Breast is the only thing that settles him & I have a night out in a month?

[Newmumsuchfun]

So my baby is breast feeding really well (he is 3 weeks). I expressed some milk for him as I wanted a glass of wine the other evening and in the night he woke as normal and I fed him the expressed milk in a bottle. He drank the entire thing - a whole bottle. But continued to cry for a long time. Nothing I could do would settle him - until, hours later - I put him on the breast. He only stayed on it for a few mins - then was happy and slept. I believe he just wanted the comfort of my breast. Not the bottle.

Problem is - my partner and I have planned to go out in a couple of weeks (our first night out for a good ten months) - we are beyond excited about it and I am looking forward to having a drink and relaxing for the first time since we found out I was pregnant. My mum is due to babysit. I am worried that he will be unhappy and cry all night when confronted with the bottle and not mummy's breast.

Is there anything i can do to fool him into thinking it's me ? (might sound ridiculous - but thought id ask). anything i can do to make the bottle more tempting to him? i have a tommy tippee one - anyone recommend another?

maybe i shouldn't go out - but i went 16 days overdue, had a difficult pregnancy, have been house bound for 2 months - and i think it's important for his daddy and i to have a few hours to reconnect.

any helpful suggestions will be very welcome.

Have you tried him with a dummy at night?

I have given him a dummy a few times - but it won't stay in his mouth when he's in his cot.

Yes I know that feeling, rooting around the cot in the dark for a dummy isn't fun! Dd loves to just suck suck suck and a dummy was the only thing that settled her. If I'd have given her the breast everytime she would have made herself sick. I have found that she often settle with the dummy then spits it out once asleep.

I would have another "trial run" - see if he will take a bottle of expressed milk from dh and if he will then settle for him. If he does then hopefully he will do so too for your mum. If he still won't (and he his still tiny so may not) then you may need to have a rethink! I left dd3 for the first time a couple of weeks back when she was 9 weeks old, she was fine - but I think a few weeks prior to that she would have been fussing and unsettled so wasn't "ready" to be left. Good luck!