First time leaving baby overnight - terrified

Nov 231 min read

My parents are offering to watch our 8 month old for one night so my wife and I can stay at a hotel nearby. Just one night. Supposedly this is good for us and will help our relationship or whatever.

I am irrationally anxious about this. My parents are capable, he's been with them before for a few hours, but what if he needs something? What if he can't sleep? What if my mom forgets to check that his monitor is on?

I know I'm being ridiculous but this feels impossibly hard. Has anyone done this? Does it actually get easier or am I just going to stress the whole time?

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Comments(2)

JJerome S.Regular1d ago

One night is actually perfect because it's short enough that nothing bad will happen (your parents have raised kids before, they know what they're doing) but long enough that you'll remember what it's like to be a couple again. That said - the worrying doesn't go away, it just becomes less intense. My advice: leave your parents your pediatrician's number, a list of what to do if he gets a fever, and then PUT YOUR PHONE ON SILENT. Actually silent, not vibrate. Your parents will call if there's a real emergency. They're not going to forget to turn on the monitor - that's anxiety talking.

LLiam S.Regular1d ago

Did the overnight thing with my in-laws when our daughter was 7 months and honestly? I stressed the entire time too. But here's what actually helped - we did a full "handover" the day before. Like, we showed them EXACTLY where everything is, wrote down the bedtime routine step by step, went over the monitor situation (because yes, parents can be weird about tech), and I even had them do a practice nap time with us there. When we finally left, I felt way more confident because they weren't guessing. And my kid was fine. Better than fine - my in-laws said she slept great. We were the ones who couldn't relax at the hotel lol. But that first night away genuinely did something for us. Give it a shot.