WWYD- 5 days away from 18-mo

[ians_mommy]

Looking for opinions.

In two weeks I need to go to Maui for a work conference for 5-days. The conference lasts from about 7:00-12:00 each day with the rest of the day "off".

My preschooler is staying home with DH, but I am torn about what to do with my 18-month-old DD.

She still nurses a great deal at night and then a few times during the day when I am not at work. On work days she only nurses at night. I stopped pumping at 15-months because the shells for my pump ripped and I had no motivation to buy new since she does not nurse during the day much and eats a full diet.

I cannot decide if I should:

1.Bring her with me to Maui and hire a Nanny to care for her at the resort while I am at the conference. My meetings are at the same resort so I will be only floors away from her if needed. I found a lovely nanny service that has a long history with the resorts and can guarantee I would work with the same caretaker for all 5 days. Problem here is DD has some impressive stranger anxiety.

2. Leave her home with the boys ans just see what happens as far as milk supply/nursing goes.

3. Express milk while I am gone. I am not terribly interested in buying more shells for my breast pump and am not a fan of hand-expressing...but this option is there. I have to be honest and say it is the least desirable to me.

I just don't know which option would place the least amount of stress on my DD.

So....WWYD?

[PatioGardener]

I'd go for option 1.

[Mom2M]

If you want to make sure that you keep nursing, option 1 would be best. Can you do a test on how she would feel being left in someone's (unfamiliar to her) care? If that is too stressful for her, I would leave her at home and it is possible that she will continue to nurse anyway.

[crunchy_mommy]

Is there any way your DH & preschooler could come with you too, and make it a family vacation? Sounds like you'd have a lot of down time so would be able to enjoy most of it. Then she'd be with you & you wouldn't have to worry about the stranger anxiety thing.

[D_McG]

I would do option 1.  I think a few days away with just the 2 of you sounds really nice.

[Asiago]

--------------------

Edited by Asiago - 10/1/11 at 12:33pm

[sarahr]

I would do option 3. For my current nursing toddler, I went away for two nights when he was around 16 months. He stayed with DH. DH said the first morning he was upset when I wasn't there when he woke up, but otherwise he was fine. And even when he was upset, he was comforted by a loving parent. For him, at least, it was less traumatic than being with a strange caretaker would have been.

[lifeguard]

Option 1 sounds great but also sounds like potential for a real problem if she won't happily stay with the nanny.

When ds was 20 months I left him for 2 weeks. I planned to pump while I was gone but after 2 days I was getting nothing & I was so dehydrated & crazy busy it just wasn't working. I mourned that it meant bfing was probably done for us. When I got home ds latched on like nothing happened. I'm sure my milk supply dipped but it didn't take long for it to back to normal for us.

[Peony]

I'd do option 1. I've done something similar several times before and it worked out well. It was in a city that I could drive to in a day so I drove up with my sitter twice and flew her up another time. I could of used a nanny service there, that was with DS1 and he would happily stay with anyone.