Advice re leaving a 6 month old bf baby...

[Sherley]

Hi, wonder if anyone can help as I'm getting all in a pickle!
My hubby really wants us to go overnight to a festival when LO will be 6 months old, just. I'm not fussed, but realise its important to him so I'm trying to work out logistics. We have a willing grandparent and a freezer full of breast milk, so that's no issue. Just can't remember whether they still have all their milk feeds at 6 months old? Seeing as we would be camping I would have to hand express every missed feed, do you think it would harm my supply? Hubby is hoping for 24 hours away but I don't think it's doable, probably more like an evening and overnight.
Any advice?! I'll be so grateful to either plan to go away or write it off as impossible. Cheers

 

[Sherley]

Hi, wonder if anyone can help as I'm getting all in a pickle!
My hubby really wants us to go overnight to a festival when LO will be 6 months old, just. I'm not fussed, but realise its important to him so I'm trying to work out logistics. We have a willing grandparent and a freezer full of breast milk, so that's no issue. Just can't remember whether they still have all their milk feeds at 6 months old? Seeing as we would be camping I would have to hand express every missed feed, do you think it would harm my supply? Hubby is hoping for 24 hours away but I don't think it's doable, probably more like an evening and overnight.
Any advice?! I'll be so grateful to either plan to go away or write it off as impossible. Cheers

Oh, and if anyone knows if you can get a pump that plugs into a car cigarette lighter that would help me out ;.)

 

[Kanichen34]

You can buy manual pumps for £15 ish - you'd just have to dump the milk as you'd have nowhere to store it. As long as your little one will take a bottle I can't see a problem with leaving baby as long as you are happy too?

 

[Sherley]

Thanks. I have a manual pump but I find it tricky!

 

[kmr1763]

If you practice with the manual ahead of time it should be fine. I had an electric with DS and a manual with DD. The electric was easier, but the manual does the job.
At six months your lo may be eating some solids. If so that should be pretty straight forward for the grandparents. Like pp said, as long as lo takes a bottle, it seems like there should be no problem.

 

[Rachel_C]

Yes LO will still be having full milk feeds at 6 months. They shouldn't reduce milk feeds until quite a lot older, even when eating solids.

Couldn't you take the kids with you? Depends on the festival I suppose, some are very child friendly! Also depends whether OH is wanting it as time away from the kids or not.

 

[Sherley]

Thanks. It's just overnight and definitely for us to have more of a knees up without kids. Hubby is playing in his band in the evening so it wouldn't be kid friendly. LO takes a bottle so that bit is fine, just the thought of hand expressing loads of feeds putting me off! X

 

[Marythefairy]

I have a medela swing pump which is electric but can run on batteries. Have used for the odd pump but unsure how long they last. When I first had a whole day away from dd1 at 6 month's my milk literally poured out of me with hand expressing even thou it didn't usually. U might find your manual is fine.

 

[annio84]

I was going to suggest that some electric pumps can run on battery. I don't think expressing by hand would harm your supply - I often find I can get more off that way than using either type of pump.

 

[Sherley]

Thanks everyone!

 

[Here_we_go]

I had to be away from my EBF 7 month old for 4 days due to having to have brain surgery. She wasn't doing well on solids and didn't show much interest in it at 6 months so I waited another month and slowly started her back on purees.

I had the freezer stash built up, my mom was staying here at the house so that she was in familiar surroundings and son could help with animals. I had a time getting her to take a bottle but she FINALLY (after persistently, routinely, religiously offering the same type bottle at least once a day) accepted the Playtex drop in.

I informed my mom that she was eating on avg a half a jar of baby food a day and if she showed interest, try maybe offering the rest later on in the day. I told her I nurse her usually ever 2-3 hours but she usually sleeps through the night.

The first day away, I had to do a lot of bloodwork and paperwork so I didn't pump as often as I should've. That evening I had a red spot on the side of one of my boobs and I knew it was from a blocked duct. I massaged and compressed the area (YEEEOUCH!! ) while I pumped with my lansinoh manual (THE best pump IMO I can pump quick or slow, make long "pulls" or short to stimulate letdown that I don't think an electric could do) Eventually this thick goopy milk came out and I felt SOOO much better! After THAT, I pumped both sides every 4 hours until bedtime, massaging/compressing to make sure I emptied out both sides. We had a lil freezer that hubby put ice in so I stored what I pumped prior to my surgery. I woke up that morning and pumped twice before my surgery (it was an 8 hr surgery) and had to have hubby help pump afterwards which I dumped the rest of the day.

When I was finally released, my supply was diminished some (it's hard to pump when you can't look down at your boob to doublecheck that everything is lined up correctly and something is actually coming out, I was constantly asking hubby "Is everything lined up right? Is it coming out?" ) As soon as I came back home though, DD quickly brought my supply back up to normal. I put her on as much as she wanted for as long (or as little) as she wanted and within a few days, everything was back to normal

A 24 hr stay away shouldn't hinder things at all. Make sure you have a very slow flow bottle so you don't come back to a baby who wants instant gratification which some bottles provide by dripping steadily instead of making baby work for it. Make sure when you come back to put baby on as much as possible. No matter how good a pump is, your baby is way better and can always get more out.

I hope everything goes well for you and you enjoy yourself

 

[wanting2010]

I have an Ameda Purely Yours and it takes batteries, so something like that might be an option for you and easier than hand expressing.

I left my LO overnight when he was around 5 months old. I just made sure to leave him more than enough milk (he would always take about 4 oz each feed and ate around every 3 hours). The only issue I had was that when I got to the hotel there was no refrigerator and I didn't have time to buy ice or ice packs to store my milk that I pumped while I was away, so I had to dump it all. =\ Since you'll be camping, if you bring a cooler and ice to keep your milk cool, that shouldn't be a problem at all!

 

[Sherley]

Thank you everyone!