It sounds like they really don't know what they are asking you to do. Fair enough if the parents are comfortable to leave their baby for that length of time, however when BFing that is a long time to wait to express. I did leave DD1 at a young age (6 weeks? - long story there), and DD2 was probably at the 9 mth mark. DS will probably be at the 6 month mark as well but I have a different set of circumstances to you, as all of us do.

If others are comfortable leaving their little ones, thats fine, but I always believe that small babies and their mums come as a unit, ie they can't be separated and I wouldn't ask any of my friends or family to do that.

Its a hard decision, I hope they one day understand how hard it was to make for you, but not cause they have been put in the same situation.