Year old BF baby. DOesn't take a bottle. I need to get away for a night!

[Olifin]

My little boy is nearly a year old and has never accepted a bottle. Obviously, I see no point in introducing one at this stage and would think it ok to offer him cow's milk in a cup if I'm away from him.

I would really like to continue BFing until DS decides to wean himself off (but ideally by about 18 months) but am really keen to get away from the children for a whole night (GPs keep offering to have them so that OH and I can go away and have some 'us time')

I'm happy with the thought that he can be offered cow's milk by whoever is looking after him (I don't imagine he'd take it but I know he'll survive without the breast milk for a night). What worries me is that he might feel rejected/confused about not having his usual night-time and morning boob and might see this as a weaning opportunity, when I'd rather he didn't stop BFing just yet.

Has anyone got any experience of this? Is there any way of minimising the risk of him self-weaning, or is it just a risk I have to take?

I had to go into hospital for 5 days when BFing ds who was about 15 months. I actually thought that he'd maybe "forget" about BF and that, perhaps, this was a good thing in the long run. No chance! As soon as I was home he was back snuggling. He did start to give it up shortly after this though. The only negative really was that he screamed the place down the first 2 nights, according to dh .
I also thought my milk would dry up but it didn't.
Could you do a "trial run", maybe go out for the evening and see how he settles. Get him used to the idea of being left for shorter times at first?

I bf my 13 month old and haven't left him over night yet but I have gon eout before bedtime and slept in while dh gets him up in the morning. On these occasions he's been absolutely fine- he'll sometimes take milk from a cup (good tip is to make sure the milk is warm not straight out the fridge!) and other times he'll just have water and lots of snacks. TBH, at this age babies SHOULD be OK to go a night without milk - they don't it as much as when they were younger.

It might depend on how much and how often your ds feeds anyway. My ds feeds morning and night but doesn't fret if we miss a feed so that makes it easy for us.

I have my first night away from ds very soon and am looking forward to it . Good luck

I'm pretty sure that babies wouldn't self- wean after such a short period of time unless they were ready to do so anyway.
(I could be wrong obviously)

I left ds3 at 15 months for the weekend. He was fully bf, had been a reluctant bottle-taker and always had a couple of bfs a night. The first night he howled in the cot but eventually took a cup of milk from dh, the second night he howled again but when dh asked him if he wanted a cup of mik again, he said "no" very sadly and lay back down. I arrived home late the third night and got into bed. A while later I heard a sad little voice saying "Mammy gone!" but he was delighted when I said I was there and got straight back into the bfing!

Thanks so much everyone, your replies have been really reassuring. I would definitely rather not stop BFing just yet (and I'm pretty sure ds wouldn't) but the thought of a whole night away, with a few drinks and some unbroken sleep is very appealing! chipmonkey, like your ds, I think there's a high chance of ds howling a bit but my lovely mum has said she's happy to weather the storm for a night so how can I refuse?!

I had also been concerned about my supply diminishing so it's good to hear that some of you have been able to provide milk even after a night or two away! Should I take a pump with me and express some while I'm away or do you think that's not needed?

Again, thanks very much for your thoughts.

Olifin, I always brought a pump and tried to pump regularly while away. Never had any issues with supply on my return.
One MNer did go away without her pump and had to cut her trip short as se got very engorged and was unsuccessful at trying to hand-express and my Mum had much the same experience in the days when these were the only pumps available!

Ok, great advice, thanks. Will take my pump to the hotel!

What about giving him a sippy cup of water to have at nighttime when you are away? Then he can get some sucking relief.