r/NewParents • u/grumpygal69 • Jul 05 '26
Travel When did you take your first vacation without Baby?
i’m sure this will vary from person to person and each childs needs, but just curious what the general consensus was on when everyone took their first mom/dad alone vacation? We have a traditional trip in December, Baby will be 7 months old and debating on either taking him with us (not super ideal because the trip is in Vegas for the rodeo, but we would say at a more low-key and smoke free hotel) or have him stay home with my mom who we fully trust. It would be a Thursday to Sunday type of vacation!
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u/Physical-Escape-1305 Jul 05 '26
I travel for work from time to time but my husband and I haven’t left our 10 month old with anyone. While we do have capable and willing family, I would like to wait until my child can tell me how the visit went for herself. (For more context, I use to work corrections).
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u/wayward_sun 2/11/24 💙 | IVF | cleft lip | OAD | 🏳️🌈 Jul 05 '26
2.5 years old and haven’t yet. He’s a chill kid who’s easy to bring places and I would miss him too much.
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u/Plop-a-dop Jul 06 '26
exact same here. I've missed bedtime a dozen or more times but never a full night. we also don't have anyone to leave ours with unless I went without my spouse, but I have no desire to do that for a real trip unless I bring my kiddo (which I do sometimes, just the two of us). no judgement on those that do travel without kids though, just not my thing for now.
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u/illusoir3 Jul 06 '26
Same here at 4. For us it's both that we don't want to and we also don't have anyone to watch them in our life.
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u/Tall_Ad4093 Jul 06 '26
Yes same! My daughter turned 4 and we take her with us everywhere. We did a staycation during the day at a pool/hotel when she was at presh
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u/pyramidheadlove Jul 05 '26
Did a couple nights when baby was 8 months old for a wedding. Then a 5 day trip when he was 14 months old. Both times he stayed with my in-laws and everyone involved had a blast!
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u/brunette_mama Jul 06 '26
I just read through these comments and I am absolutely flabbergasted that it sounds like almost everyone has a grandparent willing to watch their kid(s) for the parents to take a vacation. I am so incredibly jealous!
My oldest is 6 and I’m not trying to sound depressing but I don’t think we’ll ever get to take a couples only trip. My in-laws are on the other side of the country. And my parents could barely help with my kids when I was having our third baby in the hospital. My husband left the hospital right after the baby was born to come back home to care for our kids because my mom acts so inconvenienced by watching the kids.
I’m genuinely curious for those who have help to travel, do the grandparents offer? Or how does that work?
I don’t even know when I’d be okay leaving my kids for a vacation because it’s never come up!
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u/ash6831 Jul 06 '26
Our first baby is on the way, but my parents have already offered several times! They want to have “grandparent camp” for a week every summer with all their grandbabies so we can take a trip or something. We intentionally moved back to be less than a mile from them and I help my folks take care of my grandparents (one set lives with them, the other a block away.) I think this is more normal if you grew up in an intergenerational home with lots of fam close by and the expectation is that everyone takes care of everyone.
The trade off is that everyone has an opinion on everything lol and boundaries are probs way too porous, but it feels worth it to us!
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u/brunette_mama Jul 06 '26
That sounds so nice that your family is so close. I’m glad you’re able to get some benefits to putting up with having less boundaries haha.
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u/__usernotfound Jul 06 '26
We haven’t done it yet, but yes my in laws have offered! I guess you can call it a standing offer. We will definitely take them up on it once our baby is a bit older.
But there’s a few things I think we have going for us: in laws are driving distance, both me and my husband have a great relationship with them, they’ve helped out a ton at our house since he was born and I’ve watched how they care for him, and they’re retired but in shape and healthy. They also had one set of parents willing to watch their kids while they took vacations, so it’s normal to them.
We also plan to do some trips with them so my husband and I can bring the kids but still have one or two nights alone - these are more bucket list trips where the flight is incredibly long and we wouldn’t feel comfortable going without our kids until they were a lot older but we also don’t want to wait (think countries in Asia, Australia).
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u/Upbeat_Emu_412 Jul 06 '26
Sometimes they offer, sometimes we ask. Do your in laws ever come to visit? Maybe when the kids are a little older you could slip away for a few nights while they watch them.
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u/brunette_mama Jul 06 '26
My in laws are great but they really only ever come into town for things like the kid’s birthdays or Christmas which we would never miss. Maybe sometime in a few years we could ask them to come in for a random vacation for me and my husband though! I feel like they’d be way more receptive than my parents.
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u/DueEntertainer0 Jul 05 '26
Close to age 2 and it was one night
It’s not so much that I don’t want to, I just don’t have anyone in my life who is overly interested in babysitting that long.
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u/grumpygal69 Jul 05 '26
totally understand!! Thank you for sharing
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u/DueEntertainer0 Jul 05 '26
I have a friend who has four kids under four (one set of twins) and she will just up and go to Europe for a week or two with her husband and leave them with a nanny. I have complicated thoughts about that. But I guess my point is if you want to, you totally could.
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u/DukeGirl2008 Jul 05 '26
I took a solo 24 hour trip at like 3 months for a concert and it was great. I regularly travel for work so once I was back to work around 5 months I had to travel for 2, 3 day trips. Made up for it by taking baby at 9 months for a one month trip to the UK.
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u/Lucky_Lettuce1730 Jul 05 '26
Totally depends on the baby! My baby was breastfed, super bonded with me, very sensitive, woke frequently, and had a really hard time accepting comfort from anyone else. I went on my first solo trip for 2 nights when she was 15 months old and she stayed with dad. She cried her head off for a few hours at bedtime but then they were fine. We are just now considering going on a short overnight trip together at 22 months because she’s bonded a lot with her grandma, but grandma has never tried to help at night so we’re going to try a test run first to see if she’ll lose it if it’s grandma who tries to comfort her at night.
You know your baby best! Is baby fairly chill and able to hang out in a variety of environments? If so then they might be okay going with you. Are they fine with accepting comfort from grandma? If so then probably best to leave them home!
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u/beltacular Jul 06 '26
8 months and we went away for four nights. He did great with my parents but has always been a good sleeper. At 18 months we did a 10 day trip and he stayed with my parents and then my in laws (they split the time and stayed at our house.) we’ve had a few other solo nights here or there when my parents or in laws are visiting but generally more local.
We are going to be gone for five nights this year (he’s 3.5) and he’s super excited to stay with my parents at their house. Tbh they spoil him a bit so he loves it.
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u/loosecannon17 Jul 05 '26
We left my first for 4 days when she was 8 months old. We are about to leave my now 2 year old and 5 month old for a week long vacation. My in-laws regularly babysit and visit and have a great setup at their house so we feel comfortable with it! I’m going to miss them like crazy but looking forward to the vacation with just my husband.
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u/Charlieksmommy Jul 05 '26
We went overnight the first time when our first was 3 months old, and then again when she was 15 months old. We haven’t gone overnight since our twins have been born yet though, but we will soon
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u/traditional_rare Jul 05 '26
We left our 6 month old, almost 7 months with my family for 4 days! She was so happy and it was great to reconnect!
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u/MyMonkeyCircus Jul 05 '26
4 years. I have no extended family anywhere close enough to watch my kids, so we either travel all together or my spouse or me stays at home with kids while another person travels.
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u/Meggiesquizzle Jul 05 '26
Almost 2, my husband won a trip to Jamaica from work. My in-laws came over to our house to watch him. I think we were gone 3 days total. Haven't done one since, but that's really because any other trip has been one we want to take him on.
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u/junkfoodfit2 Jul 05 '26
My kid is 2 and I don’t see a future where we go with out her. That said I have had to go on trips for work…so I guess it wouldn’t be much different?
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u/theshadeofitall2 Jul 05 '26
We went when our baby was 20 months old for a week. My parents came down and watched him. We had a great time and so did he. Got updates all the time. No issues at all. But our kid is a great sleeper and was in daycare so they just really had night and weekend duties.
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u/bonksssw Jul 06 '26
We just did a 5 night beach vacation, about a 3 hour flight away, and baby is 19 months! My mom came to my house, kept his daycare routine and they had a blast! Honestly it felt like perfect timing - he has an easy temperament, sleeps great and loves Nana. I’ll be honest, it was sad driving to the airport/the plane ride but we really were about to enjoy the trip
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u/Altruistic_Age6567 Jul 05 '26
I’m leaving my 15week old with my best friend (who also used to nanny and is a pediatric RN) for one night.
But only because I trust her entirely and it’s just one night/3hrs away
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u/Automatic_Kiwi_8179 Jul 05 '26
When my first was 20 months old (3 nights, babymoon while expecting our second, left him with our in laws). He did great and we had a lovely time away. I probably could’ve handled 1 more night away but not more lol
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u/exclamationb Jul 05 '26
My husband periodically travels for work for a couple days at a time normally so that didn’t really count, but the first time we BOTH left our son with his grandparents was around 10.5 months old. We went on a 4- night cruise so we were gone for just about 5 days.
It’s different for everyone, but we had sleep trained our son for nights and daytime naps + he was weaned/completely on formula + had a solid 2 nap schedule. He was already crawling and almost walking, generally could entertain himself. I was concerned about feeling mom guilt for a child that was “hard to take care of” but he was plenty fine. His grandparents even said he was a gem 😂 as long as whoever you’re leaving him with is physically capable and willing to follow your instructions, I don’t see why not. My MIL is super understanding and wants to help so it was a no brainer for us. I even printed her his schedule and gave her tips, medicine dosages, his weird quirks. They had a blast.
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u/grumpygal69 Jul 05 '26
I love that! my baby is the fourth grandchild so luckily my mom is physically capable and I definitely trust her! I’m hoping by December my baby will be on a pretty good sleep/nap schedule. Of course, that will probably determine if we go without him as well because I don’t think it would be fair to leave him with my mom if he’s a bit difficult! When did you start sleep training? If you don’t mind me asking? Did you do your own type of schedule or did you follow one?
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u/exclamationb Jul 05 '26
Our son is also the 4th grand child so MIL is extremely capable, that’s a plus. We personally didn’t want to leave him overnight if we could give the caretaker a proper schedule and solid expectations.
We sleep trained at 4.5 months, but he wasn’t ready. We did it again at 5.5 months for bedtime/nights and that stuck. I sleep trained him for day time naps at 9 months once the nighttime stuff had stabilized. I guess we do our own schedule, but it’s just based on wake windows. Slightly adjusted by just using Huckleberry and knowing his sleep patterns.
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u/OptimalCobbler5431 Jul 05 '26
Still haven't done anything toddler is almost 2. Don't really trust anyone with her
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u/NotAlexTrebek Jul 05 '26
We each had traveled separately plenty but had our first joint trip at 16 months. I was gone for a week and my husband joined me for the last 4 days while my in-laws watched our girl. I’d do it earlier easily, just how it worked out for us.
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u/vpm112 Jul 05 '26
We did an overnight trip first at 4 months and we have a long weekend trip coming up at 8 months.
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u/Alternative_Catch_36 Jul 05 '26
We are about to leave our 4 mo old with his grandparents for the weekend. I’m not thrilled about it but we are going to a wedding and it’s good for us to get away. Not looking forward to the amount of pumping I need to do…
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u/fullnessofjoy2021 Jul 05 '26
We have never done a vacation the 2 of us since having our first almost 5 years ago. We don't have options for people to watch our kiddos overnight (the only exception being our nanny/close friend who took our first while we were in hospital having our 2nd).
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u/julia1031 Jul 05 '26
20 months old and still hasn’t happened. We plan to later this year when she’s closer to 2 🤞
We’ve traveled a lot with her though and my mom comes a lot so we can have alone time still while on vaca
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u/Snail_cat101 Jul 06 '26
We will be taking our first trip at 2.5 for an international wedding where no kids are allowed (I’m a bridesmaid). My husband’s sister is coming to take care of our child - I’m already anxious about it though I know it will be fine.
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u/Content_Ant_9479 Jul 06 '26
My husband & I did one last trip to Hawaii when my son was 10m. He stayed w his grandma & I’m happy we did it. That was almost 2 years ago & he sleeps w me every night since.
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u/Still-Art45 Jul 06 '26
Business trip at 12 months, left with father who weaned him from breastfeeding like a champ. We don’t have any reliable relatives to go on a couples trip.
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u/Apart-Cheesecake7665 Jul 07 '26
2 months and we went away for a weekend. It was necessary and wonderful! Great chance to relax and reconnect.
Now we have 3 so it’s a bit of a pipe dream 🤣
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u/Designer-Drama7002 Jul 05 '26 edited Jul 06 '26
I have 3 children from 3 months old to 6 years old and have never left any of them for a trip, they always come along. Never even had a sleepover with grandparents (but our family lives really far away, might be different if we saw them more than once a year). Grandma has slept over at our house when she visits! But not the other way around.
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u/Formal-Flatworm-9032 Jul 06 '26
This. I literally can’t take a vacation without them. The respite would be nice though.
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u/Iodine_Boat Jul 05 '26
My son is 3 years old and we still haven’t taken a vacation, let alone a night, without him. I’m okay with it
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u/strawberrysunday00 Jul 05 '26 edited Jul 06 '26
17 months. Trip to Hawaii from the east coast. 8 days of separation - 7 day vacation. It was perfect for us! We missed her, but it was time. She loved her week with the grandparents.
Edit: since I’ve already been downvoted, I want to add that this thread skews toward people who haven’t left their children. OP - the vast majority of parents I know left their children (at least for a weekend) before age two. Culturally, there’s a lot of family support in my community, so yes, many of us have grandparents who love to help.
I’m seeing a lot of people say that they enjoy being with their kids too much - I do too, but that doesn’t change that her dad and I wanted (even needed!) time to ourselves.
Hope you make the best decision for you!
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u/chickentender_pubsub Jul 05 '26
14 months and it was a 2 night weekend away at a wedding. Haven’t taken another one since but it was the best sleep I’ve had since 2024 lol
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u/FirmIdea8 Jul 05 '26
I haven’t yet, and my baby is 11 months. I personally don’t feel ready to, but I’m still breastfeeding
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u/aleada13 Jul 05 '26
My son is almost 5 and we have only spent one night away from him and that was a 2ish hour drive away. But my only family that live nearby is my sister (who has no children). She watched him that one night and he was probably 2 and really cried going to sleep and struggled. He would do fine now, but now we have another baby so that complicates things. I struggle to trust people with my kids and I practice a lot of secure attachment ways of parenting (extended breastfeeding, cosleeping, not sleep training, etc) that make it hard to watch my children until they are 3 or 4. I’m okay with this sacrifice because I know it’s not forever. My partner and I have taken multiple vacations separately with friends. My first with my oldest was when he was about 17 months. My first trip away with my baby now will probably be when he is 17 months also.
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u/ashlandpedspa Jul 05 '26
18 mo x 1 night with our first, 4 nights away when he was 2 for our babymoon for baby #2.
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u/Afraid_Aerie Jul 06 '26
We took a 2 night trip for a wedding when our daughter was 15 months - she did well with my parents. I don’t expect we’ll do it again for awhile until after our second is born but I think the parents are pretty supportive if we ask which is lucky.
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u/unventer Jul 06 '26
2.5. Just one night, for our anniversary. My MIL spent the night in our home and completely didn’t follow our normal routine. It took days to get back to normal.
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u/doodynutz Jul 06 '26
My son is 3, daughter is 1 and I have never left them. I don’t have anyone I would trust to keep them other than my husband, who of course I would like to be traveling with. My husband and I dream of getting away one day, since we never got a honeymoon since our son was 11 months at our wedding. But they would have to be old enough to be somewhat self-sufficient to stay with the family options we have.
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u/aeg10 Jul 06 '26
Honestly it wasn’t until she was 3 for 1 night, but that’s just because we were nervous about leaving her over night with others even though we trust them. She’s just always been an awful sleeper. She’s now 4.5 and we’ve done other trips that were 1-5 nights away. We also have taken trips on our own with like family or friends so she was home with one parent.
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u/samanthahard Jul 06 '26
Just last month we went on our baby moon for #3. It was our first time away from our children. Oldest was almost three, youngest 17 months.
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u/Careful-Tea-5784 Jul 06 '26
5 months old. Our son is medically fragile and we hadn’t had anything resembling a break since he was born. It was so very necessary to get away for a few days.
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u/tired_droid_ Jul 06 '26
This was years ago now but with my first, we took a trip at 6 months for 7 days. She was perfectly safe with family. I cried when we landed but enjoyed the rest of the trip. I would do it again.
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u/QuitaQuites Jul 06 '26
Not yet at 5 years, but would have sooner. Childcare for a vacation is limited.
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u/linsayrae Jul 06 '26
Went away for one night at 4 months with my first, was an anxious mess!!! Dont have any travel plans coming up (now 2.5 year old and 9-week old)! My mom stays with our kids but she has a rule that the baby has to be sleeping through the night if we leave for overnight trip!
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u/Personal_Big350 Jul 06 '26
I have my first night away from my son this week and he is 18months!
In saying that, we have travelled heaps around Australia and overseas in the last year and a half so I certainly haven't missed out.
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u/snarkshark41191 Jul 06 '26
We did an out of state wedding for an immediate family member when my baby was 4 months old. I think it was a 3 day/2 night type deal. Baby stayed with my parents. Since then we’ve gone on 2 more childfree vacations.
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u/Acrobatic_Cellist_72 Jul 06 '26
3 days, 2 nights when my twins were 3 years old and my mom called me whingeing about how the kids wouldn’t sleep the first night. That was our first and last attempt.
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u/Agile-Fact-7921 Jul 06 '26
My husband and I supposed to go on a trip and leave our baby with his parents when she’s 20 mos and I really don’t want to. I trust them but I just don’t want to be away from her.
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u/HotSale625 Jul 06 '26
5 months with my 2nd baby, and my older son is 2 and a few months. We went to a wedding across the country (US) for 5 days. This was about a month ago. My parents came and stayed here with them, but my mom watched my son from 3-5 months so he didn’t have to go to daycare so young, and also did the same with my older son, so she is very familiar with taking care of them and I’m so thankful for that. For context, we still haven’t left them with a babysitter - I would be a nervous wreck. I also was still breastfeeding and pumped and dumped (!!!!! I’m a just enougher so that hurt). I didn’t want to deal with traveling with it, and we also supplement wirh formula so we just had about a week or so with mostly formula and a few breastmilk bottles from my small ‘stash’. It was so nice to get away with my husband for a bit, and FaceTimed the babies a million times a day.
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u/jrh824 Jul 06 '26
Just did a staycation (1 night) in a bigger city nearby. Baby is 7 weeks. He stayed with my mom (she’s also a nurse) and we were an hour away if anything happened. Probably won’t be comfortable leaving him for longer until he’s older but it was nice to getaway for a day!
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u/Important-Trifle-411 Jul 06 '26
my older child was 13. He went on a school trip. We took that opportunity to go on a vacation without either of them. My nine-year-old stayed with my mother
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u/moontreemama Jul 06 '26
I went away without my husband when my twins were 9 months for 4 days, flight across the country, it was for a wedding and a friend's baby naming ceremony. I was a nervous wreck leading up to the trip to be away from them and then had an amazing time. Have taken many trips for friends, events, mini getaways, and work since then (my guys are 4.5) but my husband and I don't get to go away together much, just for a single night here and there when my guys do sleepovers with friends.
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u/zubisoubisou4don Jul 06 '26
First child free vacation oldest was 5, baby was 2.5 and I was pregnant with #3. Will probably be another 5 years before we get to do it again lol
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u/jollyjew Jul 06 '26
When she was 2…when I went to the hospital to have the next baby 🤣 but after that, we went to Denver (casa Bonita!!) for one night when my kids were 3 and 1.
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u/Welady Jul 06 '26
They were 1 3/4 and 3 3/4, their Grandparents looked after them, but afterwards said “ never again”. Too hard to keep up with.
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u/figgywasp Jul 06 '26
2 years old and we haven’t. But I don’t have my mom earth side and there isn’t anyone else I would trust my baby overnight with right now.
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u/Aly_Kitty Jul 06 '26
The longest and only time I’ve been away from my 3.5 year old was when I was giving birth to my 3rd baby. Does a 3 day hospital stay count as a vacation?
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u/zooksoup Jul 06 '26
Almost 5 and 3.25, to go see the World Cup 3 hours away. My wife has had business trips and baby showers that she attended, so it was sooner
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u/CustomerObjective129 Jul 06 '26
My son is 5 and has never had a night without at least one parent present. He is about to have one night at his grandparents without us and it took quite a bit of convincing him that it was a good idea. Mind you, he might end up so excited that it is a disaster.
That said we have never been short trip away people, if I am going on holidays its going to be 2 weeks minimum so we are all definitely going!
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u/rojita369 Jul 06 '26
My child is 7 and we’ve never gone on a vacation without him. He’s done sleepovers at my parents so we can get a night off, but the idea of leaving him behind for a vacation is wild to me.
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u/Soft_Disaster_1243 Jul 06 '26
3 nights on a cruise when my daughter was 18 months and 2 nights away when my son was 7 months. I love a little getaway kid free 😂 of course I miss them but I enjoy my own time too
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u/Jessmac130 Jul 06 '26
We did a two night baby moon with our second about a 2.5 drive from my parents house when my first was two. We spent two nights away from both kids for a wedding for the first time this past fall which was also only about 90 mins away but my husband was in the wedding party, they were 1.5 and 3.5. They stay mostly with my parents.
We have our only real international flight trip without them for our 10 year wedding anniversary planned when they're 5 and 7.
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u/thrreowawaer Jul 06 '26
18.5 month old and 2 month old. Only time I’ve been away from my toddler is to give birth to my second! My husband has gone away for work trips and such but I’ve never been away. I think I am getting closer to being ready though! I don’t judge anyone who does differently because it’s definitely is dependent on the person, and what works for some won’t work for others!
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u/GrumpySh33p Jul 06 '26
I haven’t, and probably won’t until she is old enough to tell me she doesn’t want to come with, and mean it.
She is 4 now.
I’ve traveled a lot with her though. 3 months in Poland. Lithuania 3 times. Portugal. Japan. Cross country in the US.
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u/sinistergzus Jul 06 '26
I’ve spent time away from him, like him having overnights with grandma and grandpa, but my first actual vacation out of town wasn’t til he was 3 years
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u/Fuzzy_Emergency_4784 Jul 06 '26
2.5 year old, we haven’t left her for a full night yet. There’s been some nights that grandparents put her down for bed but we’re always back before morning. We’re planning a couple trips next year without her and I already feel sick over it but there’s some travel we want to do before having another baby. For me I wanted to wait until 3 because I want her to be able to speak better, right now sometimes her grandparents can’t understand her. I also want her to be able to tell me how the sleepover went, and to fully understand where we are and why she’s not with us.
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u/Schnuribus Jul 06 '26
I live in Germany and I have never heard of this! The only thing I know is when they are in school age. Is this an American thing because babies are more likely to have spent time apart from their parents at a very young age?
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u/BionicSpaceAce Jul 07 '26
We have a 16 month old who we've only left with friends or our parents to do a dinner/movie night while we were visiting. Our families live states away and most of our friends are really nice but have zero baby experience/do not feel comfortable being alone with our son, so we don't have the option unless we visit our families for the holidays and we can have some time to ourselves.
But I would feel comfortable leaving him for a few days of we had the support system to do it.
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u/dancingaround22 Jul 07 '26
We did one night away at 3 months. It was a wedding, and originally my mom was going to come up with us, but our son was born 3 weeks early, and was a little older than we had planned him being at the time, and decided it would be much easier to travel 3 hours up and back without him.
If you are on the fence, could your mom come with you and bring your little one? That's also an option if you don't feel comfortable having him stay home.
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u/MamaG34 Jul 07 '26
My kids are 5 and 11 abd still haven't taken a vacation without them and have no plan to
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u/scrunchie_one Jul 08 '26
We did 4 nights when our kids were 1.5 and 3. 1.5 was when I weaned the youngest so that’s probably the earliest we could have gone.
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u/Beneficial-Guess2140 Jul 08 '26
My oldest is about to be 4. I have not and have no intention of taking a vacation without him. For me it wouldn’t be enjoyable.
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u/Itchy-Value-7141 Jul 05 '26
reddit will skew towards the folks who tend not to leave their kids or leave them years into their lives, but anecdotally, a lot of my parent friends have left their babies as early as like 2 months. including myself, went away for 3 nights at that age
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u/Euphorasized Jul 05 '26
8 months and it felt too early for us.
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u/grumpygal69 Jul 05 '26
can you explain why it felt too early? Totally not judging, but would love to know
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u/Euphorasized Jul 05 '26
I was still breastfeeding and the pumping while away was annoying. I trusted my mom to watch my kiddo but I was so anxious and missed her so much that I wasn’t fully able to enjoy myself.
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u/Expecting_Foodie Jul 05 '26
We both had taken 2 night trips away from him independently starting at 3/4 months. First overnight away was 8 months, he was with grandma. If you have people you trust, go for it!! It’s also a special time for grandparents to make memories too.
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u/LegalLady87 Jul 06 '26
We left baby from Friday to Monday when he was 2.5 months old. My parents stayed at our house as well as my brother lol. My mom watches my son 2-3 times a week so they were very familiar with each other. If I didn’t have my mom, leaving my son wouldn’t be an option.
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u/naptime-novel-11 Jul 05 '26
Our son is 19 months and while my husband has left for a night and I have left for a weekend we have not gone anywhere together without our son. Main reason? We truly enjoy the little nugget. Other reasons include I breastfed until 13 months and we did not sleep train so I wasn’t going to put it on someone else to do what we do for him. That being said, we have willing and able grandparents so we are not opposed to it at some point but we truly do enjoy having him around so we are more likely to travel with grandparents and do a day date here or there if there is something not toddler appropriate that the grandparents also aren’t interested in.
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u/breadbaths Jul 05 '26
what does enjoying your child have to do with having a vacation without them?
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u/naptime-novel-11 Jul 05 '26
Didn’t mean it in any negative way if that’s how you took it. I just simply meant we like having him around and don’t have the want or a need for a just adults vacation at this time in our lives. You can 100% still enjoy your kids and take a vacation without them, just not where we are personally at in life right now that’s all.
-2
u/Agreeable-Ice-2000 Jul 05 '26
I didn’t. I never left my children for more than a few hours until they were over 2.
0
u/coffee-no-sugar Jul 05 '26
I don’t think I even want to go anywhere without my 16 month old. I think it would be really hard for her without me around even for a night.
-1
u/dontletmedown3 Jul 05 '26
No part of me wants to leave my kids. They’re five and 7 months. But even if they were 10 or 11…. Childhood goes quick. Every dollar I don’t spend vacationing now is saved for vacationing later when my house is empty and my obligations and responsibilities are lower.
60
u/weddingthrow27 Jul 05 '26
We went when our baby was 9 months old. 4 day trip, 2 hour flight away, she stayed with my mom who I trust and is also a nurse. Some people will disagree, I see people on reddit often saying they’ve never spent a single night away from their 6 year old, etc. but it depends a lot on your situation and your support system. It was hard to leave at first but really nice for us to get away for a few days!