Leaving baby to go on holiday

[CostaAddict]

We have booked to go to Florida for the 1st time this May. DH, me, DS1(7) & DS2 (8 months when we travel).

My mum has now offered to keep DS2 while we go as 1. It'll be 31degrees. 2. He won't get much enjoyment & will most likely spend a lot of time in a buggy. 3. We will get to spend one on one time with DS1 who has HFA and has had a really tough time with lots of hospital apps.

We would take my DSis who is 14 but gets on brilliantly with us and DS1.

We have considered leaving DS2 but now I'm feeling torn. He's not BF so practically I could leave him. Emotionally I'm struggling with it although I 100% trust my parents with the baby. They absolutely adore him and respect our parenting etc. I'm know I'll be judged by PILs about leaving him for 2 weeks though. AIBU?

Fabulous offer. We left our DS aged 7 months with grandma for a week. Then did it every year until he was 7 years old.

You will have a much better time without worrying about the heat and him being cooped up in a buggy and I doubt your child will even notice you are gone at that age

Not sure he even noticed we were gone the first few years. Mum stayed here so kept the same routine. He also still went to nursery.

Oh and we are dead close so it hasn't affected him at all.

I went back to work when the DT's were six months. A couple of weeks after I returned to work I had to travel to the States to work with a client over there. DT's stayed with DH with help from grandparents to pick up the slack whilst he was at work. Everyone was fine - they stayed in their usual routine at nursery and probably didn't notice I wasn't there!

I don't think your baby would be upset by the absence,particularly as heinous your DP so well. But, personally, I couldn't leave him for two weeks.

Would your parents be able to come out for at least some of the time? I am guessing that if they bring your DSis with them, she will have to be back for school?

Nothing wrong with it per se but I couldn't do it though when slightly older I did leave ds for a weekend.

When I was a similar age my parents went on a (work related) trip to the US, left me with grandparents. I was fine, but my mum wasn't! They came back early, after five days.
If your parents can go to Florida too and help look after the baby, that sounds like a win-win situation.

I've got the same dilemma coming up this summer. DD will be 10 months and we're planning a holiday to the Caribbean with 3 dsc. I have no selfish reasons for wanting DD to stay at home as we plan on spending the whole time with the Dsc, but I'm not sure a long flight and a week in super hot temperatures is the best for her. I'm sure she'd much rather stay at home with familiar surroundings. But I'm really not sure I could leave her! So I have no advice, but interested to read others replies.

I think you should leave the baby with his grandparents.
Some close friends of mine knew a couple who went on a family holiday to the USA with a toddler and a baby in the pushchair. One day while they were tying the older child's shoelace the babe was snatched from his pushchair..... and never seen again . The police did what they could, but in the end the parents had to come back to the UK and get on with their lives as best they could. This story is thirty years old (which is why you've never heard it before), but nonetheless true.
I certainly wouldn't risk it.

Fab solution op

I've had the same offer when dd was 8 months and it just didn't sit right with me at all.

I just thought

a) she's too small to understand that I'll be back, I'm her whole world and two weeks is a long time for a baby.

b) it was too far for me to make it back quickly if god forbid anything happened.

I left my then-14 month old dd to go on holiday once, and I really regret it. I felt like she had some attachment issues for a while after I got home. :(

That could happen anywhere Meluzyna.

We went to Florida when DS3 was 1 year. Close to going my mum offered to have him and for all the practical reasons it would have been a good idea. However they're was no way I could leave him, I did consider it briefly.

It was fine, we went in June and the average temp was 35 degrees. Loads of opportunity to get out of the sun/heat. Great memories (even if they are just pictures for him!!!).

Have you hired a car? I can offer you a few tips if you like!

No I couldn't do it and neither could my DH. The idea that he wouldn't notice you being gone seems pretty prosperous to me... even with the best GPS in the world. I can imagine him looking for you continually and you not being there. ( different to leave a baby with the other parent). Similarly I would have huge concerns about anyone leaving a 6 week old baby to go on holiday. ( as mentioned by a PP).

I would leave him behind. I actually think he would be fine on holiday, we took DD away to hotter places younger than that, but I would leap at the chance to spend some time away and with your older child. Key precious time. Enjoy!

My dps have offered to have our dc for 2 weeks, if we wanted to go on holiday as a couple. I know that I wouldn't enjoy it though. A weekend would be nice, but a fortnight is way too long, and dc are 9 and 5.

We went to Florida when ds2 was 5 months. He was absolutely fine in his pram. I think that he really enjoyed being out in the fresh air and the sunshine all day. He was right there with us, it was great.

I'd leave him. He's at at an age where he won't care and will not enjoy Disney. Also, the flight will be easier with just eldest DS.

Your parents will love having him for two weeks.

I took a 6 month old to Florida (booked before I was pregnant!) and it was fine. And I'm a stressy traveller generally. He was in the sling most of the time or in a buggy but just came along with us whatever we did. You can do child swaps (less sinister than it sounds) for rides at the parks so you can both ride without queuing twice. They get free entry to everything too. It's up to you as only you know whether the advantage of a baby free holiday is likely to be marred by missing your son. I don't have that kind of childcare available and my DS was BF so it wouldn't have been an option for me anyway but he was probably less bother than his preschooler sister on that holiday.

It'll be fine either way. Easy to push pushchairs round the parks and take turns on rides with your da. Be careful of the heat though. Dd got heat stroke in Florida in April aged 4. It was awful. If your parents can come, then your little one can spend more time in cool places. It will be fine to leave him though. You are doing it for a good reason.

Babies are fine in hot temperatures, so long as you are sensible. It's not like no babies are ever born in Florida or the Carribbean How do you think the locals manage?

No babies like having a routine disrupted, it sometimes takes a day or two for them to settle but at that stage they are still sleeping a lot & these places do have air conditioning & pram fans. Sheepskin fleece in the buggy is your friend.