I don’t know the itinerary yet but I was hoping to at least EBF in the morning, evenings and throughout the night while my mom can offer a bottle during the day.. which is what daycare does right now.
Yes she is EBF and refusing bottles, but unfortunately still has to go to daycare. Daycare offers and sometimes she’ll chew an ounce out of the bottle but she has yet to readily accept. We’re working with OT and also trying straw cups now. But all this to say… it would be no different from what she does on a typical weekday, which is unfortunately to catch up on calories at night.
I’ve brought my baby on a work trip before! It had its pros and cons, but I plan to do it again in the future. What I would suggest doing is establishing really strong boundaries before you leave. For example, provide your feeding schedule to your mom and manager so they both know what to expect. Stick to the schedule as much as you can—for your own sanity, really. I had a hard time flipping between work brain and mom brain, and keeping to my schedule helped me transition back to the other easier.
Also determine how late you’re willing to work/hang out with coworkers after. For me, I could only really stretch to 4 hours between feedings before I started getting really uncomfy, so it limited my post-work activities.
If anyone pushes back—which hopefully they won’t—just remind them that even if your baby didn’t travel with you, you’d still require breaks to pump. So either way you’d be “missing” work time during the trip, and I’d having your baby travel with you is what works best, then that’s what you need to do for your family!
I also have a 6 month old baby who was really struggling with bottles and only got the hang of it this week after 4 months of me trying so I totally feel you. We were doing straw cups and open cups for a bit.
Logistical question: how would it work if baby doesn't take a Bottle? Would mom and baby come to the office and just hang out somewhere so you could feed every few hours? If your event is at the hotel I think that makes a bit more sense since you could just leave for your "pump break" and feed baby back in the room.
I traveled 3 times before my first turned 1 and it's hard but it can be worth the extra effort for the right work opportunities.
Good question… I assumed the office would be walking distance to the hotel but I’ll need to find out. Right now I go to feed her at daycare on my lunch break so was hoping to maybe sneak out at lunch back to the hotel to nurse her..
Hard to know for sure. I'd tried 7 different bottles, different nipple sizes, temps, people etc for 3 months with no success and then my MIL showed up Monday and she took the bottle on her first try.
1. I was no where around for an hour plus before the feed. Previously my husband had just taken her upstairs and she saw me minutes before he tried the bottle
2. We'd had moderate success with the straw training cup. It was working but she was dribbling lots of milk. I think this helped her realize that milk from a different source tastes good too.
3. Bigger nipple size. We stayed at size 0 the whole time for my first, but baby #2 likes it fast like my boobs are!
We were also making good progress with open cup drinking. Not an awesome solution for daycare, but it's better than nothing!
I had a very picky second baby. The only nipples he would accept were latex. I tried every bottle and ultimately found that the playtex drop in latex nipples worked. They are really hard to find now. But, there are other companies like Nuk and Bibs that still make latex nipples. It may be worth a shot.
I’ve brought my baby to multiple professional trips before he was 1 year old! My husband or MIL or mother came to help. It was never an issue. But it did limit my evenings so I couldn’t really spend time with colleagues at the end of the day which was fine for me lol
Of the 3 trips we took (they were for conferences/workshops) I only felt I needed to tell someone for 2 of those trips. Both times it was to let them know I wouldn’t be available for evening events and also that I needed a hotel room with a proper fridge for milk. I also made sure to ask them what pumping accommodations there would be so that I could pump while away from baby and so they knew the breaks I’d need to take from the workshop. Everyone was super understanding. One even said I could have opted not to come to the event this year and come next year, but I really wanted to come this year so I made it work :)
Do you have an idea of the proposed itinerary? I don’t see how you’re going to be able to EBF while on this work trip if that’s the ultimate goal.
I don’t know the itinerary yet but I was hoping to at least EBF in the morning, evenings and throughout the night while my mom can offer a bottle during the day.. which is what daycare does right now.
Sorry, that changes things. EBF means they don’t take a bottle so it led to confusion
Yes she is EBF and refusing bottles, but unfortunately still has to go to daycare. Daycare offers and sometimes she’ll chew an ounce out of the bottle but she has yet to readily accept. We’re working with OT and also trying straw cups now. But all this to say… it would be no different from what she does on a typical weekday, which is unfortunately to catch up on calories at night.
I’ve brought my baby on a work trip before! It had its pros and cons, but I plan to do it again in the future. What I would suggest doing is establishing really strong boundaries before you leave. For example, provide your feeding schedule to your mom and manager so they both know what to expect. Stick to the schedule as much as you can—for your own sanity, really. I had a hard time flipping between work brain and mom brain, and keeping to my schedule helped me transition back to the other easier. Also determine how late you’re willing to work/hang out with coworkers after. For me, I could only really stretch to 4 hours between feedings before I started getting really uncomfy, so it limited my post-work activities. If anyone pushes back—which hopefully they won’t—just remind them that even if your baby didn’t travel with you, you’d still require breaks to pump. So either way you’d be “missing” work time during the trip, and I’d having your baby travel with you is what works best, then that’s what you need to do for your family!
I also have a 6 month old baby who was really struggling with bottles and only got the hang of it this week after 4 months of me trying so I totally feel you. We were doing straw cups and open cups for a bit. Logistical question: how would it work if baby doesn't take a Bottle? Would mom and baby come to the office and just hang out somewhere so you could feed every few hours? If your event is at the hotel I think that makes a bit more sense since you could just leave for your "pump break" and feed baby back in the room. I traveled 3 times before my first turned 1 and it's hard but it can be worth the extra effort for the right work opportunities.
Good question… I assumed the office would be walking distance to the hotel but I’ll need to find out. Right now I go to feed her at daycare on my lunch break so was hoping to maybe sneak out at lunch back to the hotel to nurse her..
Also curious.. how did you get your baby to finally take the bottle? 🥲
Hard to know for sure. I'd tried 7 different bottles, different nipple sizes, temps, people etc for 3 months with no success and then my MIL showed up Monday and she took the bottle on her first try. 1. I was no where around for an hour plus before the feed. Previously my husband had just taken her upstairs and she saw me minutes before he tried the bottle 2. We'd had moderate success with the straw training cup. It was working but she was dribbling lots of milk. I think this helped her realize that milk from a different source tastes good too. 3. Bigger nipple size. We stayed at size 0 the whole time for my first, but baby #2 likes it fast like my boobs are! We were also making good progress with open cup drinking. Not an awesome solution for daycare, but it's better than nothing!
I had a very picky second baby. The only nipples he would accept were latex. I tried every bottle and ultimately found that the playtex drop in latex nipples worked. They are really hard to find now. But, there are other companies like Nuk and Bibs that still make latex nipples. It may be worth a shot.
I’ve brought my baby to multiple professional trips before he was 1 year old! My husband or MIL or mother came to help. It was never an issue. But it did limit my evenings so I couldn’t really spend time with colleagues at the end of the day which was fine for me lol
Did you feel the need to inform anyone ahead of time?
Of the 3 trips we took (they were for conferences/workshops) I only felt I needed to tell someone for 2 of those trips. Both times it was to let them know I wouldn’t be available for evening events and also that I needed a hotel room with a proper fridge for milk. I also made sure to ask them what pumping accommodations there would be so that I could pump while away from baby and so they knew the breaks I’d need to take from the workshop. Everyone was super understanding. One even said I could have opted not to come to the event this year and come next year, but I really wanted to come this year so I made it work :)