him "snugged in" with us first thing to feed, but we found that he was more receptive to the bottle in the morning b/c he was very hungry and in a great mood. The last feeding we dropped before weaning was the bedtime feeding- probably more for me anyway!

Don't get upset if your baby goes on a mini "strike". He WILL eat- my husband's willpower was stronger than mine and he would rock our son and keep offering the bottle until he took it- I went for a walk.

Good luck!