Would you let your in laws take.....*m*
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Would you let your in laws take.....*m*
| Sun, 03-14-2004 - 2:30am |
Your child for three days? Haylei is almost 3 months old and my MIL and FIL want to take her with them on a little "vacation" to Arkansas. I trust them and know they would never do anything that would put her in danger but still I worry. I breastfeed exclusivly but I guess I could always send some formula with them,do you think that would confuse her? Would you let your in laws take your child for 3 days?
TIA,
Shelby
SAHM to Haylei

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Michelle
HTH,
Jill
Heather
Wytchy
1) A 3 month old, regardless of the feeding method, is too young to be taken away from their primary caregiver for that long. Of course, I think a 3 month old in daycare for 8 hours is too long, but that is another issue altogether! LOL Too young in my opinion.
2) While many babies can make the adjustment from breast to bottle and back again without a problem, I would think that for 3 solid days without you she would get too used to the bottle. For a meal or two sure, but not for that long. Remember, most bottles flow very easily and she might just get used to it and when she comes back she may not want to "work" for her dinner.
3) Like the other posters said, if you don't pump for that time, you will most probably stop producing or at least produce a lot less. I don't know what your plans are, but if you made it 3 months, do you really want to go to formula because of this?
While your in-laws are well intentioned, I think that this is too soon. If your child was older, I would have no problem, but this young, I would not do it. Explain to them that this is not an indictment on them but that you don't want to interrupt the nursing process. Offer to go with them! Maybe you could stay in another room and they can have the baby most of the time. You can sleep in while they get up in the morning with her. During the day you can have some alone time or maybe go to a spa. Then you would only be missing one or so feedings a day.
That being said, I think that 3 months is too young to be away from mom, ESPECIALLY when it's an exlusively breast-fed baby. I just think that the baby would have too much trouble trying to take a bottle (unless you're planning to go ahead and wean immediately). I think that it would be too stressful on your child AND on your in-laws, who most likely would be dealing with a screaming, starving baby the whole time.
My advice would be to wait until your child is completely weaned, and THEN send her off and enjoy the peace and quiet! Good luck!
Paige (mom to Harper, John, and Gib)
What happens if they get on the road and she won't take the formula? How will they feed her then? You could pump and freeze it, but will they have a freezer in the vehicle at the right temp to make sure it doesn't go bad... how would they defrost it?
Or, what if she does take the formula, and comes home and refuses breast milk?
Also, unless you pump while she is gone, it is likely that you may lose your breast milk supply, or it may diminish greatly. If it were me, I would tell them to hold off a few months, then they can knock thier socks off...I needed a weekend break around 8.5 months!!!
Just my opinion.
Lesley
Lesley
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