Leaving 16 month old for a week?

[1FirstTimeMum897]

Huge wedding on DH's side of the family, a long flight away. We really want to go. My parents would come stay at ours a few weeks before so baby is used to them. So then baby (or are they a toddler at that age?) will be left with my parents and in the day his nanny (who he loves) will come as usual. I'm breastfeeding but planning to be done by then anyway. I'm terribly nervous about this idea, any advice how to make it easier for DS? He's only 8 months now but the flight tickets are incredibly expensive, we need to decide soon.

I think taking him with us and subjecting him to an 11 hour flight is more cruel than leaving him for a week.

Honestly I have done it with a child of that age (not a week, though) and I get what you’re saying. Does it damage them? As a one off, no, although the first few days the parents are back can be a bit rocky, there tends to be separation anxiety when they leave the room etc. It partly depends on the child, too. The young toddlers I currently nanny for- they wouldn’t cope. All OP can do is weigh it up, she knows the set up and her own child better than any of us, obviously. Would I do it? Personally I don’t think I would as I’m an overthinker and I would genuinely miss my little boy too much to leave any room to enjoy myself so it just wouldn’t be worth the time and money in that respect. But I wouldn’t judge another parent for doing it.

OP says that the nanny will come during the day ''as usual''. That seems to be a normal part of his routine.

I wouldn’t do this now and my child is nearly 4 but everyone is different 🤷‍♀️ Would you be worried the entire time or would you be able to relax and enjoy it?