How soon after the birth did you go on a night out? Am I crazy to plan one a month after the due date?

[ArialAnna]

I really wanted to buy my husband tickets to The Chambers of Flavour for Christmas. I'm pregnant with our first and due on 14th January. Ideally I wanted to get us tickets for just after Christmas, but the next batch just came on sale and the only options were too close to the due date, or afterwards. So I've booked the latest available (for 17th Feb), but now I'm wondering if that's a bit bonkers? Are we likely to be able to leave the baby at that stage with a babysitter for the evening? (probably my mum or my sister). I guess it depends on how we go with feeding and if the baby will happily take a bottle of expressed milk (planning to breastfeed but obviously have no idea at this stage how well that'll go!!) I guess it doesn't really matter, as worse case scenario is my husband takes someone else or we sell the tickets. But I just wanted to get some idea of how realistic it was. Guess I'm a bit worried about my husband's family's reaction (we'll be a their house for Christmas this year). My MIL already thinks we're crazy for booking a weekend away in early December (by train, no flying), so god knows what she'll make of this!

Dont do it. Wait see how you feel.

I left my dd when she was 3 weeks old for 24 hours. I had a vaginal birth, wasn't BF and felt OK. I honestly enjoyed every moment.. obviously I did miss my dd. As she got older I didn't leave her with anyone but dp. She's 8 now and her brother is 5, I love nights away without them

i went out for dinner with a friend who was visiting from overseas at 4 weeks post-emergency section. it was bloody brilliant
ds was exclusively ff by that point anyway but i'd always planned to mixed feed in part because i like a night out as it's good for my mental health. ds slept the entire three hours on dh's chest anyway.

we went out to a new year's eve part as a couple when ds was six weeks old - he stayed at home with his gran and auntie. again, he slept the entire time and me and dh it to have a couple of glasses of fizz and feel human again.

having said that i also have friends who have still never left their two year old for a night out - neither is right or wrong as long as parent and baby are happy.

Ds was in nicu so I had to leave him and go home from him being 2 days old. I expressed for his tube feeds - he'd take milk from anywhere (expressed via tube / formula via tube / either in a bottle / nipped shields... )

Only 3 people at nicu bedside so I went out for tea with friends when ds was 5 days so that DP could sit with dpil with ds in nicu for a while. It was fucking hard fine really

I'd do it, but it's your own choice. No one else knows how YOU will feel at that point in time. I didn't have the option with my first, so I don't even know if I'd have done it then.
I wouldn't advise taking a new born with you, to the theatre. Night out with mates would be fine, in my opinion. I also gave all my babies a bottle from quite early, just occasionally, although I mainly breastfed. I was always worried that something would happen to me, and I wouldn't be able to feed them. At least I knew that they'd feed from bottle if necessary. (And yes, I know that midwives advise not offering abottle for months now, it's just what I did, and how I felt personally)