Bf, bottle refuser 8 month old and wedding - advice please!

[missmillimentscardigan]

DH and I are going to a wedding in June, when DC2 will be 9months old. She is bf and a bottle refuser. We were thinking it would be quite nice to leave her with grandparents for the day, as we are doing with dc1, so DH and I can go to the wedding alone. She is a good eater and I've introduced a cup for her with water at dinner time, so she can practise having a cup, as I was thinking she could have ebm from it while we are away. Haven't actually tried giving her bm in a cup though.
We would be away from about midday until midnight.
I'm really not sure whether she'll take milk from a cup, plus she has a feed before bed so not sure how she'll settle without that. She would be very welcome at wedding so I'm thinking that maybe I should just take her and she can sleep in her pram during the evening part, rather than worry about her getting stressed and thirsty.
Has anyone been in a similar position? What would you do? I also have another event in a few weeks' time when I would be away from her for about 8 hours and I'm thinking I should probably just not go to that.

If she eats well and drinks water from a cup she'll be perfectly fine for that length of time without breast milk. She's not going to go hungry or thirsty.

Bedtime is trickier. Could you have a trial run of going out and leaving DH to put her to bed with a cup of EBM? My DS BF before bed until about 15 months but was absolutely fine with milk in a cup before bed if I was out. But best not to experiment with it for the first time on the day of the wedding (because apart from anything else you'll probably feel a bit anxious and unable to relax and enjoy your child free time!)

Thanks, furry - yes, a trial would be good idea. Will get DH to try. I think her reaction to being given a cup at bedtime might be a bit 'WTF??''

She might She might howl the house down, or she might shrug her shoulders and say 'hey, mummy's not here, I'm tired- the stuff in the cup will do!' It's definitely worth a try though! DS was absolutely unbothered, though he was used to DH putting him down for naps without milk so that may have helped (or maybe not- you never can tell with babies...)

I personally would take her as I would just worry otherwise!

You could always leave her for the day, then pick her up and take her along for the evening part.

I was in a similar situation with DC1. EBF, never took a bottle, drank from a cup, etc. Basically, it got to the point when I had to leave her (I went back to work when she was 8 mo). She got by just fine. She drank expressed milk from a sippy cup for the childminder and from a doidy cup for DH. She probably ate more solids on those days to make up for having slightly less milk ('cos while she was perfectly happy drinking it from a cup, I don't think she took as much in as when she fed from me).

I too was also really nervous the first time I wasn't there for bedtime, but turns out that was fine too - DH would get as much milk into her as possible via a cup and then put her to bed as normal.

So, if I were you I'd go for it and go to the wedding and your event.