Leaving 3WO EBF baby for a few hours?

[whilewildeisonmine]

I really don't know what to do. 18mo DS is in hospital with pneumonia, DP is with him and has been since he was admitted last night. We also have a 3 week old who is ebf so I've been at home with him.

I've been to see DS today and obviously couldn't take DS2 onto the ward so DP went with him to the cafeteria while I Sat with DS for a couple of hours between feeds. I want to go back again later on to see DS but I'm wondering whether to leave DS2 with my dad rather than take him to hospital with me. I would try to time it between feeds and the hospital is about half an hour away.

I wasn't going to start expressing yet- I remember waiting until about 6 weeks last time. Is it too soon to start expressing now and leave a bottle just in case he needs it while I'm not there? Or I was wondering about trying a bottle of formula. My concerns are that he won't take it or it will interfere with breastfeeding. I didn't move to formula with DS1 until much later.

Bf is going well so far and I don't want to mess things up but I really want to be there for my poorly DS.

Any thoughts/advice?

Aw, your poor little DS and poor you :(:(

What about taking your dad and DS2 with you to the hospital, and parking them in somewhere not especially germy ie anywhere but the ward?
That way, you can be with DS1 for a time, and within texting-distance of DS2, cared for by your dad no more than 5 mins away?

That sounds the easier plan, from what you say here.

Wild I am so sorry to hear about your DS1. Must be a difficult time for you and your family. Hope he makes a very speedy recovery.

I am a FTM and my DS is only 6 and a half weeks old, so I am sure others will be able to offer more advice - but for what it is worth I started expressing at 3 weeks. I give him one bottle every day/every other day. My sisters did the same and both ebf (for 3 and 6 months respectively).

Also, at 4 weeks I started to struggle with cluster feeds and began using one bottle of formula a day for about a week.

I was unhappy about it, so after advice from lots of people here I cut it out, and went back to ebf. But didn't seem to have any impact on my supply (although I carried on pumping extra to be sure).

Bf still going fine - he is gaining masses of weight and latching well (no nipple confusion).

Really good luck.