how old is too young

Christina - posted on 02/19/2010

Charlie is my 6th I wont let anyone but dh watch him. no way would my MIL take him I wouldnt let my 11 yr old go for a weekend either maybe visit them at thier house?

Jennifer - posted on 02/18/2010

Is the problem being away from mom (which I agree is a bad idea) or the time in the car, which may be more of a fussy baby issue?

Claire - posted on 02/18/2010

i wont let grandma have my son overnight not yet ..he is 4months old at the moment .

Ellasyn - posted on 02/17/2010

i understand your problem. but just to give you my point of veiw. i am a first time mom and my baby is 4 months. my mom has watched him for a few hours once and a while ( frankly i wish she would more) but i wouldnt feel comfortable yet having him sleep over. and i especially would not feel comfortable with my MIL taking him overnight who has never babysat him yet. im sure she would do fine but it just makes me feel uncomfortable and no matter how great she is shes still not MY mother. my friends with kids on the other hand had their moms take their kids for the whole weekend since 1 month old. everyone is different. i know its tough but you have to try and tough it out if shes not comfortable yet. and its probably the mother that is over worrying and being over protective. but thats okay as 4 months if she wants to. and you dont know how she was raised either. im sure its nothing personal. you should take a few weekend trips up there and show them how great you will do on their turf first. that will ease her mind.

Peita - posted on 02/17/2010

My kids did not have sleepovers until they were about 2 and then it was a drop off at about 5.30pm and pick up at about 9am the next morning! just remember it is a personal choice, no-one pushed me into letting my kids sleep over even though they were fine when they finally did, but I think if you keep pushing the issue then they will start to resent you and it will be even longer for you to wait! Be patient and they will decide in their own time when they are ready to leave THEIR baby!!!

Percy - posted on 02/17/2010

I've been trying to leave my little one overnight since she was about 2 months old. But my partner keeps saying no, even though I want to leave her with his mom. He doesn't want people to think that we can't cope, lol. I've explained to him that the main thing people say when you have a baby is " If you ever need a break I'll watch her" because they understand how hard it can be. But he's a macho man and is overprotective

Allie - posted on 02/17/2010

My inlaws live in Alabama and we live in Texas so it makes it difficult, but my youngest is 4months and we just got back from a visit. I did this with all my boys at 4 months to visit the grandparents. They have traveled to Arizona and Alabama from Texas

Kate - posted on 02/17/2010

My Husband and I lived 150 miles from my parents when my first son was born until he was about 7 1/2 months old when we moved closer due to my husband being posted to a new job. I let my mum have my son from Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon at that age so that my son wasn't disturbed with all the packing and sorting out in the house that we had to do, but he was always bottle fed (and fed well) and was a very good sleeper. I now have 4 month old twins and they don't feed easily, they are lactose intolerant and both have quite bad reflux, so it can be very difficult to get them to take their bottles, also they are quite unsettled at night still, although they are getting better. Once we have the feeding and sleeping issues sorted with them then I am sure I will let them go and stay with my mum.

I have never even left my older son (who is now 3 1/2 years old) alone with my MIL and nor will I. She has seen him about 5 times in his whole life and makes no effort to see him more or keep in contact with him (so much so that if I mention his Nana he says "who is my Nana?"), so that is a completely different situation, but even if she did make an effort with my children I wouldn't let them stay with her because she smokes and she does so in her car and in her house!

Liesel - posted on 02/16/2010

I must be honest...it took me a while to leave my babies with....anyone. I must admit that I am more relaxed with the second child. I will leave my children with granny for the day, but I feel that for a whole weekend away from mommy and just visiting granny at this stage is too small. But, that is only my opinion

Lise - posted on 02/16/2010

I would NOT be apart from my LO overnight yet. My mom and MIL babysit her for 3-5 hours, but that's it. I personally (MY opinion) think anything under 2-3 years old is too young unless an emergency. My dad lives 70 miles away and I'd never send her that far away without me.

Sharon - posted on 02/16/2010

We live about 220km (not sure how many miles that is), away from the grandparents, approx 3hr drive. Xander hasn't had an overnight stay with my dad, or my husbands parents, and I wouldn't feel comfortable leaving him with them for a weekend, or even overnight, and us being so far away. We have gone down to visit them & they have come up here to visit us, numerous times and that creates bonding time for all of them.

Jennifer - posted on 02/16/2010

My baby is breastfed, and my hubby just finally decided it was OK to leave him with sitters for a few hours at a time only 2 weeks ago. I wouldn't leave him with anyone for a whole weekend at this point because he won't take a bottle. Plus, I wouldn't want to be away from him.

Is there a reason you can't go to them? It's only 200 miles as you say. My baby hates riding in the car, and I wouldn't drive him that far away. We can go maybe 30 minutes before we all have a break down.

Candice - posted on 02/15/2010

If your grandbaby is breastfed then i can see the issue. have you asked your son if they feel insecure about leaving baby with you? new moms tend to be overly protective.

Jayme - posted on 02/15/2010

i dont let my son go w/ anyone for more than a few hours at a time. no way would i let anyone keep hime over night. not even my mom who lives 10 mins away.



so i see where they are coming from.

Nicole - posted on 02/14/2010

I can kinda see where they are coming from. As a 1st time mother, I wouldnt feel comfortable having my daughter with her grandparents 4 a whole weekend but I also breastfeed. However I have let them take her on single overnight stays but both sets live under 10 min away. I think your son and his wife prolly feel anxious about it just in case there is a problem with baby they cant be there quickly to help not that they doubt ur ability to take care of her

Lindsay - posted on 02/14/2010

I think it really depends on the person.. I am a mom of 4, and i think 5 months is too young. But again it's a personal thing.. there are some people fine with leaving there young one with family. I don't even really get anyone to babysit for us until the child is about 8 months. I mean to do something for an hour or so is fine. Sorry your in the bind, hope it works out

Crystal - posted on 02/14/2010

Is this their first? I get nervous leaving my son (first born) with his grandparents and they only live 30 minutes away. I have to remind myself that they have raised kids and we turned out ok. I think it's harder for me to let go because he is my first baby and I want to spend every second with him. I do believe it is important for Grandparents to be involved in his life too and as time has gone by I've let them see him for longer periods of time without me. It's not that I don't trust them, I just have a hard time being away from him. We do visit my parents and my hubbies mom at least once a every week and they know they are more than welcome to visit us anytime. I hope your son can learn to relax and allow you to spend that quality time with you grandbaby. Until they get comfortable with you watching the baby, maybe just try to visit them as much as you can and offer to watch the baby so they can go out to dinner and a movie. That will give you a few hours of one on one time and give them a chance to ease into leaving the little one with you. As far as it not being the same as your home, I understand, but that's your only option unless you want to stay in a hotel or just go for a day trip. I wish you the best of luck : )

Jennifer - posted on 02/14/2010

I let Grandma take my little girl 1-2 times a week. She loves it and so does Grandma. Of course we only live 2 miles away from each other. but if we lived further apart it would be the same way. I don't see anything wrong with letting a baby stay with grandparents. I know she's in good hands! I don't worry about her one bit when she's over there. This weekend coming up Grandma is going to take her for me for the weekend so DH and I can have our valentines weekend, since we're not this weekend. I just think some people get so over protective and anal. But there's not much you can really do. Unfortunately! Wish there was some good advice I could give you.... I suppose, just tell them how you feel.

Good Luck!