Wedding with a 1 month old

[aidensxmomma]

Today I received an invitation to one of my friends' weddings on September 30. At that point in time, I will have a LO who is about 1 month old, give or take a few days. The wedding ceremony is in the early afternoon with the reception later from around 530p to whenever. Both the ceremony and reception are fairly close to my house, so I won't need to worry about travelling far/getting a hotel room/etc. I am already planning on getting a sitter for my older kids, but I'm at a loss for what to do about the baby. :shrugg:

The sitter I'm planning on having is either having my grandma come down or having my older kids go to their dad's. My grandma could probably handle watching the baby for an hour or so during the wedding ceremony, but I'm not sure about her being able to handle the baby for a few hours for the reception (I'd be going home in between). If the older kids went to their dad's, then there wouldn't be a sitter for the baby at all. Plus, I plan on breastfeeding, so I'm not really sure how to work around that.

I was thinking that having the baby with a sitter for the ceremony, then taking him with to the reception later might be an option. But then I'm worried about the noise level and stuff when the music/dancing starts. On the other hand, I don't have any good childcare options right now, either.

How would you handle it? Are there some other options I'm maybe not thinking of? Thanks

 

[happynewmom1]

I personally would take the baby with me and put him in a wrap for at least the reception. He would be easily breastfed in one and would help keep people from getting all touchy with him. That is me though. I know all babies are different and some don't like wraps or carriers.. Mine always did so I was very fortunate. Good luck!

 

[callmedan]

I would take baby in a wrap too, people will still touch (and wake) him in a pram so I think a wrap is your best option
Is the wedding at a hotel? If so could you feed in someone's room if you don't feel comfortable in public? I'm sure nobody would mind you doing it discreetly in the reception room, also you could maybe call ahead to the venue and ask if they have anywhere you could have a bit of privacy?

I would definitely go and take baby! Have fun

 

[Twag]

I personally would take baby to the wedding & reception with me asking the bride if this is okay first if not then I would not go!

I went to a wedding this weekend with my DS & DD and there was a 1 month old baby there too for the whole wedding & reception

 

[LoveCakes]

I'm in the same situation. I plan to go to the ceremony as I really want to see my friend get married then hang about a bit and go home before the dinner. My toddler isnt invited and I don't fancy spending the evening making small talk when I could still be feeling bad.

At a month my LG was still at the stage where she could sleep through any noise but you'll probably find a lot of people wanting to hold baby which may wake them

To the op I'd plan to take baby but realise you may need to go earlier than planned, you may not be feeling up to a long day out at that stage.

 

[Gem1302]

I took my 6 week old and toddler to my friends wedding last month baby is easier than the toddler haha. We just made sure we had a dummy and a bottle incase she got upset in the church, had she woken up crying I'd have just quietly stepped outside with her - I made sure I had a quick escape route lol. But she slept the whole day pretty much! We were there from 2pm until 9pm and it was a lovely day don't worry, I'd definitely take baby

 

[laila 44]

I personally wouldn't take a 4 week old to a wedding ceremony. They are very delicate and feed around the clock etc and you may not even be able to sit through the ceremony if the baby is cranky, gassy or hungry. I would try and get a reliable sitter, someone I know and trust well and i would go back and forth to house to feed etc. I'd imagine it will be loud and stressful for a newborn, if it were me I wouldn't...

 

[Cowgirl07]

My friend brought her baby to my wedding no problem, she sat in the back. Baby was bottle fed but when she got fussy she just snuck out the side to the back, where they played the ceremony over the speakers and she could see through the glass. I didn't notice but when talking to her later she said what she did. maybe look to see if the church has a nursing or child section.

 

[mandy81]

I went to my best friends wedding when my baby was 8 weeks old (i also had a 10 year old and 12 year old with me)
the baby was absolutely fine with the noise and music, if anything it put him to sleep lol
I had asked my friend to put us as close as possible to the door so if the baby started to fuss i could take him out without much disturbance.
The wedding started at 2 o'clock and i thought we would only make it for the dinner and then have to leave but no my wee man slept through the ceremony and we were able to stay at the reception until 10 o'clock which was pretty go because i had the baby in a bed routine and he was normally in bed by 9 o'clock....
xx

 

[vaniilla]

we went to a family wedding last weekend and dd was 10 days old, because it was a bit of a drive we went up to a hotel the night before and left the morning after the wedding so stayed away for 2 nights. I found that people didn't bother baby, the wedding was a day long affair starting at noon and continuing past midnight but as we had a room at the venue I went there as often as I needed and retired at 9pm for the night. Babies generally love noise so it should be okay when they're that young. I would check with the bride that there will be somewhere you can go to feed/change/ give baby some peace and quiet but I would say you'll be okay to go, for me the worst part was sterilising/making bottles and sitting on stitches!

 

[george83]

A month old baby will be so little that they will probably put up with anything. We took our 8 week old to a wedding in his pram and he was fine, he got lots of attention and then tired himself out and slept well. If your worried about bf in public just try and previsit the venue as it is local and look for somewhere that will probably be quiet on the day where you go off too

 

[zorak]

My SIL brought my 4 weeks old nephew to my wedding. She breastfed at the back of the church. For the meal, I'd asked the venue to leave a place next to her empty so she could bring the pram right up to the table. The venue also asked me when I mentioned breastfeeding that they were happy to provide a room for her to use at no charge. For the evening the baby mostly slept in the pram but she had purchased over ear, ear defenders to protect him from noise. I don't remember seeing anyone else hold or touch baby but my family are pretty savvy with that kind of thing and know to leave new borns alone.

If you are not into wraps just speak up and tell people not to touch baby.

 

[MindUtopia]

I wouldn't be comfortable leaving a one month old for any length of time. When our daughter was about 2 months, we did leave her with my mum for about an hour while we went to lunch, literally like a 1 minute walk from our house, and even that was nerve-wracking. I would probably plan to come to the ceremony and the drinks reception after, so I could be there to support my friend and give her a hug on her big day, but then probably head home for the evening and skip out dinner if it's going late. Our daughter was happy to cuddle with one of us in the wrap at that age and snooze between feeds, but I definitely wouldn't have been up for a busy, loud night out at that age, or sitting through dinner and speeches trying to feed and quiet a baby. But I think any friend would love to have you there even if it's just for the early bit so she could see you on her day.

 

[PoppyPainting]

My best friend brought her 6 week old baby to my wedding, both church and reception. Her husband took baby outside when she cried in the ceremony so my friend could be present for the whole service. I gave my friend the key to dh and my hotel room during the reception (it was in a hotel) so she could use it as needed to feed change nappies etc.

We didn't have a noisy reception it was a small wedding with drinks after dinner, but if we had I've had understood that she needed to leave early. We've been friends since we were 4 years old and it was enough for me that she came to the service anything more was a bonus.

 

[Left wonderin]

Bring her and have fun