Going out without ebf 6 week old

[charla79]

Apologies if this has been answered before...

Dd is ebf and 6 weeks old. I haven't started expressing yet so she hasn't taken a bottle so far.
My sil is having a baby shower next weekend and would like me to come but i'm wondering about the logistics of going?

We are supposed to be meeting for drinks in central London, i don't want to take Dd with me as it's 1 1/2 hours there by train and tube plus it's being held in a bar.

If i express for my dh to feed her whilst im gone, this means I'll need at least 10oz of milk to be on the safe side - will this mean i need to save up over a couple of days? (never expressed before so no idea how much i will produce)? Also, being out means i will miss some feeds - do i nip into the toilets and squeeze some out every couple of hours to keep up with milk production?

It all seems like a lot of effort just to go out for an afternoon!!

What do other people do? Thx in advance...

It is a lot of effort to go out! I would start doing a bit of expressing now to see how much you get. Do you have a decent pump? I tend to keep a good stock in the fridge by expressing every night after the 10pm feed from both boobs. I'd you start now you could add a bit to the freezer which will ease your mind that you have plenty in stock. Milk in the freezer keeps for 6 months and in the fridge for 3 days. Have a look at Kellymom for more info.

You should also practice giving your baby a bottle to make sure she'll take it! Pump at the same time so your supply matches her demand.

Have you got a small manual pump? I have been known to end up crouching in a pub loo using a manual pump because I've started to leak! Super glamorous.

i would take her with you, babies are so much more portable at your dds age then they are later. The bar will be non smoking and the buz of converstation will put her to sleep. If its a baby shower there will be no shortage of people to take turns in cuddling her. Put her in a sling and get on the train

Take her with you - you'll be away for a minimum of 5 hours right? She may not take the bottle and really she'll be unnoticeable snoozing away through the baby shower

Take her with you - can your DP come too to help with travel? Then hang out somewhere nearby (presuming he's not invited to baby shower, I guess they are women only? Never been to one). We went to a wedding with 9 week old ebf baby and it was doable (1 hour journey with public transport).

Baby came with me everywhere at that age. It's the 6 month kind of age when they start to interefere with what you are doing and play annoying peekaboo with the tablecloths.

6 weeks and you really won't notice much. Sling or pram is fine.

Kind of just wanted to add to these comments that the other posters are right and you will be fine taking your dd with you I'd that's what you want. But it's fine if you prefer not to! If you will enjoy yourself more without her it might take a bit more organising, but it's definitely doable. In fact I actually found it easier at that age because we had no established routine. Once we had a routine that worked, I stopped feeling able to go out without her for fear of disrupting it.

Personally I probably wouldn't have gone when my DD was 6weeks... But yes absolutely take her with you - it's a baby shower after all! All that expressing sounds a right pain and you probably would need to pump while you were there. And your SIL will understand once her LO has arrived!

I was invited to friends hen weekend last weekend. Am ebf and little e was 6 weeks. Clearly I couldn't do the whole thing but it was a spa weekend. My DH & DD came along & sat in a different part of the hotel. I fed her, then joined the girls for tea, cake & spa treatment. Then returned to DD to feed before we made the journey home ( about an hour). As it happened she slept the whole time but I didn't know she would & so had to be on hand. When I originally planned to go I was optimistic that she would be ok at home with bottle & expressed milk, but she has so far refused to take a bottle & we've been trying since she was 4 weeks!