Wednesday, August 13, 2008

A Questions For Moms...

I'm having to change from breastfeeding to formula and so far Sadie doesn't seem to be doing very well with the change. I know she's ok with the bottle and pumped breast milk but when I tried to give her formula yesterday afternoon she threw up so much she got down to her stomach acid. Last night Keith took the late feedings so that I could get some extra sleep. He gave her a bottle that had 1/3 formula and 2/3 pumped breast milk. She took it once but was awake for 3hours and refused to take more when she got hungry again so I had to get up to breastfeed.

Do any of you have a formula suggestions or any ideas on how to make this change easier for all of us? So far we've tried Enfamil iron, gentlease, and lactofree.

Thanks for you help. It's hard enough to not be able to breast feed Sadie for as long as I did with Bekah but to see her struggle though the change is heartbreaking....and stressful.

9 comments:

Unknown said...

I remember Nicole getting very sick when I tried switching and so I never pursued it. I think Sadie just has to adjust and that may take a little time. I highly recommend checking out the website for La Leche League
http://www.llli.org/ They answer so many questions including yours.

Liv said...

Cara- I am praying for you, I just heard about everything from Noonie yesterday!
about the change in feeding-
my advise would be start giving her the mixture breast/formula during the day and have lots of patience- even if she doesnt want to feed, then do breast at night, so you can sleep.
Liv

2Badgers said...

Good morning Cara. This is a difficult task, getting healthy Badgers off of Mom's breastmilk! I had a trying time even when Chad was 8 months old, but he seemed to prefer the sweeter Carnation formula diluted with mostly breast milk, then gradually add more formula like Keith was doing. That will help the digestion adjust, and we can pray that even though Sadie doesn't prefer the formula, that she will maybe feed less often, but adjust by gradual weaning. It will be easier when she starts solids, but I feel your pain in wanting to give her what makes her tummy feel good, and wishing you could continue providing her that. Pump as long as you can, and store what you can in the meantime. Much love and many prayers going your way!:)

Noah said...

Hey guys...our daughter Lily had reflux (which is pretty common) It turned out that she had a dairy protein allergy.

Christine had quite a bit of trouble with our son, Ezekiel and actually some issue mentioned above with our daughter Lily.

God sent us incredible help free of charge through a International Board Certified Lactation Consultant. She is an amazing lady. She assisted us in all of Christine's breast feeding issues.

Please feel free to give her a call and let her know that Noah and Christine Kareus gave you her information.

Lorraine Miles
20474 Varsity Dr.
Walnut, CA 91789
909-595-9620

Brianna Heldt said...

Oh Cara I'm sorry! Both my girls were exclusively breastfed, and our boys were already drinking milk when we got them. So not much formula experience...BUT--when Anna was a baby I didn't feel like she was getting enough breastmilk from me (she was fussy and acting hungry), which she wasn't b/c she'd been teething and not nursing as much, so when she wanted more of course the supply had gone down.

ANYway, one night I gave her a bottle of formula, which she ate hungrily. THEN she proceeded to empty the contents of her stomach, projectile-style. I cried. It was a horrible helpless feeling and was very, very stressful.

In the end I was able to get my own supply back up so I didn't figure out or perfect the formula feeding. BUT, I think maybe if I had burped her more often as she ate, or gotten the low-flow nipple, it might help?

Good luck. I know it must be heartbreaking, but you WILL figure it out. Sadie is so blessed to have such a loving mommy, daddy and big sister!

Kristen Borland said...

hmmm... did you try it without iron? also, similac is supposedly the best, so try that. we also used brands like kirkland and target brand. sometimes they have a preference. we have to formula feed, and our boys took it from the very, very beginning, but maybe because they didn't have a choice. they had some breast milk, but not much.

also, talked to jeannett gibson because i know henry had trouble with it.

Kristen Borland said...

oh, and i'm not sure about mixing formula and breast milk. there was some reason why we didn't do that. either it was suggested that we don't do that, or it didn't sit well with the boys. i can't remember. but every baby is so different.

Jan Roberts said...

Hi Keith & Cara, Maybe the 3rd time's a charm! That's how many times I've tried to log in as a Google Blogger. We just want you to know we love you & are praying for you. ~Auntie Jan & Uncle Ted~

Jeannett said...

Hey Cara...

So many things to say, so many things I wish I knew how to say better...but know that I'm praying really really hard for you guys!

As for formula, Henry drinks the Similac Alimentum...his system couldn't digest the dairy proteins and the Alimentum has the proteins already really broken down...he does wonderful with it (and he can't tolerate soy either)...BUT it's ridiculously expensive. :(

I know that Henry cried and hurt so bad on the regular dairy formula and projectile vomited on the soy...