I'm after some advice.
A good friend of mine has asked me to be her paranymph at her PhD defense (ceremonial support person, basically just need to attend the ceremony which goes for 1.5 hours. There's a few other tasks but I could keep bub with me for those)
I'd really like to do it. However, I'm due to have a baby a month or so before hand (we don't know yet when her defense will be and obviously also don't know exactly when my baby will arrive).
As for myself I think I'd be up for it a month after the birth but I'm not sure about leaving my bub.
I could leave him with my husband or mother and they could wait nearby so I'd only be gone 2 hours at most. But I don't remember that age well enough and I'm not sure how it would go.
Do any of you have any thoughts?
Particularly people with babies around that age I guess. How would you feel about leaving bub for a couple of hours?
My ds2 is six months old. I think at that age you could def do it but it would be hard to work out when Bubs feeds would be. If they take a bottle then it wil be fine no matter when they are due for a feed but if not in my experience it's always in the middle of what ur doing! Lol
Personally I'm not sure I could leave them for that long, but I'm a control freak and always assume my Bubs need me, me, me and no one else is as good! Lol it's something I'm working on.
My DD is 5 weeks and I think I could leave her if I really had to - be much much easier not too though.
If I did I would be giving expressed breast milk to DH to give her in a bottle rather than trying to worry about racing back.
It might depend on how well you are physically and whether you've had a Caesar or other complications too. Could you say yes and discuss a back up plan just in case something impacts on your ability to be involved?
Thanks guys!
Yep I would definitely be leaving DH or my mother with a supply of expressed milk and anything else I could think of, as well as probably trying to feed him and if at all possible get him to sleep before I had to go.
It would also be something that I could give a provisional yes to and then see how the timing goes and how me and bubs are after the delivery. As long as I gave a few weeks notice it would be fine to pull out. Pulling out on the day would be much less politic, though if really needed it wouldn't be the end of the world.
I just didn't remember how things were with my first at that age and so whether I should just rule it out now as an impossibility or give a provisional yes and see how things go. I know I left DS1 once with my mum and did the groceries when he was about 6 weeks and he screamed the whole time I was gone. But then he started at childcare at 2.5 months and that went well and was for much longer than 2 hours.
i would have been fine to do that, as a once off, if i was leaving baby with DH. i would probably get dh to come to the place, and then drive around or read in the car if baby was asleep or take her for a walk in the carrier if she was awake. i wouldn't stress too much about leaving milk if you fed just before you left.
I doubt I could have done it. Both my babies took about a month before they were feeding properly and I wasn't jumping in pain so we were still dealing with lagging supply due to poor attachment and I was feeding all over the place. I would have been nervous to leave them more than 30mins still, and for me myself I would not have been coherent.
I left DD for 4-5 hours twice a week from 11 days old. It's not the best feeling but you could do it.
Best bit is the 30 seconds before you get them back in your arms! Your heart is just bursting with excitement!
I would suggest planning to have baby nearby just in case, and have some sort of contingency in place. It might be fine, but you just don't know for sure how things will pan out between now and then. Perhaps if baby were sleeping happily in a sling you wouldn't have to be away from her at all?
Fingers crossed and hope you friend's defence goes well.
Depends how often bubs is feeding. My dd fed every 3 hours give or take. You could feed right before you leave and give your DH an expressed bottle just in case. Have you given a bottle before? My only concern would be if bubs refused to take a bottle if hungry before you got back. Worst case scenario bubs will be a bit upset/hungry until you get back, but if your not going to be hours I'm sure it will be fine. I would do it.
I left DD1 at that age for a couple of hours while I had my hair done. I expressed and left her in the capable hands of my gorgeous sister in law. DD was an angel and SIL just loved the newborn snuggles
Thanks everyone.
Unfortunately it's a formal exam and children aren't allowed in the building so there's no way I could take bub in with me.
I think I can do it though and have given a provisional yes.
We'll just have to see when exactly it ends up being, when I give birth and how everything goes.
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Leaving month old baby for 1.5-2 hours?
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