First time leaving baby overnight

[Mamma92]

When was the first time you left you're child overnight ? And how did you find it ?

Not until 21 mo, and only with DH. Boobs nearly exploded even though we were down to one feed a day. 2 nights again last month (2.1yo). Still very hard and a lot of anxiety

OP: milk unlikely to dry up but expect to need to pump or hand express for comfort

It's a bit much to go from nothing to 4 days, even with dh there.

You need to step it up gradually.

How often does she feed now? You can express while away to keep your supply up but 4 days of no feeding will be tricky if your body isn't used to it.

I have to say that knowing that I would be away for 3 nights in June, I stopped BFing her in April as I didn't want to add to the difficulty of her separation from me when I went away which if she'd still been breastfeeding would have been a much bigger deal for her. I made sure she was self settling without the boob before bedtime so that her routine could be the same without me there.

I did think it might be a bit too much going from never leaving her to 4 days I think I might have to build it up gradually ,
NameChangeForLocalThread- how did you manage to get her to self settle without the boob of you dont mind me asking ? And did you find after she did this she slept better through the night ? Thank you for all your replies xx

3 months, she went to my mums, we had a great night and lie in.

I just pumped as i was breastfeeding.

We have ledt her overnight once every 2 months or so since for date nights etc, she's 18 months now

Mamma - DD was 20m when I started talking to her about BF being for babies and that she was growing up into a 'big girl' (walking, talking etc.) and that big girls don't have the boob but a nice cup of milk before bed instead. I mentioned this maybe every three days just to plant the idea.

Then a couple of weeks later I introduced a cup of milk straight after BF which I allowed her to take in her cot (this had to be undone a month or so later for teeth cleaning reasons!). She then started shortening the BF because she looked forward to her cup of milk.

Then I started saying every night 'you're a big girl now so maybe soon we can try without the boob and then we'll have more time so you'll be able to have two bedtime stories (I'd always kept it to one story so that I'd have this bargaining tool for stopping BF!).

I talked through how the new bedtime routine would look then I just withdrew the boob. (Routine: Bath, pyjamas, 2 stories with cup of milk, then into cot). She was slightly upset for a couple of nights but then seemed fine.

4 months - OH booked us a night away in a nice hotel for our anniversary. DD was totally fine with the in laws, and has stayed over 5 or 6 times since (now 9 months).

MIL does have her four days a week during term time while I’m at work, so I’m lucky that they do have a good bond.