Sorry Laura to pick up from your post, you just got me thinking!

How often do everyones LO's stay overnight at you mums & at MILs? What age did this start at? Did it take longer before MIL would take them?

My mum takes Caitlin on average every 6-8 weeks (if im going out so it may be twice one month and then not at all for 3 months), this has been since she was about 4/5months old. Mum does enjoy having her but always hands her back saying she is tired (Caitlin frequently wakes in night & my silly mum lets her get up for a cuddle, changes bum, gets water... spoils her imo lol!) My mum takes her after tea and likes her collected after lunch.

MIL has never had her overnight. Infact because she doesnt drive she has never looked after her in the evening. To be fair on MIL I do think she wanted to have her overnight stupidly young but I wasnt comfortable, then we had a row when Caitlin was 3 months old and its always been a bit awkward since. I know she still would but she prob feels a bit hurt that I didnt trust her in the early days so Im worried she would refuse, plus Caitlin is a moo that still wakes a few times in night so it is asking for her to have a sleepless night.

I am starting to think it would be nice to have a 2nd babysitting option as if my mum is busy I cant go out as Stuart cant look after her. I think iv cut my nose off to spite my face though & just as im realising this MIL is getting a social life and Caitlin maybe harder to settle there as she's never stayed before.

i wouldn't have let anyone look after Arwyn overnight when she was any younger than now. the only overnights she's had I've been staying over too so noone has had her yet. i've just been waiting for her to start sleeping through and be off the boob and then anyone that wants can have her!!!

Alfie has slept out every sat night since he was 4weeks old!he goes between my mam's,my auntie's and gav's dad.he doesn't stay out if he's poorly tho.he's totally comfortable staying out and is good as gold for everyone he is with.our family is really really close and we all see each other pretty much every day anyway so he is totaly comfortable with them all and i trust them with my life.it's nice to get a break so me and gav can get some time alone x

avas never stayed out mind you we've never been offered!

Callums only ever stayed out once at my mums when he was nearly a yr old and it was hell for my poor mum he went off ok but frm 12 he screamed the hole time till i picked him at 7am
to say she hasent offered again lol xx

both mine stayed out for the first time at 15 months, oliver has only ever stayed out twice, i wasnt really comfortable leaving them any younger
if i go out its usually my mum has them and i go back to hers and get up with them as usual in the morning or ex has them. but tbh iv only been out a few times since ollie's been born
im supposed to be going out 2mo night but doesnt look like it will be happening now, just been cancled on x

Stephen has never stayed with anyone overnight yet. I don't feel ready yet to be apart from him for that long! I'm sure he'd be ok doing it though because he has slept at other places in his own room (with us there too) and he always sleeps through, I just wouldn't like it! Having said that, I would only let him stay with my mum, not my mil, she has never even offered to look after him for an hour! xxx

Lily stayed at my mums when she was probably about 3 months old and now stays once a week as my mum looks after her for 2 days in the week while i am at work and its too far to go and collect her each day. She has stayed at MILs about 3 times, it would be more but they live about 60 miles away so its not really practical to do it more often. Its a personal thing but although we miss her we do like to have some time as a couple. I also think its good for her to be used to being with other people xx

Aimee has never stayed out, and probably wont for a long long time.

She is on heart meds and she has them at 8am, 3pm and 10pm (we give her this one in her sleep), and I just couldnt trust any of our parents to give it to her. Im sure it would be fine, but I wouldnt stop worrying.

Lily is too young and will probably end up staying out when Aimee does.

x

Im starting to come round to the idea that its nice 'just to get a break'. My mum doesnt mind taking Caitlin if im going out, volunteering in the home etc but she has never been one for taking Caitlin for the sake of it and would never dream of making it a weekly event, (perhaps if Caitlin slept better her attitude would change!)

Id love Caitlin to stay at MILs now but I feel like Iv missed the boat a bit. I feel I should have started it earlier, even though I wasnt comfortable with the idea. Again though thinking of Caitlin, I do think she would be a bit distressed there waking up when she isnt used to it, though she does see MIL once or twice a week so its not like she a stranger.

Its weird when they teeny you dont want to leave them, but in a way if you dont its harder to leave them/get them looked after when they older! I also think once you have 2 or more it must be a nightmare. I cant imagine my mum agreeing to have a toddler and a baby to stay!

my sister takes ben occasionally, just for the night. most times its more hassle than its worth thou

garry on the other hand... his grandparents sometimes have him 3/4 days straight rips my box!!

Does rips your box mean breaks your heart? Sorry to sound dim!

I think there is a happy medium but everyone has different ideas of whats normal, and different things make different people happy. Im sure all our babies are loved just the same regardless of whether they with their mummys every night of the week or not. I just wish id been a bit more relaxed in the earlier days, though it prob would have broke my heart at the time so it was prob the right thing, and my mum influenced me in being so staunch about mummys and their babies not being apart.
I have no siblings, id love a sister to share childcare with! x

evan has stayed at my mums 2 or 3 times since he was born, he ha stayed with my sister once and my brother once and thats it
he has never stayed with mil overnight infact the most she has kept him has prob been 3 hours
lol no one wants to keep him, nah its not that but evan has always been a rubbish sleeper and i feel guilty ppl having him overnight one of the times my mums had him i stayed to
he sleeps good now and is stayin at my mums in a couple of wks but he hates being away from me and oh thats why we have put him in nursery so my mum kinda worries about taking him that when he wakes thru the night she wont be able to settle him or get him to go to bed at his usual time, she doesnt seem to understand that the only way he will get used to stayin overnight without us is if ppl take him for him lol!! and ive told her if she was strict and put him down at his bedtime he wud go to sleep maybe cry for a few min first but they wont do it they wudnt be able to leave him crying so he takes the piss haha
kinda pisses me off a bit cos wud be fab if me and oh cud go out together but we cant cos it jst seems to be more hassle than its worth gettin a sitter
i wudnt even bother asking mil she wud come up with some excuse or other plus evan dont see her often so id worried he wudnt settle for her
i think me and oh have only been out together for a night out where we havent picked evan up on way home twice since evan was born

dee has stayed at grans and grandas a few times but OH and i have stayed there too ,, if we go out for a few drinks she stays in grandparents room overnight
she has never stayed anywhere without me or OH and i doubt she will for a while yet she is very much a mummy's girl

Ellie hasn't!

I like her to be with us, maybe when she's older and if she asks i'll let her.

Taylas stayed at my mums once, we lived in Cyprus till she was 9months, then we lived next door (thats the one time she stayed, as we were out late and wanted to sleep in ) But now we live with my Mum!
I think when we move out Tayla will stay at least once a month, my mum and brother are really close to her and will miss her loads when we move!

We don't have family very near us so Wil has only ever stayed at my Mum & Dad's once and that was for 5 days while I was in hospital last year. He is going to stay Tuesday - Saturday next week while his childminder is on holiday and I am at work. He loves spending time with them and my Mum and Dad love having him to stay so it is fab all round (No 5am wake up for me next week )

Wil has never, and will never, stay at MIL or FILs. I have only ever left Wil with MIL for an hour when he was about 4 weeks old and FIL had him once for 3 hours and Wil was asleep in bed for the duration. My in-laws are not child friendly.

Harry stays at mil once a fortnight, purely so i can get a nite sleep! Only issue is she spoils him rotten & does anything he wants so when he comes home for the first 24 hours he is a heller!

Bad mum alert!! - I let Harry stay with my mum over night at 8 weeks old, sent him packing with 6 expressed bottles lol, and she has him every friday night as i work late then early the next day; MIL has never had him over night and to be honest I wouldn't want her too as her current partner is an arsehole lol xx

neither of mine have stayed anywhere without me

Well apart from when My mum came to look after jaiden while i was in having sophia

I would love to just pop the kids round 2 my mums for sleep over just so I can wake up when i want to wake up not by a little man climbing into bed or a little lady shouting LOL but i wouldnt let mIL have them at all coz well bascally too old to cope with them but my mum would love to have them 4 a week LOL Or so she says hahaha I might get rid of jaiden for a long weekend soon

SemoandHaribo wrote:

Bad mum alert!! - I let Harry stay with my mum over night at 8 weeks old, sent him packing with 6 expressed bottles lol, and she has him every friday night as i work late then early the next day; MIL has never had him over night and to be honest I wouldn't want her too as her current partner is an arsehole lol xx

semo i dont think ure a baby mummy at all/in that case i must be too! we had no choice for alfie to stay out at 4 weeks old as it was the night that gavs mam died and we went to the hospital to see her. ever since then it has been a week,ly ritual and i dont think theres anything wrong with it at all. in face i wud do it again with my next baby.

alfie is extremely well loved and i8 trust my family with my life.

x

First time Imogen stayed at my Mums overnight she was 5months. Since then she's stayed with my Mum or sister a few times. Nothing regular. She's pretty much always good as gold and adores my sister so loves staying with her.
She's never stayed at my mother &father in laws, at first i didn't feel comfortable with them babysitting and now they're too scared to. We mention it loads and they always say they will but when it comes to it they panic and say "no she'll just cry and we'll have to bring her back to you" So i haven't bothered pursuing it anymore cause I don't want them bringing her back at 2am just cause she stirred.

SemoandHaribo wrote:

Bad mum alert!! - I let Harry stay with my mum over night at 8 weeks old, sent him packing with 6 expressed bottles lol, and she has him every friday night as i work late then early the next day; MIL has never had him over night and to be honest I wouldn't want her too as her current partner is an arsehole lol xx

Well if you're a bad mum then i'm an awful one.. My mum had Alfie over night when he was 6 weeks old while i went out

He goes to his dads one night a week, and my mum will have him whenever i have something planned. Which is hardly ever at the moment so she practically kicked me out of the door last night lol!

He used to stay at his dads mums 1-2 times a month but she hasn't seen him for 4 months so when she asked if she could have him last week it was a definite no no cause he wouldn't recognise her and be comfortable with her.

I dont think anybody is a bad mummy for having their little ones stay at their grandparents over night.

We are mums 24 hours a day and sometimes its nice to let go a little and have some time out, we all sure deserve it.

I wish I was in a position to do it, and if things were different, I would like a shot.

x

Rowans never stayed out. Family are not close enough. My my stayed at ours and watched Rowan whilst we went out for the night. Rowan has no other grandparents but really wish he did as I loved oh's dad and would have loved to have met his mum