Leaving breastfed 4mo for three nights

[Lolly57]

Hi all

To give you some background! I have two daughter ages 5yo and 7weeks. I breastfed my eldest for a year, expressing for her when I went back to work and am bf my 7wo baby so far with no problems. She takes the occasional bottle of ebm with no problems and I would say I'm pretty experienced and confident with the whole breastfeeding malarky.

At the end of June when my youngest will be 17 weeks I have the Chance to go away for 3 nights with some close friends. Im keen to do and I'm lucky to have a great husband who is adamant i should go and have a great time - he's totally competent with the girls (as he should be!) and I have no qualms leaving them with him.

Il be away from Thursday mid morning til Sunday afternoon and what id love to know is

• how much expressed milk should I leave?
  
• will this have an effect on my supply? I guess il have to pump while I'm away which won't be a problem but how often should I aim for?
  
• is there a chance my baby will refuse the breast on return?
  

I'd love to hear from anyone who's done similar or has advice for me!

[Eastie77]

Hi Lolly, I posted on here yesterday as I went away for a few nights and left my breastfed 10 mo daughter with DP for the first time. When I returned yesterday she refused the breast which sent me into a minor panic. Just to reassure you (in case this happens) that the refusal only lasted a few hours and she resumed feeding in the early hours of this morning.

I pumped 3-4 times a day while I was away and used my electric pump. My breasts felt very full and uncomfortable the first couple of days but by day 3 felt better. However my supply did seem to dwindle and since she finally resumed breastfeeding this morning my daughter has been glued to the boob.

[TheScience]

I would assume at 17 weeks she will have 6-8 feeds of 3-4oz so maybe leave 25-30oz for each day.

[RuthlessBaggage]

I would allow a few extra feeds in case your supply does dip or you're delayed coming back.

Is there any particular reason you wouldn't use formula? I'm assuming you'll get some cartons in just in case of eg spillage, unusual appetite.