Hello all- could do with some advice on leaving my 8 month old to go to a wedding in Ireland in 2.5 weeks! It's starting to dawn on me that I'm not sure how well it will go and I'm wondering if I should cancel - any thoughts/similar experiences appreciated!
I'm leaving her with my husband who is a super hands on dad and he will have his parents around to help. I will be away 28 hours (Saturday 5am until Sunday 9am).
My worries are:
1 - She is EBF but I've spent the last month trying various bottles/teats/formula/express milk and using loads of tips ive read online to get her to take it (yogurt on the teat, warm teat, offering bottle when she's not too hungry etc). Not had much luck but she seems to drink a tiny amount when sat in her high chair (not anywhere else!) from a Minbie bottle and she shows an interest in it and tries to feed herself. However the amount she swallows is tiny - even if I hold the bottle up to her. My feeling is that she will, eventually, take more of the content when I'm away (she wont let herself starve surely) and that daddy will feed her lots more smoothies/solids alongside offering water and milk regularly to keep her satisfied (im expressing lots in anticipation). This weekend I'm going to spend a few hours away on Saturday afternoon as a trial run but I suspect I won't be away long enough for her to 'give in' and take the bottle. With the above in mind, would you feel comfortable leaving? An option I've read online is to go cold turkey and refuse boob to see how she copes.
2 - she doesn't settle very well for daddy at night whereas I can cuddle her and she will fall asleep very quickly. I'm also trying to break the feeding-to-sleep cycle but so far it's been unsuccessful- 2 hours one night of shh/patting to sleep and then she'd be up again after an hour. My plan is to persevere with this but in the short term my husband says he can manage and that one difficult night is not the end of the world but I don't want to cause any stress in her due to being away and i don't want her to get so upset that she isn't getting a boob that she is inconsolable and therefore is less likely to take the bottle. Since she's been born I've had a handful of nights out without him and have had to come home early on 3 occasions as she was crying so much. Obviously coming home is not an option when I'm in another country.
Am I over thinking this? Am I unreasonable to even think about going to the wedding?
I realise this is a common problem but I can't seem to find any personal experiences to make me feel better!
Thanks in advance!!