My son was 2 the first (and only) time we left him with someone else (my sister) overnight. We still had my daughter, who was about 4 months old, so it wasn’t an entirely kid-free night. My daughter still hasn’t spent a night without at least one parent with her. She’s three and a half now.

It’s not because we don’t want to leave them. We just don’t have anyone nearby to help. We are already making plans to fly someone in to stay with the kids when we have our 10th anniversary. That’s in 2013.

how wonderful of your MIL. The very first time was I left our daughter she was 17 months when I was in the hospital having her brother. The second time they were 3 and 18 months while we were moving. That week turned into 3 due to some complications. Those kids are 20 and 19 now and they watched their younger siblings 11, 8 and 5 this summer for a week while their dad and I took care of some things out of state. We have never had family nearby, so the times are few and far between.

No kids here, but my stepbrother and his girlfriend first left their daughter with my parents when she was about 5 months old, so they could go camping with friends. Everyone did great!

Well, first full night they were 1 and 3. Previously, we dropped older daughter at Gma’s at 2am when I went into labor with the baby. And many evenings we’ve picked them up after they’re asleep. But a full night has been only once, at 1 and 3.

How do you do it if you’re breastfeeding? My mom offered to stay with our son (just turned 1) in March so my husband and I could have a night away to go see a play (they’re 2,000 miles away, so we have to plan) but we’re still breastfeeding and while he sleeps through the night on occasion, it is not an every night thing and when he does wake up he has no interest in seeing anyone but me(bottles don’t cut it at night). Do we just need to wait until he weans to try this?

D was just over 2 years when both of us left him overnight with Grandma for 3 nights. He did great, but did ask about us a lot. I’m in the same boat as a lot of other people. We don’t have family that live close, so it certainly would have happened sooner if our family was close.
Hope you and Jon feel better soon!

I was single when I adopted my kids, and when the first one was 6 months old I got horribly sick with the flu. My very close friends who lived nearby, and who were very involved in her life, came and got her for 2 nights. I don’t know what I would have done otherwise. It really saved my life. My second child was 3 when I adopted her, and I didn’t let her sleep overnight with anyone else for over 2 years-it was too frightening to her not to have me there-by that time my older daughter could have helped me through if I had fallen ill.

My first did not spend a night away from me until she was 2.5 years old, and not again until she was 4 and I was delivering #2. Thanks to post-partum depression and severe sleep deprivation…#2 spent her first night away with grandma at 6 weeks old. I was nursing, and we started her on bottles at 4 weeks just for her to get the hang of it. She did great! Now, at 13 weeks, my mom has had her almost every weekend so we can spend some quality time with our older daughter and catch up on sleep. I am so thankful to have this kind of help, and my baby is fine. Smiles when I go to pick her up. I will admit that she is getting more and more bottles and doing less and less nursing as a result of this separation. I wish I had taken more of a break with my older daughter to get her used to it, though she is fine spending the night at grandma’s now. It felt weird to be away from the baby the first few weekends, but now it doesn’t. When I go back to work (I’m on maternity leave), she will stay at home on weekends as that will be the bulk of the time that I spend with her.

J was 8 months old when I left her with my Mom from 8 PM to 8 AM. I pumped twice while she was gone. But I pumped at work all the time and my Mom was watching her so having a bottle was no big issue. She is 6 now and twice since May she has had two occassions where she slept over 2 nights in a row! Once with his parents while I stayed in the hospital with hubby after surgery and then 2 weekends ago with my Mom because we needed a break. I am so thankful our parents live so close to us. Get better!

My 21 month old has spent the night at my parents’ house (20 minutes away) at least 4-5 times since she was 15 months old. She has a room and a crib there, so very little planning is involved. They follow our nighttime routine to the T, so I think it makes her feel very secure. She does great and STTN for them every time. I am so glad because #2 is on the way and I think this will make it seem normal to stay for a couple nights if I have a repeat c-section (a significant possibility.) #2 will have to wait until I wean, which will likely be later than with #1 who weaned at 7 months because of a milk/egg/soy allergy that we couldn’t get a handle on.

I spent the night at my maternal grandparents’ house a LOT as a child. By the time I was 4, we probably spent a weekend at their house every month. I hope my kids have a similarly close relationship with my parents.

SNSINNC, about the breastfeeding. I left my daughter with my mother for two nights when she was 18 months old. She was (and still is, at 23 mo) nursing. I was worried about how she would do without me at night. But she did great. She seems to react differently when she knows I am not there. If I am there, nothing but boobie will do, but when she is with my mom she will go back to sleep with just some cuddles and such. I am not sure how it would have worked when she was younger, and really needed the nighttime milk though. But as she has gotten older she has really gotten good about not nursing when I am not there, and just picking back up when I get home. My mother said she asked to nurse once, but after that just kinda moved on. Now, a few months later she will even let her daddy pat her back to sleep at home, which is a fun new developement.
My point is that I was very worried that she would freak out without mom and the boobie, but she surprised me and was just fine, not even clingly when we got back, and my husband and I got a wonderful couple of nights to ourselves. So don’t rule it out.

We left our son with my parents overnight when he was 4 months old, and we were breastfeeding. He could take a bottle of breastmilk, and has done it numerous times, so I left my parents with a stockpile of pumped milk, and everyone was fine. I took the pump with me so I didn’t explode! He is almost 2 now and he spends friday and saturday nights at my parents every week while my husband and I work. My parents rule.

Both my boys were 18+ months old the first time they spent the night at their grandparents’ house (they’re now 2 and 5). This was not so much for their benefit as for mine. When they’re away their dad and I take turns calling to check on them/irritate their grandparents. A stomach bug is no joke, Katie. It is nearly impossible to take care of even yourself when you’re in the grips of that devil. I’m glad you have a mother-in-law who is so capable/thoughtful and that you were wise enough to take her up on her offer! Hope all Hickjus are well soon!

#1 was 4.5 and it was when I was having #2 and #2 was 1 day shy of 2 years when I had #3 and #3 is now 22 months and has never spent the night away from me. We are planning our very first kid free weekend in June to celebrate hubby’s 30th birthday so we are thinking of doing a trial run beforehand when we are close by incase of meltdown. I strongly dislike spending nights away from my kids when they are under 5, but hubby and I both feel this weekend trip we plan on taking is much needed. My oldest was 1 when we started dating and we have never in our entire relationship spent one full night kid free, including when we got married. So I think maybe it is time?

My daughter was almost 2 and a half the first (and still only) time she stayed overnight with my sister so DH and I could celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary. Mind you, my sister watches her twice a week while I work and anticipates her every need. So Em said “YAY!” when I asked her if she wanted to go sleep at Aunt Jean’s house.

I missed the heck out of her though.

My youngest was a preemie and in the NICU, and I had to leave her there when she was a few days old. It was dreadful, for me. I am so glad we were only away from her for 4 nights–after that we went back and slept two nights at the hospital with her so she could prove she could eat by mouth, and I’ve been with her every night since then.

My oldest had his first night away from me when #2 was born, he was 4. #2 had his first night away from me when my water broke and I went into premature labor with #3. He was 4 also, and I spent a lot of nights that year in the hospital.

Last year my husband and I went on a cruise for a week and took the baby (she was 1) and left the boys with Grandma and their aunt. They were 9 and 5.

My older son (now 2.5) was about 7 months old when we left him w/Gramma to go on a 4 day vacation. We’ll be leaving him and his now 4 month old brother with Gramma and Grampa this weekend to take a few nights alone. I feel bad for people who don’t have family nearby. :(

My son was 5 months old. My husband and I flew to NYC for the weekend and baby stayed with his grandmother. I left a stockpile of breastmilk and pumped through out the trip (including in the airplane bathroom!) A good time was had by all – especially Grandma. We plan to leave him again when he is 10 months old because we have a wedding to attend in Boston.