first night without child.

[foxintheforest]

My son is 13 months old and we have spent time during the day away from him, but he has not spent the night at grandparent's house without us yet. I'm not expecting this to happen anytime soon as we co-sleep and he wakes and nurses at night, but I was just wondering, what age did you have the first night away from your child?

[philomom]

I allowed my 24 month old daughter to spend one night away with her grandmother. And at 26 months she spent one night away with a trusted friend so I could have her baby brother. But neither one of them spent too much time away until they could talk well and tell me how things went while I was away from them. I'm just protective that way.

[katelove]

First night away from me was at 17 months when I spent a night in hospital having my tonsils out. First night away from both of us was at 2.5yo when her sister was born. She slept over with my parents and had a ball.

[Chloe'sMama]

Dd1 was 3.5 years (one time with each set of grandparents and not since).... dd2 has not yet at 2.5 and ds is 1 month. I don't think we will again for a while as I just miss them and don't see the need. Ds will be with us anyways, so.....

[Peony]

It's been between 3.5-4 years for each child. My mom lives 30 miles away and takes each child (separately) for a sleep over a couple times a year. My kids have still never stayed with anyone else. 

[colsxjack]

Just over 3 yrs for our DD.

She stayed with our roomate, who she adores, is/was her caregiver, and we were gone less than 24 hours.

But it was GREAT! Everyone involved had a blast.

[Alenushka]

It was awesome. We drunk good wine and had sex whole night long

[Jaxy]

well, that sounds good!

DS is 6 months and we're very far from spending a night without him (as far as having sex all night :P)

[Quinalla]

I haven't had an entire night away from DD yet, but when she was 2 or so, she spent most of the day and was put down to bed by my Mom and we got home late and she didn't see us until morning (we saw her). We've had a handful of similar times like that since then. I would be fine with her staying with Grandparents or my siblings for a night no problem, there just hasn't been an opportunity. I didn't really want to do it until she was regularly sleeping through the night as I think its so much harder to put a child back down to sleep in the middle of the night for them and whichever non-parent is doing it, so not much before 2, but I would have if I had to before that with a trusted family member.

[butterfly_mommy]

DS was just under 4 when he had his first sleep over at my sisters house with my two nieces who were 11 and 15 at the time. He loved it. He has spent a few nights there and a few nights at my mom's house and at our house with my mom for 3 nights when we had my DD. Baring an emergency I will wait till DD is around 4 too to be away from us overnight.

[The4OfUs]

18-ish months for firstborn DS, closer to 2 for second born DD; both times, for weddings out of town but near my parents' house, we ditched the kid(s) with my mom and dad and had an amazing time at the wedding, and crashed in a hotel room.  Back the next morning, no issues at all.  

[GISDiva]

Oh gosh.  My son is about to turn 5 and he's never been away from at least one of us.  My husband and I do occasional travel for work, but the other is always there.  I swear, we're not over-protective, it's just that the situation hasn't come up and we don't have any close family that would do that.  I do have a friend (she's an "auntie" to my son) that has recently offered, we should probably take her up on that...

My first night away from him was sometime after 11 months old, but I don't remember when.  (I was an EP'er, so it would have been after I stopped pumping).  It might have been closer to 2 when the next travel opportunity arose?  Not sure.  That was more a factor of my husband not being terribly confident in his abilities.  *sigh*

[lilbsmama]

My first son was 15 months, and second son was 17 months, and he was still nursing. It was nice, but it didn't happen again for a long time! He tried to nurse from my step-mil, but fell asleep soon after. As soon as he saw me the next day he was stuck to the boob for about an hour!

[34me]

My guys went to day care as little kiddos but did not leave the house overnight without us until they were each 10 when they made the trek to their grandparents house 3000 miles away. They each went seperately so we were never without at least 1 until 18 months ago. We went a cross the country for a work trip for dh and I went because we were going to be moving. The kids were 13,15 and 17. A blizzard came in 2 days later and they lived without power for 4 days ;-). Woops

[Jaxy]

loll 34me!!!

I remember SO many sleepovers at friend's and cousin's when I was a kid! It doesn't seem very popular on this forum!

[The4OfUs]

Originally Posted by Jaxy 

loll 34me!!!

I remember SO many sleepovers at friend's and cousin's when I was a kid! It doesn't seem very popular on this forum!

I remember tons too, but they started in mid elementary school.....so I was like what, 9?  10?

[Tbutton]

Gosh, my daughter is 3 and a half, and I still can't imagine her spending a night away. I would be lost without her! I thought after weaning it would be easier or plausible at least, but she still gets upset if I'm not there to tuck her in at night. Even Daddy won't do, so i just can't imagine her enjoying herself. I remember sleepovers when I was in elementary school, starting in kindergarten, but I got terribly homesick and didn't enjoy myself. I would get really worried about upsetting whoever I was with, so I'd try to endure it silently. I went home half the time, and the other half cried myself to sleep. I don't think I ever told my parents how much I didn't like it because I knew they wanted me to have a good time. I don't know if I realized the pattern either, because it seems like I always thought it would be fun but didn't remember how often it wasn't . I started liking sleepovers in middle and high school.

[Adaline'sMama]

My DD was 13 months when she spent her first night away. She went to a parade and then spent the night with grandma. We made her little brother that night ;)

We were still co sleeping and breastfeeding, and my hope was that it would help a little with her need to be latched all.night.long. It did. She did just fine with her grandmother, slept all night long. I picked her up super early to nurse her, and then she would sleep pretty well if we slept her in a different bed from us. As long as she was in our bed though, she wanted to be on the boob. 

[Escaping]

My son is 13 months now and I'd let him sleep over at my parents house if we had a reason. I'm more worried about him being too much trouble for them than him not being ready. My parents know I co-sleep and have commented how well it works when I go to visit or we all went on vacation so they'd have no problem sleeping with him. 

He's just such an easy baby that it would be more trouble for me to pack him up and drop him off than to just have him at home... and also I'd miss him a lot. 

[maos211]

My firstborn was about 8 months. I sent fresh breast milk. It was with his memee and papaw. He absolutely loves them. Later that year I was hospitalized with preterm labor (twins with TTTS) and he would go for 2-3 days at a time. He is now two 1/2 and asks to go there to stay often. He probably does every month or every six weeks for a few days. He loves it. Oh no wait Zachrey also took a plane to Atlanta ( from DFW) with my mom and brother to visit my sister. They left on Wednesday and my husband and I joined on Friday so about 1 1/2 days. With my TTTS survivor twin preemie daughter has been a different story. She is 14 months and still hasn't spent the night away, although my mom has kept her At my house while DH and I took a vacation in cancun at around 5 months.