Emily Oster

3 min Read Emily Oster

Emily Oster

Wins, Woes, and Travel Without Kids

Your stories for the week

Emily Oster

3 min Read

We’re so impressed by the thoughtful notes and advice you leave for one another in Wins and Woes each week. So we’re going to be doing something special with that on Thursday. (Stay tuned…)

Until then, enjoy these stories and our reader question about how to go on a trip without your kids.


That’s amore 

—Allie in Chicago

My baby has been really tentative about starting solids. And I’ve been nervous too! He’s my first, and I get very panicked about choking. Lo and behold — pizza may have been the answer.

Pumping is hard enough

—Milk Melee

It was my first week back at work post a maternity leave that bled into summer break. Figuring out pumping and squeezing it in my teacher schedule is hard. My school has a pumping room, but multiple people with different schedules use it. Today we left a training and three mamas needed the room at the same time, so I volunteered to find a different space. With the assistance of the secretaries, I settled into a small, infrequently used file room. While I was pumping, someone moved furniture in front of the door and I found myself locked in the room and screaming for help. Thankfully, a passerby heard me before I had to message the section chat for rescue. Not sure if the woe is how exhausting pumping is or being stranded in the file room, but I am ready for the weekend!

Heartbroken

—Kelsey

My son (9.5 weeks) has started refusing the breast. He already primarily drinks formula, as breastfeeding has been such a struggle and he lost too much weight in the beginning days/weeks of his life, so I feel I should be more prepared for this, but I’m simply heartbroken.

I hoped for and assumed a vaginal birth but ended with an emergency C-section. I so looked forward to breastfeeding, but a series of poorly executed interventions have led us here, and I feel I’ve failed us.

(Ed. note: I’m sorry! This is so hard. You’re doing great — and formula is great, too.)

This week’s reader question

I would love to travel just with my husband again, but I feel so nervous leaving our 1.5-year-old alone! How old were your kids when you and your partner went away for the weekend or on a longer trip? How do you know that they’re ready? How did you stay connected to them while you were gone? Give me all the travel (without kids) tips!

—ByeBye

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