6+ mos- do you leave baby?

[octobermoon]

For how long? How often? With whom...etc. If BF do you pump?

[belltree]

I have been trying to figure this out. So far dh comes with me and ds to work so I can feed him there. Now that he is 6months I noticed his feedings are getting further and further away, so I am really thinking about asking a friend to babysit so dh and I could have a one on one date.

[Red Pajama]

At six months with my twins, I returned to work, but I left them with my husband. I was apart about 8 hours, and tried to leave 8-10 oz per baby. I pumped twice during that time.

With my daughter, I was the stay at home parent, and I didn't leave her until she was about 8 months. Prior to that, I would just take her with me, even on "dates" with my husband. At 8 months, I'd leave a sippy cup of breastmilk, and used my SIL as a babysitter.

I think decisions of when to leave a baby in another's care are very personal. If you want to get away, that's a good enough reason to make it work. If you have no desire to leave baby, then take her with.

Personally, I'm not comfortable leaving overnight until after two years. But that's me.

[mkksmom]

I left her with my mom for an hour once and with dh for an hour a few times. She wants to nurse pretty much every hour or 2, so it's just easier to have her with me. I do enjoy an hour away, but this time passes quickly, so I don't mind.

[hildare]

my dd is now 6 mos. i leave her every day. i am a wohm.
i leave her with my dh. he is now a wahd. before the beginning of this month, though, she went to work with him and we had an awesome sitter 1 day a week. the sitter has a lo 2 months older than dd and she enjoyed her friend so much!
i pump- i pump in the morning before i leave (unless i go in late, in which case i just feed her a LOT). I pump 3 more times at work (b/c of long commute- if i didn't live so far from home, i would only pump 2 x) and i am about to reduce to 2 times (since dh is now home w/her i can make it till i get there).
It's not too bad. she went through a strange not wanting to be with anyone but us phase for a week, around 4 mos. but not since then.

oh-- and.. i think many of us 6 month old mommies must be planning dates! i'm getting taken out to dinner on friday for the first time, and leaving dd with the awesome sitter for 4 hours while we dine and run major errands together. this will be our first "date" since she was born, otherwise we've taken her with us everywhere else

[akind1]

DS is just 5 months, but thought I would chime in. I leave DS with DH - a SAH/WAHD 2 days a week. I WAH the other 3. I pump while at work - 2x a day, 10-12 oz (though DS usually doesn't take but 8)

I think you might (OP) mean on an occasional basis. We have left him for a couple hours with either my parents or his - this perhaps 3 times all together - and once with a babysitter for 6 hours or so. I always leave a bottle of expressed milk, b/c you just never know. sometimes he will wait for me, sometimes not.

This saturday we are going Karaoke and DS is staying with MIL. I hate leaving him (not just with her, just leaving him period) but at this age he doesn't have much separation anxiety and I think it bothers me more than him. She asked, but knew i would say no, for him to spend the night. That is so not happening!

[AndtheStars]

I leave DS (9 months old) every weekday from 12:30 to 5:00 pm when I woh part-time. On Mon, Wed, Fri he's at our house with my parents/in-laws (depending on whose day it is). On Tues/Thurs, he's at a fantastic babysitter's house. I pump once at work and feed him right before I leave and as soon as I get home. Other than leaving him for work, I've only left him maybe 3 times in 9 mos. Two of those times were for dinner with DH, the third was for my SIL's baby shower when DH was out of town. Otherwise, we're a package deal.

[Lauren31]

I am only the mother of a 3 month old but I have left her with her daddy while I go to the gym (about an hour and 15 minutes total time) in the mornings. Thankfully she is sleeping for half of it as I leave at 6am and her last night feed is around 5:30am. I have yet to pump and try to give her a bottle though! It makes me nervous so I understand what you are going through!! I think this is the longest I have been away from her yet!

[YayJennie]

When my son was 6 months, I had to go to grad classes without him. So once a week for 4 hours I would leave him with my husband, and then every other weekend I had Saturday class for 8 hours, and my mom would come watch him. I always had an oversupply, so I had a freezer stash of breast milk. I would bring my pump and pump if I got uncomfortable. But my mother was also able to bring my son up to school on Saturdays, so I could attempt to nurse him on my lunch break, although he wasn't always interested (too much to see up on campus). We have yet to leave my son with anyone other than my mother, and he's 13 months old. We're just not comfortable with babysitters yet.

Also, I think maybe 2 times, my mom came out to watch my son when he was between 8-10 months old so my husband and I could have date night. But that was after he'd gone to sleep, and each time we were gone less than 3 hours, so she didn't even have to feed him or anything.

[mamadelbosque]

I left DS1 with my dad and/or DH 2x a week from the time he was 3 months old for 2 hours. I pumped for him to have a bottle those days till he started eating a good bit of solids and drinking water from a sippy around 9-10 months. DS2 is 9 months now and has only been left with dh & my mom occasionally.. he doesn't take a bottle generally so I don't generally bother leaving him or pumping (I hate pumping), I'm looking forward to him eating more and more solids so I can stop worrying about it here soon

[texmati]

I leave DS with a mothers helper and DH 5 days a week, and I pump. We have not left him with a sitter, although we let grandpa take him for short walks around the block (10-15 minutes).

[texaspeach]

I've left ds with dh for an hour or so to go to knitting group. I did it for the first time two weeks ago (7.5 months) and am hoping to go again tonight. prior to that I hadn't left him since he was 8 weeks old and still sleeping all the time - that trip to the grocery store was awful for everyone so I didn't try again. ds still eats every 2ish hrs and doesn't take a bottle. I don't pump, I just try to be home in time for the next feeding. before last month I had no desire to be away from ds, but now I enjoy the brief break.

[liberal_chick]

Dh and I resumed our at-least-monthly date nights when ds2 was about 4 months old. I have a friend and we swap baby sitting with each other, so there are always kids to play with and stuff to see. Or when we go back to our hometown or to my MIL's, we'll leave the boys for a few hours to catch dinner and a movie.

I would always pump and leave a bottle when ds was little, but he was often too busy to even want it!

[Norasmomma]

I have left both our kiddos with daddy before then, actually DD was only about 2 months old when I started working as a hairstylist once a week, although that didn't last long, I had major duct issues. I pumped a lot of milk for her.

With DS I've been home, but have had a few days where I've been gone. I run to the store and do errands, I need some sanity time. Not so much from the baby boy, but from DD(she's extremely high spirited). DH and I did leave both of them with my dad and stepmom so we could go skiing together alone. I am a big believer in pumping for having a break, I see nothing wrong with it. Both my babies have been breastfed and have had bottles of EBM, for us it works-it helps me be a better mama.

[batsister]

My son is 9.5 months old, and I am a graduate student. I bring him with me to school each day I go, but starting when he was about 7.5 months old, I have had an undergraduate watch him for about 2-2.5 hours a day while I run experiments. Although, often, I see him during those two hours for at least a few minutes (e.g., if it's raining out, babysitter will hang out around the lab with him, and I am in and out). It's been a really nice arrangement, because if he needs me, wants to nurse, etc. during that time, it's no big deal for me to take a break and see/feed him (he usually doesn't need me, though).
Last weekend, I left my son with my husband for ~3.5 hours so I could go to campus and do experiments. It was the longest I had been away from him, and it felt really strange, but he was fine. There was a little pumped milk in the freezer, but he didn't need it. He did eat some solids during that time.
I am not sure if I would leave him, even for a couple of hours, in the evening (with anyone besides my husband), because he seems to need me more at that time of day. As others have said, it is up to individual comfort level (and sometimes responsibilities/necessity), of course.

[cristeen]

I've left my 7mo with someone other than daddy 3 times so far. The most recent was last week. The first 2 times went really well, but this last one did not. He's going through separation anxiety the last few weeks (I can't even leave the room without him screeching) and I left him with my grandmother so I could do the Target shopping. I was gone less than 2 hours, and came back to a hysterical babe (and I was highly irritated that she hadn't called me when she said he'd been screaming almost an hour, even though I told her to).

The previous 2 occasions - first time I left him with his auntie, long enough for us to go out to dinner with grandma & grandpa. He was still pretty young, maybe 2 mos. Second time was around 5 mos, and I asked a friend to watch him, we were gone maybe 3 hours (were planning on a movie but it was sold out, so went to dinner instead).

He gets left with daddy every Saturday morning for 2 hours (more or less), and has since he was about 4 weeks old. That's when I do the grocery shopping, since I can get in and out before the crowds.

And I should probably point out that he's been on a bottle since he was 2 weeks old, so that wasn't a concern for us.

[slimkins]

I work out of the house three days a week. Two of the days a sitter comes to the house and one of the days my husband watches our son. He gets three bottles of breastmilk (5 ozs. each) while I am gone. I usually pump 2-3 times while I am at work. I think both of us do well with the set-up. He absolutely adores his sitter and I think he really enjoys his "daddy time" too.

oh yea, my son is just over 8 months and I have been back to work since he was 5.5 months.

[Gimme Pineapple]

My DS is 4 months and I have left him a few times with my mom. Usually between 2 and 4 hours. She enjoys having alone time with him. I would let her keep him more, but I have been distracted when he wasn't with me. I felt like I left my legs at home! I had to finish some school stuff and went to take my finals- I couldn't even concentrate.

I always pump and leave a bottle no matter how long I am gone. Even if it is just a couple of hours, you never know when they'll want a little snack.

I don't know if this is relevant because he isn't 6+ months, but thought I'd chime in anyways.

[Abraisme]

I leave my DD with my husband for 1-3 hours a couple of times a week. I've also left her with my MIL for a few hours after bedtime while dh and I went on a date. I only pumped when I went out at night, during the day she could be distracted with real food. I have a baby that can go 3-4 hours during the day without nursing though.

[beebalmmama]

I first left ds 1 when he was 6 months to go to a weekly yoga class. I left him with dh for not more than 2 hours at a time. I wasn't working and so I wasn't pumping regularly, but I had a small stash in the freezer. Dh never had to use it though. I didn't leave him with anyone other than dh until he was 9 months, and we went for a quick dinner for our anniversary.
This LO is 5 months and I haven't left him yet. Although I'm antsy to get to a yoga class and may do so on Friday.... I don't have a stash of milk at this point, so I may have to think about that. Otherwise dh and I have talked about dinner out, but I think we'd take ds 2 and have our good friend watch ds 1 (4yrs) who we really need a break from.