Formulating a Success – The Hunt Begins

So… it has been 15.5 months…*gives myself several pats on my back for a job well done*

Yes, all of 15.5 months that Ethan has been fed exclusively on Mommy’s breast milk.  Well, other than the introduction of solids when he was 6.5 months old, whatever milk he has taken is solely breast milk. 

And now it’s finally time to introduce formula milk.  My frozen EBM stock in the freezer has dramatically dwindled from an impressive 30-40 feeds to a mere 5-6 feeds now.  I am producing just enough for Ethan these days, sometimes less, and that’s when I rely on my freezer stock.   My friends were teasing me that I would not be able to go through with the introduction last weekend, because I had postponed it indefinitely for a couple of weeks now.  But I braced myself for it, and kept to my word.  So late last Saturday afternoon, I decided to take that gigantic leap and opened that tin of Enfapro A+, one of the samples I had obtained from the pediatrician. 

The pediatrician recommended that we try introducing formula to Ethan in a cup.  And since Ethan is now very used to drinking from a cup, be it a cup with a spout or a regular adult cup, I made just 2oz of the formula and put it into his Nuby sippy cup.  Before pouring it into the cup, I tasted a little of the formula milk out of curiosity to see what it tastes like… I had heard horror stories from some moms that it tasted horrible!  Surprisingly though, it tasted like any normal powdered milk would taste like, so I was reassured.   Ethan would be fine with it, or so I thought…

So back to the cup…the spout on Ethan’s Nuby cup is really soft and so I thought the transition from nipple to spout would not be so drastic.  Ethan was all excited when he saw the cup, but just as the spout touched his lips he pushed the cup away immediately.  He had not even drank the milk, let alone sip it!  So wokay….I poured the milk into my ceramic mug.  He loves to drink water from my mug and I reckoned he would not be bothered by it.  Oh, I was SO WRONG!  He held the mug eagerly at first and attempted to drink the milk that was in it.  But just one sniff from that cute little nose of his and he pushed the mug away in disgust.  So much for my first attempt. 😛

The next day, I tried using the Nuby cup again but AGAIN, Ethan pushed the cup away angrily!  This happened several times, and I ended up pouring the formula away… no love lost there! 😛 On my 3rd attempt of the weekend, I put the milk into a regular Avent milk bottle and tried feeding him with it.  Amid angry wails and protests, he totally rejected the bottle.  TOTALLY.  Hmmm…ok time for Plan B….I had also bought some boxes of UHT Full Cream milk, so I decided to give that to Ethan instead.  As usual, he was excited when he saw the box and grabbed it eagerly.  But he grabbed it way too hard and the milk splurted all over the couch and floor.  I guess I’ll try next time then.  SIGH….

So the next day, Monday, I brought the whole tin of Enfapro to the baby sitter’s place and gave her instructions on how to feed him.  I told her to try giving him some formula when the EBM had all been fed.  So after work on Monday when we went to pick Ethan up, I was anxious to find out how Mrs Tan had fared in her attempt.  She told me that she did not have a chance to give him the formula yet, because he had just had his meal of porridge when we arrived.  So she would try the next day instead.  Tuesday evening: Mrs Tan said that Ethan really REALLY didn’t want the formula AT ALL.  He pushed the bottle away as if it were a plague, and allow the formula milk to dribble from his mouth!  But she said that he was okay with oats mixed with formula milk, so that’s a consolation.

So what to do now?  My plan is to persist with trying to feed him one feed of formula every day, and if he is still rejecting it then we would probably try another brand.  Yesterday night, I gave him some Milo from the box and he drank a little using the straw.  But after that he again exhibited his enormous strength and spilled Milo all over himself and me…ah well…the sharing of chocolatey goodness huh?

Is it going to be cheese and yogurt for Ethan boy soon?  Is it going to be full cream milk?  Formula?  Which brand?  Milo?  The saga continues….stay tuned.