Wedding - leave EBF baby

[JL642]

Hello! I am EBF my baby (I love it) and I have a wedding invite where baby will be 4.5 months. If I am to go to the wedding the baby will be without me 9am to 5pm. She’ll be with hubby.

I am getting really confused and anxious about how I do this when EBF as I don’t want to lose my supply!! Sorry if these are stupid questions! I’ve tried researching and just get really confused! Am I making this into a bigger deal than it needs to be?

1. Will my supply be ok if I am away from the baby between 9-5pm? Will I need to pump to maintain supply? Or do I need to pump just because I’ll be in pain?

2. baby does take a bottle so presume hubby can formula feed for just that day? I have tried pumping and we have a little breast milk in the freezer, but to be honest I don’t enjoy pumping (i barely get any milk!) so I would prefer hubby to just formula feed for this one day assuming it won’t impact the breastfeeding on my return to baby?

ps this is a one off I can’t see any other occasions where I’ll be away from the baby for so long! Very anxious about leaving the baby but that is another factor for me to think about outside of the breastfeeding / maintaining supply issue

Hey,

So you will probably need to pump during the day, roughly when you would normally feed. Mostly to relieve the pressure.

I found using a haaka pump on the other side while I was feeding allowed me to build up a freezer stash without having to pump specifically.

When I had to be away for a day about the same age baby took formula fine for the day. We used some ready made milk so we didn’t have a huge pot of formula powder.

I’m afraid I even had to pump to release pressure when we went away when DS2 was 18 months old and just having two feeds a day. So yes, you’ll need to pump. Fab that your DC will take a bottle (do keep giving them, DS1 did at three months but by six months refused!). Have a lovely time!

At 4.5 months it's very unlikely that your supply will be impacted by going 8 hours without feeding, especially if it's a once off. I don't know what your nights are like, but I was doing 8 hours overnight without a feed at that ages.

You will, however, probably want to bring a pump to release some pressure. Your chest can feel pretty tight after not feeding. Everyone's different, but at a guess I'd say you'll probably want to pump at least twice during the day for your own comfort

Enjoy the wedding!

Keep up with expressed milk in a bottle on a regular basis, I found DD took that at two months but refused a few weeks later as I'd offered it very occasionally. If you need your baby to accept a bottle for a particular occasion, keep offering regularly.

Definitely take pump - you don’t want mastitis.
supply should be fine by that point.

You won’t lose your supply

but you will be pumping to relieve pressure

Definitely pump, especially if you are a sufferer of engorgement or leaking!

Would it be feasible for your husband to stay nearby with baby so you can pop out and feed directly if needed and then return to the wedding? That's probably what I'd consider doing if possible!

I would try to have husband and baby nearby do you can pop out and feed during the day

At 4.5m you will be fine
Take pump in case you need to relieve pressure

I went on a work trip for 4 days when Dd was 12 weeks and just carried on bf when I got back (pumped whilst away)
Had to do thar once a quarter with both dc and bf both past age 2

Thank you everyone so helpful!

@Margo34 @Bobbybobbins Our other option is for hubby and dd to come up as you say - but weighing up how easy it is to travel with dd plus whether hubby would find caring for dd easier on our own home

I just didn't go in the same situation. I can't pump and have a lot of milk. I decided it was just too hard.

@lifeinthehills i know this would probably be my preferred option as I am nervous to leave baby but I find it hard when I am the first to have a baby and not sure how easy to explain that it can be tricky to leave a bf baby / a FTM or mum may simply just not want to.

I think it would be fine to decline the invitation completely as long as you tell the couple straight away.

They don't have to understand. All you need to tell them is that you;re not able to leave your baby at this point, so thanks for the invite, but you can't make it. If they ask why, you can tell them that you are fully nursing your baby so it doesn't work to be away from them for that long, if you want to. You don't have to justify yourself, make them understand or argue.

I admit I did lose a friend this way but, in my situation, there wasn't a choice at the time. I respected that they wanted a childfree wedding but that does sometimes mean people with children can't come.

Tell them 'sorry I don't want to go to your wedding because I'm breast feeding and it's not possible for me to be away from baby at all at the moment so I won't be attending. Fingers crossed you've given them enough notice they can replace you.

Maybe your friendship will survive, maybe it won't but it's what works for you

Thank you, yes agree all valid points!!