Before I gave birth, I thought long and hard about whether I’d breastfeed my baby or give him formula. I’d heard good and bad things about breastfeeding (it takes a toll on you after a while but it’s very nutritious for baby). As a first time mom, I definitely wanted to try breastfeeding before I gave my son formula. In fact, I planned to breastfeed exclusively for the first 6 months, at the very least.
But things didn’t work out as I imagined. My baby’s appetitie sky-rocketed on the third day, and I never saw that coming. I was still producing colustrum or ‘liquid gold’ as it’s commonly called, but baby was having trouble latching on. So I had to bring out my electric breast pump. I would spend almost all day pumping, washing bottles, bottle feeding baby, burping him, changing his diaper and putting him to sleep. Every 2-hours the cycle would repeat. I was basically living my life in 2-hour intervals.
It wasn’t long before I became sleep-deprived and lethargic. Hubby did his best to help by washing bottles and the breast pump equipment during the day but at night I’d be on my own, not because hubby didn’t want to help but because he was the designated driver for all of our appointments during that first week and I didn’t want him falling asleep behind the wheel. So, he would sleep as best he could and I’d be on a 2-hour sleep cycle (it never actually lasted a full 2 hours, though, because I was always paranoid about baby after reading about SIDS).
By the time the second week rolled around, hubby and I were exhausted. He really stepped up to the plate while on paternity leave but we both knew the help wouldn’t be available for long. In fact, he was only able to take 2 weeks off, which was basically his vacation time. We needed to find a solution to baby’s feeding dilemma and we needed to find it fast.
Although my doctor and lactation consultant encouraged me to breastfeed baby exclusively, hubby and I knew it wasn’t a simple task. It was one of those easier-said-than-done situations. After careful consideration, we decided that it would be best to give baby breastmilk during the day and formula at night. That way baby would still be getting breastmilk and I could get some sleep at night.
The next day, we went out and bought some liquid formula and thankfully baby drank it just fine. But we soon realized that liquid formula was quite expensive and would go bad quickly. So we switched to powdered formula. We went through 3 different brands before settling on one that seemed right for baby and our budget.
Our genius idea had a very short life span, however. In fact, it lasted all of 2 months; one night while I was trying to bottlefeed baby his formula, he refused to take it. I attempted to feed him several times but everytime I brought the bottle to his lips, he’d turn away. I didn’t think much of it until he refused the formula at the next feed. And the one after that. And every night for 2 days straight. Just like that, my baby quit formula. He went cold turkey! 😂 I guess he either developed an appetite for breastmilk or an aversion to the taste and smell of formula.
But I’m glad things worked out the way they did, because in the end, I was able to breastfeed my baby for a full year; it helped him stay healthy and helped me keep the baby weight off.
Now that my son is 13 months old, I give him full fat (3.25%) milk during the day and breast milk before he goes to sleep or takes a nap. Everything is going well so far. His daily recommended intake is 500-750 ml. I break it down into 2 bottles of 250 ml (around 9 ounces each) at breakfast and before bed. And one bottle of 6 ounces mid-day. It’s taking him some time to get used to regular milk but I’m optimistic that he’ll fare better with regular milk because it’s tasteless and odourless, as compared to formula.
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article sponsered by Northern Michigan certified lactation consulting and Mother Hubbards Country Cupboard
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