Leaving the babies for 3 days!

Sorry in advance for the length this will be!

My very best friend from college is getting married in a few weeks. We are driving 9 hours to get there and will be gone two nights/three days. After much deliberation, we are taking our 3 year old DD and leaving the twins (17 weeks/ 12 weeks adjusted) with my mother and SIL.

I am trying to pump as much as possible, but if I do so during the day I only get 2-3 oz because someone has always just nursed. Late at night I can pump 5-6oz in one session. The early morning tends to be a heavy nursing time, so pumping is useless then.

They tend to drink 4-5oz bottles every 3 hours if I am gone during the day, but I have never left them more than 8 hours. Some nights they sleep well, last night we were up all night nursing. I currently have about 13 4-5 oz bags frozen.

Should I expect them to bottle feed every 3 hours the entire time we are gone? So 40 bottle feeding sessions for 60 hours? How am I ever going to go from 13 bags to 40 in 2 weeks?? My mum says we can just supplement with formula, but I am hesitant.

Starting to wonder if I should take one baby. I hate the idea of leaving one behind (which one!), and driving for 9 hours one way with a 3 year old and baby!

Any advice is appreciated!

 

Just a thought, but if you might take one twin anyway, why not take both twins and leave the 3 year old? That way you can nurse, keep up your supply etc. The three year old can get special attention from family @ home too. We traveled with our guys when they were two months and it went well. We also went to a wedding with a five hour drive at four months. We did stops for feeds and changes of scenery and it went well.

 

Supplementing with formula won't hurt them, they may not like the taste though so you might want to introduce a little bit of it right now to them. Start by mixing it with breastmilk so it masks the taste a little bit.

All of my kids start with formula supplements in the hospital until my breastmilk came in. I hated pumping and never bothered, I just used formula when we needed to. I never had an issues

As far as travelling, I'd take the twins with me too. But, I'm used to driving 2000 miles one way every summer to visit my family, a 9 hr trip is a piece of cake to me!

 

So first, 2-3 oz from pumping AFTER a feed is pretty darn good. :good: Here are some options I see:

A) Pump like a mofo for the next two weeks. Pump after every feed & even between feeds if you can. You'll likely end up with enough. A word of caution - you'll need to wean off the extra pumping gradually so that you don't end up engorged.
B) As others have said, take your twins with you. Maybe your MIL or sister could come too for an extra set of hands & to watch the kiddos while you're at the wedding.
C) Do you know anyone else who is currently nursing? Maybe they would be willing to donate some breast milk to the cause or better yet come over while you're gone & nurse for a feeding or two. Or if you have a milk bank nearby you could check about getting milk from there.
D) Top up with formula (I understand not wanting to but as Danielle said, it won't kill them). Do test it before you go though as they may refuse it.
E) Don't go to the wedding.
F) Only offer 3 oz at each feed. Only give an extra oz or two if they ask for it. Breastfed babes tend to over eat from bottles because they can't control the flow but still want to suck. By only offering 3, they may be satisfied & you may have enough milk.

Good luck! You'll find the right solution.

 

Great, great advice thus far. We took our boys 1200 miles when they were 4 months old and while more complicated than going alone, was very easy! In fact, I would leave the 3 year old as 3 year olds like to be active. Babies are ok in their carseats for longer than toddlers (at least in this house). Also, at the wedding I'm sure there will be about a billion people who want to hold the babies!

 

Thank you ALL for your responses. We are now contemplating taking the twins. There will be a lot of hands to hold them!

We cannot leave DD! The wedding is at a dude ranch and we have been talking to her about it all summer because she is really into horses (like every three year old I guess).

Today my husband did two separate bottle feelings and the babies were content with 3 oz! I actually pumped more than they drank while I was gone!

I am going to pump like crazy and see where that gets us. I love the idea of bringing someone to the wedding to watch the kids, but no one can commit to all three days! If I don't have enough milk then the twins will just come. Honestly, I would miss them terribly (it was bad enough today for 8 hours), but am also a little excited to be able to sleep well and not be a human boob for 3 days. Well except for the pumping of course!

Off to the pump...

 

If it's at a dude ranch, maybe there is somebody on site who can baby-sit for you, or you can ask your best friend if she knows of any babysitters, or knows people who know babysitters...

 

Update!!!
Just got back from the wedding last night. Left 120oz of EBM and my two babies and came home with 8oz to spare! I pumped twice daily for 13 days straight and managed to come up with enough milk. I missed them terribly, but glad I could do it! My three year old had the time of her life.

A few comments to share:
Kudos to all those exclusive pumpers! Waking up to pump every 4 hours while away from babies was difficult! I had no idea how easy I had it being able to lift a baby out of co-sleeper and nurse and fall back asleep again. I was like a zombie and felt like I was reliving those first few harrowing newborn weeks.
Also, it is amazing how babies drain all those little semi-clogged milk ducts! I had a few after 24 hours of exclusive pumping and nothing was helping. One nursing session and problem solved!
Pumping and dumping while slightly inebriated was SO hard! I actually had to bag up milk, refrigerate and label with "bad" and have my husband dump the next day. It is bizarre how attached you become to that stuff!