The Trials of Formula

As you all know I have been breastfeeding and am still going strong.  My goal was 9 months and I can't believe it's almost here.  As much as I would love to continue until a year, my supply is just not keeping up so we decided to supplement with a little formula.  Easy enough, right???  One would think but not so much for us.

We tried Enfamil Lipil Gentlease first as it was reccomended by Owen's doctor.  Since he has reflux and has a sensitive tummy she thought it would be best for him.  The Gentlease has partially broken down protiens that are easier to digest.  So, she stacked my arms with cans of samples and off we went.  We tried 1oz mixed with 5ozs of breastmilk for the first time on Sunday.  We thought such a small amount, he wouldn't notice.  Wrong again, of course Owen tasted it and refused to drink it.  We waited patiently until he was really hungry thinking that it was just something new, and again he not only refused it, he pushed the bottle away.  We knew he was hungry so finally after trying and trying I just made a new bottle of breastmilk and he sucked it down.  Again, we tried at each feeding and he would not drink it.   So what to do next...

We thought maybe his teacher would have better luck so we sent a bottle of 3ozs to school the next day along with all his usual bottles.  I didn't want to waste anymore of my milk so I decide that making a small bottle was best.  Katie called me shortly after lunch to tell me that he refused it yet again and that she tried several times and he just would not drink it. 

So, frustrated and clueless what to do I started asking friends.  Of course everyone I know hasn't had any problems with their babies drinking formula just some that it didn't agree with their tummy.  So finally one friend told me that her baby tried the gentlease and wouldn't drink it and she tried just the regular formula and had success.  So we decided to try Similac Advanced Earlyshield the next day....and success!  Owen drank the bottle with no problems (knock on wood).  Today is day 2 with Similac and I am hopeful that we will get a good report today too.

This, just in time for our trip to Tahoe in 2 weeks.  I was so worried about going away and not having him on a formula as I will need to supplement while I am there since I can't take my frozen milk with me.  My plan is to continue feeding him morning and night and then half-formula-half-bmilk during the day. 

Wish us luck with traveling...we are nervous!