Husband wants to take a trip without babe

[@llli*mackeroo2013]

Hi ladies, my husband wants to take me on a 3 day outing for my birthday. I would not have access to my baby during these 3 days. This outing will be in May and my daughter will be 16 months at that point. I'm hoping to be nursing her as often as I do now, but am unsure how that will look with a toddler this age. This might sound stupid, but would the caregiver continue to give her my milk in a bottle while I'm gone or would she just wait until I come back from my trip?

Obviously, I would bring my pump with me on the trip,but how could this affect babe when I come back? Would this 3 day absence from me encourage her to self wean? My hope is to continue to nurse her until she's two if I can, so my husband told me I can think about it and make my decision if I want to take the trip this May or next May when I will be finished nursing her.

[@llli*djs.mom]

By 16 months your supply should be stable enough-especially if you are pumping while away to avoid engorgement, for your supply to be fine. You won't be her only source of nutrition by then. And if you do want to pump to leave milk, make sure you work on that now. A lot of women who EBF and don't actually pump every day have a very hard doing so at that age. So if you want to be able to pump, make sure you are doing that 1-3 times a day so that you can actually leave milk at that time.

[@llli*maddieb]

but would the caregiver continue to give her my milk in a bottle while I'm gone or would she just wait until I come back from my trip?

It's not stupid. Many babies are still reliant on breastmilk to get enough to eat at this age, also, a bottle might be soothing to your child. (Or not, every baby is different) How much solids a baby is eating is also going to vary a lot at this age. It is impossible to say how much breastmilk baby might want or need while you are gone as every situation would be so different.

If you are not able to pump much breastmilk before your trip, baby can have water or whatever kind of milk your family uses as a replacement, along with solids of course.

Obviously, I would bring my pump with me on the trip

Good, because the most immediate potential problem would be you becoming uncomfortable or even ill due to not frequent enough milk removal. This can happen at any age of nursling. It all depends on how much milk mom is making at the time of the separation and her breast storage capacity. I agree with djs.mom, make sure you respond to the pump and the pump works. Another option is hand expression, and I would suggest learning hand expression in any case. Pumps break down, pump parts get lost, etc. You do not want to have to spend time on your trip trying to find replacements.

but how could this affect babe when I come back? Would this 3 day absence from me encourage her to self wean?

I know what you are talking about, but I would not call this self weaning. In fact what a separation from a nursing child means, even when it is very short, is abruptly weaning your baby temporarily. That, plus the stress of separation might cause your baby to go on a nursing strike. Many times striking babies can be encouraged to nurse again, of course. So in that case baby would not wean. If baby cannot be encouraged to nurse again, then baby is weaned.

I am not in any way saying separations always cause a strike. Many babies are happy to get right back in the nursing groove once the separation is over. But separations are known to be a nursing strike trigger in some situations.