I work for a company that will be holding a conference in a couple of months. It's 4-5 hours away and will be from Monday afternoon to Thursday 5pm.
I have a 16 month old who is a terrible sleeper. Has never slept through, relies on me breastfeeding to sleep and has never let my DH put him to bed, he just stays up screaming. Dh is so gentle and calm with him but DS wont accept anything other than me. I've never left him overnight and am really daunted by the thought of leaving for 4 days and realistically, 4 nights. He currently goes to nursery for a few days a week and I look after him at home for the other days.
The conference is in a nice seaside town and my DM has offered to come to the conference with me and DS and she would look after him in the day and I could look after him in the evening. She would stay in my hotel room with me and DS and would use the opportunity as a chance of a break as she hasn't got any holidays booked this year.
The hotel I would have to stay in would also be hosting lots of my colleagues who often go out for meals and drinks together and use it as a massive social opportunity. Obviously I would miss all of this but I'm really not bothered as I'm big a big drinker.
So the options available are;
- Ds stays at home, goes to nursery everyday (until late as DH works long hours). I wont see DS and he will have a completely different routine to normal. I am 4-5 hours away. This option makes me feel anxious and will certainly stop me being able to breastfeed (which isn't essential at this age, but I would work with DS to wean him off rather than have this decision made for us).
- I go to the conference, take DS and DM on a very long journey. I don't participate in staff evening activities and maybe alienate myself from colleagues. Dh misses out on seeing DS for a week.
What would you do?