Going away for the weekend without DD

[LaTrucha]

My DD is 10.5 mpnths old. She's a good eater of solid food, though small, but still takes around 5 good feeds from me a day.

I've got to go away without her next weekend. I expect she'll be fine, won't she, (if confused )?

But what will happen to me? Will I get engorged as I did if she missed a feed in the early days? Should I take a breast pupm? Or will it just be that no milk is produced because none is asked for? And will my supply be ok when I get home?

Is that every question I could possibly ask?

make sure that if your breasts start to feel very full that you express some, it takes time for them to produce less milk so make sure that you do not let them get so bad or it could cause an infection

hmm. that doesn't sound nice. thanks for the advice.

How long are you going away for?

Milk will be produced in advance of a regular feed so you will feel full after probably a few missed feeds i would think. i do if ds2 misses a few for some reason (he's so erratic!).

take a pump and either throw it away (ouch!) or find out the best way to store it and bring it back - depends how far away you are going i guess & facilities...

your supply will prob be ok when you get home if you've pumped roughly around when you should have fed.

hth

Thanks JKs. Saturday morning to Monday afternoon. It looks like I'll need to take the pump, doesn't it?

I did this last weekend (DS is 11.5 months and feeds about the same amount) - i would definitely take a pump as you will be very uncomfortable without it. I actually got a blocked duct and I think it was because I wasn't expressing enough although I'm not sure. It was all sorted within two minutes when I gave Ds his first proper feed on my return.

Good luck!

Thanks Skiddadle. How much DID you express? And can I ask, was your DS very upset not having bf all weekend?

LaTrucha, I expressed only in the morning and the evening as DS is used to that on the days I work (I have just stopped expressing at work). With hindsight, 3 times a day might have been better.

Oh, or do you mean how much in volume? If so, I reckon I expressed about 8oz each time but 6-7oz of that was from the breast which didn't have a blocked duct. So I suppose it would have been even more than that if both boobs had been working properly!

I would say don't let it get to the stage that you feel engorged if you can avoid it.

DH said that DS was absolutely fine without me and had a lovely weekend. however, the SECOND he saw me he started screaming for a feed! So don't know if that counts as trauma [guilty mother emotion].

I'm no expert but I reckon your DD will forget about you for as long as she can't see you and so will be fine without you but also be utterly delighted to see you when you get back

Thankyou