Leaving babies for work travel?
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Anonymous
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At what age did you leave your kids for work travel?
I used to travel quite often for work, but due to COVID / parental leave, haven’t traveled at all since having two kids. I’m getting pulled into travel (international) for around when the youngest would be 11-12 months. Older is a toddler. Have you done this? Tips? I can probably get out of it if I make a fuss about it. Tbd if that’s the way to go. (Don’t need opinions on that part please!) |
Anonymous
| I did a cross country trip for a critical work thing at 4 months and it was completely fine. Pumping and dealing with the milk was annoying but possible. The kid was a million percent fine with DH. You can do this! |
Anonymous
I've done exactly this too. And several more times between 4 mos and 12 mos. It will be totally fine op. |
Anonymous
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15 months with the first. 9 months with the second.
About 10 days both times. My advice: don’t FaceTime. It caused far more issues for DH once the calls ended. |
Anonymous
| I did at 12 months. It was NBD. I was away four nights. It did make me miss being child free though. |
Anonymous
| I started traveling regularly (M-Th) every 2-3 weeks when baby was 6 months. It’s been totally fine. Biggest concern is burden on spouse. |
Anonymous
| I would jump at the chance to travel internationally if my youngest was nearly a year. |
Anonymous
| I did it regularly for about 10 yrs. (Job was internationally focused) It was fine, but take the PPs advice and don't Facetime. When you're gone, you're gone, it's easiest on them and spouse that way, at least until they are much older. |
Anonymous
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Why don't you want to do this? Time away, nursing? Just juggling their schedules? Missing them?
Knowing that would help inform advice. |
Anonymous
Yes this. Until they are 6 or so, FaceTime can be really hard on the parent at home. I would send pictures and videos, but not FaceTime. So I'd send a little video of my airplane, or the hotel room. My DH would send a video back. That type of thing. But toddlers can be really upset by the FaceTime. |
Anonymous
This^. Instead let him send a video clip. |
Anonymous
| If your DH is capable and has sitter or grandparent as backup, you can do it at anytime. Just try to keep it short. |
Anonymous
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I traveled for 2 weeks when oldest was 2.5. If he had a hard time after getting off Facetime my H never told me. But it nearly broke me, b/c he started kissing the phone on his end.
Still, having a king sized bed all to myself, ordering room service, going to the gym after work, eating all my meals in blissful peace--would fly halfway around the world and fight jet lag for it again. |
Anonymous
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How long is the travel? I started traveling 1-2x/month when DD1 was 7 months or so, but I was generally able to keep the trips to 1-2 days (leave super early one day, come back that night or the following evening). I was pumping, so I got very comfortable dealing with TSA re: breastmilk transport rules! Biggest issue I ran into consistently was crappy hotel room mini-fridges - I've had to ask to switch rooms more times than I can count to get a sufficiently cold one.
My first week-plus trip wasn't until DD1 was 2 and weaned, so the only consideration was DH's ability to adjust his schedule to do both drop-off and pick-up. Neither of my kids has ever had an issue with me traveling, but they're cared for by DH and my parents when I'm gone so it's actually kind of a fun change for them. |
Anonymous
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Great if you want your partner to be equal. Give them time alone with the kid to develop a bond. Let them take responsibility around the house. If it's occasional travel-- 1-2 nights 1-2 times per month, it's a good thing.
Downside, you miss your kid. Beyond that, it's all upside. |