To do a day out without newborn weeks after birth?

No one else can answer re what you will be able to do, only whether we could have done it.

I can say that I wouldn't have been able to do a full day - I did give a 2-hour lecture about 4 weeks after giving birth but dh had ds just up the road so I was reunited with him 15 mins after I was finished.

I couldn't leave dd at all in the first few months as she point blank refused to take a bottle

If you are breastfeeding but want the day out you will have to spend the first few days of your baby's life ensuring s/he will accept a bottle as well as the boob which may be overwhelming if there are any difficulties with latch etc.

I went and had my hair cut when my DD was a few days old, I went because I had a meeting at DS’s school the following week. I hated every second I was away from her. I was gone maybe 2 hours in total. Easy how they dominate our love

Even with number 2, having extended bf and expressed with my first I couldn't have managed what you're planning at 2 weeks.

You'll likely not have been able to build up any sort of bf stash in 2 weeks at the very least, never mind had dh or baby enough chance to practice bottle feeding in your absence.

On top of which - driving, managing a giddy toddler, achy boobs and still very much recovering from birth never mind tired as SHIT.

Can't you bring the baby and keep in a sling to avoid requests to hold? I'd rather be known as a clingy newborn parent for 6 hours than all the faff and stress of leaving baby at home. Won't dh want to come to support you/fight off well-meaning aunts?

I wouldn’t be exposing my newborn to that many people by going to an event that soon tbh. I think it’s selfish honestly and your son won’t know about the event if he isn’t told.

I had to leave my 10 day old for a 12-hour day (second child, so similar to the OP) and managed to pump whilst away without issue. Baby was fine. I was fine.

Mine was not under ideal circumstances (out of necessity, not by choice) but ultimately it worked out logistically

It seems very odd to me that somewhere would be child friendly enough for your older child but absolutely 100% cannot take your newborn? Also your plan involves one of your children being without you for the same amount of time - and you'd choose the newborn that may be EBF and therefore reliant on you for literally everything over letting a much more independent older child go with a trusted relative if you won't send DH? A lot of what you're saying just isn't really making sense.

Personally I'd have gone with all 4 of you go and DH takes lead with baby while you play with the older child, swapping when baby wants feeding.

It's 25% of a day and a night, actually, OP is speaking colloquially in the sense most of us do when we say day. Sophistry.

I might consider it for a real one- off huge life moment for soneone I was very close to, with a small number of people present.
But it sounds like a big, lovely relaxed family party, so absolutely no way would I be leaving a two-week-old for that (and I never had a deep visceral need to be close to them when they were tiny).

I had to take an exam in a different city when my son was 3 weeks old. Not going would have meant I couldn't redo it for a whole year, holding me back in my job for a further 2 years. I said I will get there unless I am physically incapable of getting there. It was fine.
I obviously knew if my health wasn't up to it then I would have to leave it but I was ok, so I went. Normal birth.

It's fine to go and the baby will recover but your tits will explode.

Yep I think it's kind of misogynistic to expect women to just "bounce back" and fit in.

I think in all likelihood, the baby will be a complete nightmare to look after for that long, that young. They will be crying for their mum and your boob most of the time. I wouldn’t want to be your DH that’s for sure but if he’s fine with it then go ahead.

Can you not just see how you both are feeling at the time and if needs be, your DH can take your DS or you all go as a family?

ive had two relatively easy deliveries, my second was over and done with in about 2 hours with all of ten minutes of pushing. I felt crap after though, worse than the 24 hour mamoth event my first made it to be! I also had really bad after pains, they were just as bad as actual contractions for about a week after.

This thread is ridiculous. A PP even mentioned "misogyny" because some people dared to point out that a newborn baby has a stronger bond with its mother - who gestated and birthed the baby and is now breastfeeding, literally nourishing the baby with her own body - than with its father. That's biological reality, yup, in 2025.

I think you'd be mad to do this, OP, as it would be hard on both you and the newborn, and I can't imagine why it would be worth it. However, you are stubbornly refusing to give any more "irrelevant" details about the context so it's impossible for us to understand why on earth you think it's a good idea.

Why can’t you just all go together?

You are

Can you play it by ear? Birth and babies aren't very predictable things.

Not unpopular, just plain wrong.

I could have done this with DD1, fairly easily. I think it's impossible to know until they're born, but it's perfectly reasonable to plan to do it, as long as you're willing to cancel if you need to.

I wouldn't have been able to leave any of mine after only a couple of weeks, I wasn't emotionally ready for that and you may find that while you feel ok about it now, you might feel differently after baby is here. I also had a emergency C-section and another baby was born without the ability to feed and we were in hospital for almost 2 weeks while he was tube fed so you just don't know how it is going to go. I think whatever you decide, make sure you do what feels right to you and for your little family. Everyone else can wait at this time. Good luck with everything

I don’t think it’s fair on the baby. They are still very much part of you during the fourth trimester. I think it would be very hard for a newborn to not have mum around for a full day for comfort. I’d be surprised if breastfeeding was established enough for a decent milk stash at only a week postpartum. And that’s without considering if you have healed enough by that point. I think you need to rethink this.

First of all, good luck with the impending induction and birth!

I personally would lean towards a no. Ask if they would be ok either way you deciding on the day - if they are, do that! If they need to know for certain now I would say no as there are just too many things you can’t possibly know at this stage.

It is a shame your DH can’t take your son as this would be the most obvious solution so that everyone gets what they need. Is there definitely no way that this could happen? I appreciate it’s your family, but your husband is now a part of that family and I’d be very disappointed with my family if they had invited me and my children but didn’t include my husband and newborn baby in the invite. If your husband wanted to go and take one of your children to a party on his side of the family and told you that you were not invited and neither was your other child, how would you feel? I can only assume that your husband isn’t the father of your older child as that’s the only logical reason I can think of… but even then as a blended family I’d hope my family would have accepted my new husband!

Back to the question, I’d seriously think about the breastfeeding side of things. I was told if I wanted it to be successful, don’t introduce a bottle before a month old. I was told that babies don’t have to work as hard to get the milk from a bottle, so will refuse the boob in favour of a bottle if introduced before you’ve fully established BF. If you’re ok with that, as long as you are physically well I don’t see why you can’t go… but you may well be exhausted, in pain or just not wanting to leave your baby. Or your child might not want to go if it means leaving the baby at home!

I would say either your husband goes or your mum looks after your older child for the day. Baby would be fine with your husband, but I'm not sure you'd be as physically fit as you think, and it could spoil your child's day if you're not at your best. They could probably do with a day without mum/dad/baby given how the first few weeks with a newborn can be!

I would have done it but my 2 were FF from day 1

I think you’ll feel rotten tbh, physically and probably emotionally too. Plus the stress of leading up to will impact on your first few days with your baby.

i think the family member not allowing you to bring your tiny baby to their wedding (?) should have a re-think. They’re acting appalling (whether consciously or not).