Need advise re: taking or leaving 5 mo. old on work trip

[mom2lucy]

I'm going to a conference for work in October, it's all day Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning. It's in Washington D.C., so about an hour and half plane ride. I will have a 2.5 yr old and a 5 mo. old at the time. I've left DD1 several times and she does great, but it's the baby I'm worried about. She will be home with her grandma (who she's very familiar with) and dad the whole weekend. I will have enough pumped milk for her and she takes a bottle well.
We do co-sleep at night, but she doesn't nurse to sleep and she really doesn't nurse at night.
It's not really an option to have DH come as he has no time off from work, so if I don't leave her home, I could bring DD2 with me but I'm worried I won't really be able to focus or get anything out of the seminar. Also it goes from 8 am to 10 pm and she gets REALLY cranky if she's not asleep by 8.
Any advise?????? Thanks so much!

[RiverandJulie]

Of course, the decision is totally up to you, but I found that at this stage, my LO started to get overstimulated and a conference would have put him over the top. That long with lots of people around and no quiet time and you could have a cranky non-sleeper on your hands. This could really make the conference hard on both of you. So, if you have people you trust to keep the baby, I think that would be best. It will be hard, but when I left mine for a couple of days I Skyped every day and that helped.

[tzs]

Originally Posted by RiverandJulie

Of course, the decision is totally up to you, but I found that at this stage, my LO started to get overstimulated and a conference would have put him over the top. That long with lots of people around and no quiet time and you could have a cranky non-sleeper on your hands. This could really make the conference hard on both of you. So, if you have people you trust to keep the baby, I think that would be best. It will be hard, but when I left mine for a couple of days I Skyped every day and that helped.

agree.
cranky, overstimulated but at the same time little maternal attention during the day, missed sleep vs. daddy, sis, and grams but no momma at night....i'd go with leaving her.
obviously just what i would do though

[bbinm]

Wow - I'm pondering the same thing about a biz trip at the end of this month. I've got a lot of guilt about leaving her for 4.5 days - but know that bringing her (and the husband and the 5 yr old) would be too much. I think I'm going to leave her here.... it is killing me, but I think it's best.
I feel your pain -

[Dov'sMom]

I'm going to dissent.

I had a similar work-trip and brought grandma and baby both. They had a great time hanging around in the city during the day, and I could sneak back to the hotel to nurse at least once and co-slept as well. Grandma could also bring the kids by to meet you in the hotel lobby or something during the day.

Do you know where in DC you will be? The weather should still be great in October. Smithsonians are free and open 7 days a week and the zoo is fun too. There are lots of open green spaces for kids to play in. It's a pretty family-friendly city for a weekend trip.

Of course, you'd have to pay two extra tickets to bring Grandma and sis both, but you could just bring Grandma. Or think about driving if its much cheaper. Re: hotel, you can probably upgrade to a larger room/suite and only pay the difference from what your work would have paid.

[JudiAU]

The option is to either go by yourself or go with you and the baby. I don't think you can attend the conference as the babies caregiver. Or where you planning on taking a caregiver with you. I've done that. It is doable.

Personally, having done both and dragged sahd everywhere I'd skip it. I would find it stressful. Most employers would understand you have an young infant. With my 2nd I am way more comfortable saying no.