Traveling for work & BF 11 Month old

[catbear]

I learned yesterday that I might have an opportunity to travel to Brazil for work sometime in April, likely for 5 days to a week. DS will be 11 months. Right now, he takes about 12 oz of breast milk at daycare and breastfeeds 2 or 3 other times at home.  I planned to start WCM at 1 year and continue BF'ing morning/night.  I am very conflicted about this work trip - it is a good opportunity, but I have never been away from him overnight and I really want our breastfeeding relationship to continue.  At the same time, I think it will look bad if I say no as it's a new kind of work initiative I am trying to get involved with.  

Does anyone have any advice or experience traveling at this age while still breastfeeding? I don't want to force him to wean early

[rbp]

Can you take your pump? Will you have time to pump even 2-3x/day? I don't see any reason why you'd have to wean.

It may also be a good opportunity to start incorporating a little bit of WCM into his diet if you're ready for that. Ask your pedi, but I think most are fine with starting it around 9-12 months.

[Poppy]

Well, I have a 3.5mo old, but I am going on a 3 night work trip in a month. I have a decent freezer stash and plan to pump while I'm away. TBD on whether I'm going to try to bring back all the milk or just dump it ( ), but I've bookmarked a couple threads on pumping while travelling (two are rbp's, hehe):

pandce.proboards.com/thread/369029/flying-pumping
pandce.proboards.com/thread/392684/pumping-traveling
pandce.proboards.com/thread/396490/another-pumping-traveling-question

[mpc]

I traveled at 7, 10, and 11 months while breastfeeding. The first 2 trips I pumped every 3-ish hours during the day. I was able to bring home plenty of milk and we resumed breastfeeding no problem. On the last trip, I only pumped once in the morning and once at night since I was planning to switch to only BFing then anyway. My supply tanked and we never recovered. I've heard lots of stories from other women who didn't have that happen though. If I were you I'd plan on keeping up a pumping routine while you are gone that's similar to when you feed/pump at home. you should be ok!

[karinothing]

I think it is certainly possible to keep up your supply while you are gone, if you have enough time to pump. However, at 11 months I would be more worried about the child wanting to nurse when I come back. I sort of feel like that is 50/50 at that point, which sucks

[catbear]

I'm not sure about the pumping situation since everything about this trip is pretty vague right now. I'd definitely bring my pump and see what I could do though. I have a dwindling freezer stash… I'm already pumping at a deficit, he takes 12 ounces a day and I usually produce 10. I was figuring on making it to a year for sure, but a week of travel will tear through stash and with international travel, I doubt I'll be able to bring home the milk.

[mandapanda18]

I had 3 work trips in the first year of C's life. The first was 2 nights @ 5ish months, the second was 3 nights at 6.5 months. The 3rd was for 4 nights at 11.5 months. I pumped as necessary (and saved the milk to bring home the first two trips). I had a nursing relationship until 15 months when C self-weaned.

[djc315]

I traveled for 3 days at 11 months. I pumped about 4x per day at that point, I think 1 day I only pumped 3x.

Even if you can't bring it home, I'd pump to keep up your supply if you want to continue BFing after you return. It's definitely possible to do!