Going on holiday and leaving 15mo LO with Gran

[Orissiah]

Advice needed. DH and I are going abroad for 6 days for a wedding and leaving our 15mo DD with her Grandmother but in our house for this time.

DD will be, as usual, with her childminders for the weekdays in order to keep her routine the same (Gran will pick her up and drop her off) and the weekends will be spent at our home with her Gran.

We are hoping this will help her not miss us so much but I am worried that she will have an unsettled time.

Is she old enough to miss us? Any experiences of this, anyone? Do you think she may be unsettled and have a bad time even though she is used to her Gran looking after her overnight and during days and is very close to her?

At first I thought I should leave a few things of ours for her to feel close to us still but then I thought this will make her remember we are not there and best to keep things as normal as possible.

Any tips/thoughts/experiences of leaving a young toddler for a week?

Hi Orissiah, I left my DD when she was a bit older than yours.
I had to go to NY for work for 5 days, so my DH decided to tie a visit to his office with mine.
We left our DD with her paternal grandmother and sole charge nanny. Admittedly she is it a bit older than your DD as she had just turned 2, but it was awful. She missed us terribly. She didn't sleep, was very out of sorts and became very unsettled. She stopped eating and her behaviour became quite challenging.
She was staying with my MIL at my PIL's so maybe that was the issue.
When DH and I returned from the trip she suffered terrible seperation anxiety, so whenever I left the room she screamed. She also became incredibly clingy and wouldn't go to sleep unless my DH and I were lying with her.
I am sorry I don't have a better experience to relay to you. I would never ever leave my DC again for that length of time without either parent.
It may be different for you in that your DD is slightly younger. (I left mine for 4 days at the same age, but my DH was around, so she didnt appear to miss me that much....)
I think 6 days is a really long time, and you will miss her more than you can imagine.
Good luck with whatever you decide.

hi OP
i think if you have already left you dd with her gran overnight she will be fine, i think still going to the childminder is a great idea.
I have left my dd since she was six months overnight and never had any problems
please dont worry xxx

hi OP
i think if you have already left you dd with her gran overnight she will be fine, i think still going to the childminder is a great idea.
I have left my dd since she was six months overnight and never had any problems
please dont worry xxx

I just wanted to quickly add that she see's her granny every week, and has spent the odd night with her, so it wasn't that she didn't enjoy being away from us, it was the length of time apart that she struggled with.

My DH and I left our 15mo DTs with my parents to go to New York for 3 nights (we were all already in the States visiting them at the time) and they were absolutely fine - no problems at all. We missed them terribly but also enjoyed having a break together, without DCs.

Apparently they did say Mummy/Daddy a bit but had such a fab time with their grandparents - they even got taken to have their first Happy Meal .

I was BF still too, and they were fine without. I think that 15/16mo is a better time to go then later, say 2ish, when they might understand a bit more and consequently be more upset.