Formula is Evil!

Did I get your attention? ;-)

I've been meaning to note that I don't really hate formula as much as I may have let on in my posts about Lena's weight gain/"failure to thrive." I don't want any of my formula-feeding-friends to feel like I'm looking down on you. I couldn't care less how you choose to feed your baby. I, personally, love breastfeeding, and I just hated that I felt like formula-feeding was being pushed on me by my doctor. Formula is a Godsend for women who can't or don't want to breastfeed, and I like having it as an option to fall back on. At least I did . . .

I'm terrible at building a frozen milk stash. I'm home all the time, so it's not too necessary. And I have yet to figure out when I'm supposed to pump when I breastfeed for every feeding. Anyway, we have a wedding coming up and the girls are going to Justin's parents'. I don't want to worry about having enough frozen milk and I don't want them to have to worry about warming it up. So I decided to have Justin give Lena a bottle of formula last night while I was at Bible Study to see how she'd do with it. She only drank 2 ounces, then went to sleep.

I nursed her at 10:30, then when I was ready for bed, I scooped her up out of the swing and carried her upstairs. I laid her down in her bed at 11:15 and she started screaming. And screaming. And screaming. Like I've never heard her scream before. Mind you, this is my colicky baby, so I've heard her scream. This was different. She was writhing in pain and grunting and straining so hard she would stop breathing for seconds at a time - like to the point that she was making me nervous. This went on for probably half an hour before I got her settled down on my chest. She continued to grunt and hold her breath in her sleep for a while, then started screaming again. We did that cycle a couple times before she finally got into a deep sleep and I was able to put her back in bed. At 12:50, she woke up out of a sound sleep puking her guts out. After that, she seemed to have gotten it out of her system, and slept peacefully the rest of the night.

It had to have been the formula. (It was Enfamil Newborn that they gave me in the hospital.) So much for that plan. I guess I better get working on my freezer stash!