Can I leave 9 week old with DP for a couple of hours?

[Cheekychops84]

Going out with the girls for a meal. DP suggested I take DD who is EBF. But she doesn't settle great when out and about and don't feel like eating my meal one handed. So could I leave her with a bottle of formula jus for a while? I don't want to express yet as last time it messed up my feeding routine .

Of course you can leave a 9 week old baby in the care of her other parent!

I would check that she will take a bottle of formula in advance though.

Oh right will do thank u and will it affect breastfeeding at all?

I've done this with both my DC at that age. I expressed as much as possible and then left a little Aptamil pre mixed carton to use if necessary. They seem to be the closest to breastmilk and little cartons mean you don't have to invest in a big box of formula. Do plan to go straight back and feed her afterwards though as you'll probably feel uncomfortable after a few hours of missed feeds!

Yes I will I'm not going far and have told DP if she isn't happy I will come home early , I just don't want my supply to go haywire but can't imagine it will the max I will be gone is prob 3-3.5 hours.

The formula might mess up supply/demand more than expressing? Have had no problem expressing to go out at nine weeks, but of course you've had a bad experience before - what did it do to your feeding? (What kind of routine do you mean with an ebf baby?)

Hello I mean EBF that she is exclusively breastfed , I expressed before but when I expressed before my supply went all over the place :/ I haven't actually bought a pump yet either. If I did when would I pump for the evening as she feeds more a less every 2hours.

I found pumping on the other boob at the same time as feeding was good.

OR pumping on the same boob that they've just fed (after their feed), perhaps just a small amount over several feeds over a few days. That way, its only half an once or 1oz then your supply shouldn't go to haywire!

You can add to milk you've pumped and it can be kept in a cold fridge for up to 8 days (at the back) or you can freeze it too (my advice would be to freeze small quantities, like 3 or 4 oz rather than larger ones which get wasted)

I used to get more milk from hand expressing in to a sterilised jug whilst watching a slideshow of newborn pictures of DD (get that oxytocin hormone working!)

You're other option is that DH brings baby to you to feed and then goes back home again. We've done that before and I've fed in the car and gone back to my meal with friends.

Oh and enjoy your meal out, you'd be surprised how lovely it feels to rest and giggle with girls or a couple of hours

Thanks will try the hand expressing as dont no if I will have time to get a pump ::

To be honest, if you feed her straight before you go out with any luck (if you don't have 3 courses!) you'll be back before she needs a feed.
Expressing definitely easiest in the morning, I second the idea of expressing after a feed (I was told to do this by bf clinic) or if I can do it quickly before a feed it can be even better - LO always manages to get more out!

Ok just tried some hand expressing :/ didn't even quite cover the bottome of a bottle :( but will try and add to it when I can :) we have decorators in ! So won't really be easy but will try when I can but tbh don't think I will even get half a feed by Friday!

I never got the hang of hand expressing. Did you get rid of your last pump? Getting a new one would be worth it IF you think you might get more nights out!

Yea I did :( because this being my third is the only one who has really got the hang of breast feeding :/ tbh I prob won't b going out that often as I have a 5 and 7 yr old aswell so I will probably go out about once every 3 months!

I hand express the other boob while DS is feeding - he makes the letdown happen so it's loads easier. I get up to half an oz (!!!) a time but as others have said keep in fridge and add to it. Tbh even now (23wo) he's hard to put down so I'm most relaxed doing it this way. Nothing wrong with formula though. I first left DS for 3hrs at 18wo - he was feeding hourly in the daytime still at that point but only had a mouthful or two from the bottle then waited for me.

Enjoy the meal!