Attending office Christmas party with a newborn at home

[WhatAmIsupposeToDoNow]

I would like you guys to sense check me to see if I am being reasonable. Office party takes place mid December when my first born baby will be nearly 2.5 months old. She used to have formula but is ebf now. Immunization is booked just 3 days before the party. I am thinking of the following:

1. leave her at home with dad. There will be formula and I could try and pump some beforehand
2. book a hotel near the venue so I could pop in feed her when required and husband would look after her.

I would need to stay at the party for 3 hours at least. With driving that would be just under 5hours. I could book cheap hotel within 20min walk from the venue. I'm concerned about how she's going to feel after getting her jabs. She doesn't settle with my husband well but he is happy to do it even if means hours of her crying.

Is it doable and how to handle it in the best way?

One of my colleagues came to our Christmas do when her baby was 4 weeks old. We were all very surprised but baby was bottlefed, a great sleeper and very chilled so all was good.

I don't think i would have left mine so little. Not because I thought I "shouldn't" but they were mainly breastfed and not particularly easy. Plus I didn't have long maternity leaves so was happy to ignore work stuff while I was off.

If you really want to go, trial runs are the way forward.

It’s an evening and the baby will be with the other parent. I honestly don’t know what is such a big deal. Provided the baby can be fed, it’s perfectly ok to leave with Dad, he needs to be able to look after his child too and you will get some much needed adult company and fun. It’s a few hours not weeks.

What is your dilemma exactly? It sounds like you want to go and you have the baby's other parent there to parent them while you are gone. Go and have fun!

Crying and unsettled babies in a hotel.room.is so stressful because you're worried about disturbing other hotel guests. Far better to let dad handle it at home.

Slightly different slant on this but half the office have heavy colds, the other half have covid or are recovering from it. I'd personally be avoiding big social occasions in December and January with a newborn right now. I know you could pick it up in Costa on the high street but packed bars are statistically a breeding ground for it.

Do you want to go to the party? I would just decline the invitation. Presumably you are on maternity leave anyway. And there is no obligation to go to a Christmas party.
If you want to go thats different and I expect you could make it work. But I wouldn't leave a breast fed baby for that long

With a baby 2.5 months old presumably you’re on mat leave? So no requirement to attend the office party. I attempted to attend a 40th birthday party when DD (exclusively BF, wouldn’t take a bottle at the time) was 3 months old, because the party was hosted by an important client of my spouse who wanted us to go together. It was a disaster and we had to dash back at 10pm. Got back at 11pm to a screaming baby and concerned grandparents. I wouldn’t do that again!

If 5 hours not 5 days

I’d do option 1. Baby and Dh are more likely to be relaxed in their home environment and you haven’t got the faff of trying to remember to pack all the paraphernalia involved. Have fun! They’ll be fine.

Option one.
It sounds fun and you want to go then why not?

The second Christmas get together also sounds good.

I mean, if you want to go, go. What's the issue exactly?

Personally, I did go to my team's Christmas lunch when my son was 3 months old and it was a lot of fun. But I gave the evening Christmas party a miss, baby didn't sleep well and it all felt like too much faff and effort at a time of peak sleep deprivation.

Mine were ebf. I similarly wanted to go to mine. Similar time frames, was probably out 5-6hrs in total. First little one was 2 months old, second time little one was 3 months old (but was 3 weeks early and small percentile).

Left them home with their dad. They didn't enjoy it but survived fine. DH still somewhat traumatised by the first one (I came home to him walking up and down with her in a baby carrier whilst he had earphones in to hear less of her crying) but he was pleasantly surprised how well the second took it.

For us, a practice run wouldn't have been any help. Was just a one off experience they had to survive.

Sounds like it will be good for everyone. Good for baby and dad to have time to bond. Of course it's doable.