Mamas, what's the longest you'd be apart from your 0-2 y.o.?

[samie]

My boss wants me to attend a training course for work, but it'd be 2 weeks away from home. The thought of leaving my 14 m.o. for that long makes me really anxious. Still breastfeeding AM/PM. Before I gather the courage to tell her I don't want to go, I thought I'd check with the Reddit community... am I being crazy??

 

[faithfull_fella]

@samie 2 weeks is a long time particularly if you’re still breastfeeding - but there’s no wrong answer here. If you do go, you’re not doing anything wrong.

 

[samie]

@faithfull_fella Thank you! This is validating.

 

[cins]

@samie I’m not sure how important the training is, but two weeks seems long for work travel, even for someone without kids. 3 nights is the longest that I’ve had to travel for work (LO was 9 months). That was fine, but 2 weeks is nearly half of the month. Would you at least be able to come home on the weekend (fly back Friday evening and return Monday morning)? Or is there an option for your LO to go with you with your partner or another caregiver for at least some of the time?

 

[samie]

@cins It's a 2 hour drive one way I like the idea of having my son + caregiver come stay a couple of nights if worse comes to worst and I really do have to go. Thank you!

 

[nancy7]

@samie I left him at 6m for 2 days to attend a cross country funeral, for a week at 8m because of a work conference where I had to present. And he’s 10m and we just left him for another week. He’s done fine with Grammy/ Daddy care each time though I miss him terribly. I also exclusively pump, which makes breastfeeding a moot point. I’m sure I’ll catch shit for leaving him, but we FaceTime every day I’m gone and he’s clearly very happy.

You have to do what makes sense to you! If you don’t feel comfortable, don’t go.

 

[samie]

@nancy7 This puts me at ease! Kids really are resilient. I think I project my own feelings onto my baby and think about him just sitting around wondering where I am when really he's having a blast with his dad lol.

 

[cosmostar]

@samie No more than a night or two, for me personally. I was just away from my 5yo for 3 nights for the first time - when I was in the hospital to have my second baby.

 

[samie]

@cosmostar Thanks for this! It's so tough to be away.

 

[cah5896]

@samie My daughters 21 months now and we’ve spent about 48 hours away from her. I think I could maybe do 3 days at a push but I definitely couldn’t do a week or longer at this age personally.

 

[samie]

@cah5896 I just got back from 3 nights away, my first time ever away and it was brutal. Huge wake up call for thinking about this 2 week course. Thanks for your comment!!

 

[anotherblowhard]

@samie There is no way I’d be away from my baby for 2 weeks. She’s 20 months and I haven’t even left her overnight yet. You can absolutely use BFing as an excuse and tell your boss you just can’t make it.

 

[samie]

@anotherblowhard Yeah, I really don't want this stupid course to be the end of my BF journey. Thank you!!

 

[cdburnette]

@samie 12 months, the longest we’ve been apart is the length of a daycare day, 10 hours.

 

[samie]

@cdburnette Thank you!!

 

[southwest]

@samie if I was going to leave my little for two weeks, no way it would be for something work related. at that point, i’d left my daughter for a handful of one or two-night business trips.

 

[samie]

@southwest Lol! Thank you

 

[robo1988]

@samie My daughter is 2 and the longest I’ve been away from her was like 1 night

 

[oceansdeep]

@samie Not crazy. Longest I’ve been away from my 15mo is 3 hours. Still breastfeeds morning and night, occasionally to sleep during the day.

 

[samie]

@oceansdeep You are awesome, thank you for this.