formula & other updates...........

So here's a run-down of formulas we've tried in the order tried so far with little J...

1-enfamil
2-home-made organic
3-earth's best organic
4-enfamil
5-parent's choice gentle (for gassy, fussy babies)
6-parent's choice organic
7-enfamil
8-parent's choice organic
9-parent's choice with rice starch
10-parent's choice sensitive (lactose free)
11-parent's choice soy
12-isomil
13-parent's choice with rice starch

With the majority of these we had projectile vomiting. With some we also had loose & green stools.

A lot of people keep telling me it's totally normal for a baby to spit up, which I am aware of, but projectile vomiting & loose stools are never normal.

The worst he's done on the rice formula is spit up, sometimes it's a lot of spit up, but still not vomiting (& thank God not projectile vomiting) & stools are normal. I put him back on the tagamet for now (with the projectile vomiting it made no impact at all, but he's not spitting up at all now with the combo of rice formula & tagamet). I started it 3 times a day (as prescribed) the next day took it down to twice a day & now am giving only once a day. In a couple of days I'll stop giving it & see what happens (this is what the doc suggested I do with it).

At last.............we have some peace in our home.

In other baby news--twice now he has gone 9 1/2 hours between feedings. But of course this doesn't mean we get to sleep through the night yet (we're still waiting anxiously for that day!)--it goes from the 5 pm or 7 pm feeding to the middle of the night. I did try to wake him at 10 or 11 pm the other night & "top off his tank". He only took 2 ounces (most feedings are 7 ounces) & still woke up at 4 am hungry...ho hum....but we are making progress. During the day he usually takes 7 ounces every 3 hours, sometimes he'll stretch it to 4 hours. He rarely sleeps in his crib, spends most nights in the swing. It's funny cuz we bought the swing when he was 4 days old & it was supposed to have 5 speeds, but only had one. It was really fast for him, so we didn't use it much. Then later on we pulled it out to use at night when he was fussy & we noticed it was going slower. It's been getting slower & slower as time goes on even though we've changed batteries. We couldn't understand it, but finally hubby figured it out--little one is getting heavier so that's making it slower, LOL!!! We're going to look & see if we can find one with more horse-power or that goes up to more weight (I think this one said it goes up to 20 lbs & he's getting close!). This one is also really noisy, getting noisier as time goes on & has never had the 5 speeds, so we're gonna try to return it.

He is now 15 lbs, has doubled his birth weight. He just moved up to size 3 diapers 2 days ago. When he moved up to size 2 diapers (right around one month old) he outgrew his size 0-3 month clothes the next day. So far he's still in his 3-6 month clothes, but they are pretty snug--any day now he'll be done with them me thinks.

He is now "talking" up a storm!! Always cooing & making other such verbalizations. I "talk" back & encourage this as much as I can. It's really cute & I'm sure it'll help him to learn to express himself & his needs & learn how to really talk later on. He also is very smiley & happy most of the time.

I'm starting to see a nap pattern developing I think. And I'm starting to see him get cranky when he needs his nap & can't sleep (too much noise &/or activity going on). I am working on getting him to nap in his crib (which he is right now) so he can maybe relearn the habit of sleeping in the crib so we can get out of the sleeping only in the swing habit we've developed.

I think that's all the updates I have for now....................

Finding the right formula...........

.....baby formula, that is.............

While still in the hospital little one had periods of fussiness, but it was all so new & unknown that we didn’t realize it would become a pattern.

In the hospital we had him on enfamil (I was/am unable to breastfeed). We did notice he had a hard time sucking, but somehow we thought he’d get better at it over time.

I had been planning to make my own formula & had some made & frozen at home that we just needed to thaw out. Shortly after we got home we made the switch & at first all seemed well. Little one really liked the formula. Only as the day went on we noticed him getting more & more hungry & scarfing his food down frantically. Somehow it wasn’t satisfying him—I’m assuming it wasn’t enough calories or not enough ‘something’.

At that point I decided I wanted to put him on an organic formula sold in the healthy grocery stores. Earth’s Best is the brand. It’s very expensive, but we felt it was worth it. This one was a no go from the start. He projectile vomited the whole thing immediately after eating it. We even tried 2 separate feedings just to see if the first one was a fluke. So back to enfamil we went.

The overall gassiness & fussiness continued to increase over time. He still struggled with sucking & choking. We were originally using the playtex drop-in bottles, but none of the nipples seemed to be slow enough for him, so we ended up switching to Dr. Brown bottles & it was somewhat better, though he was still struggling somewhat. I found that I liked these bottles better than the playtex though, so I stuck with them. Little one met all the qualifications of colic. We just assumed this is what we were stuck with until he was 3 months or so. We had tried gripe water (which made him throw up), probiotics (also made him throw up), mylicon drops (didn’t change a thing) & homeopathic colic tablets (helped a little initially, but didn’t last & no longer do anything). Finally, hubby was talking with people at work & found that several of them had had colicky babies & that their babies had also been on enfamil. At this point we decided to switch formula once again.

This time we tried Parent’s Choice Gentle formula. It says it’s for “gassy, fussy babies”, which he certainly is. But I didn’t like the ingredients (#1 is corn syrup solids) & it gave him loose stools, so then we tried the Parent’s Choice Organic formula. At first it seemed all was great. He did still struggle with sucking & not choking on his food, but we were trying to teach him to not do that. About a week after he went on this formula he started having loose green stools. And then a day or two later he started throwing up—a lot, frequently projectile, I’m not talking about a little spit-up. I talked with his doc about it & he was sure it was something viral & it would pass, but he did put him on tagamet, which did nothing. It continued & the throwing up was actually getting worse. So I went back to the doc & this time he treated me like I was crazy & insisted it was viral & would pass. But it did not.

At this point hubby decided we should switch him back to the enfamil. So we did. We started it again on a Friday night. He wasn’t throwing up & his stools were normal again. But by Monday morning he had turned into a totally different baby, his personality was totally different. He was a little monster—the screaming at the top of his lungs was never-ending, he was choking on every sip of the bottle, he was kicking, hitting, even pinching. It was totally unreal the change that had taken place before our eyes. This was the child we had early on when we first came home from the hospital. We had assumed the changes for the better were because he was getting older & getting used to life, etc. But now we could see that the changes had occurred because we got him off the enfamil. I know there will be people reading this who don’t believe what I’m saying, I probably wouldn’t believe it myself except that I’ve seen studies done that show that artificial colors & flavors, etc cause temper tantrums in kids. And kids with autism make HUGE improvements when their diets are changed for the better. So yes, nutrition makes a really big difference in temperaments.

So we went back to the Parent’s Choice organic formula at this point. The first day all was well. He was eating calmly & not throwing up & had normal stools. But on the second day the stools turned loose green & the throwing up started up again. At this point I was ready to pull my hair out. I can’t help but think that if we could just get the feeding issues resolved that I would have a perfect baby. There are no other difficulties with him, but these ones are huge.

Now I stop to consider the fact that hubby has lots of food intolerances & things like that. So I suppose the baby might be predisposed to that sort of thing as well. The doc refuses to look at this possibility, so I must do so on my own. I know that it could be lactose-intolerance, but it could also be a milk allergy & I’m sure it could be other things as well. My mother keeps wanting me to try Isomil. That’s the formula I was raised on. But soy is a last resort for me. I’ve read a lot of studies that show that soy is not good. Not to mention the fact that it’s most likely GMO soy. And there’s corn syrup solids in there too, which is most likely GM corn.

I was hoping to find a goat milk formula, but cannot find a single one. So I headed back to look at all the choices in the Parent’s Choice line & came home with 3--one that has rice starch (to reduce vomiting & spit-up), one that is lactose-free, & a soy formula. I am currently trying the rice starch one, it has the best ingredients of the 3. The lactose free one also has corn syrup solids as the #1 ingredient. And of course the soy will be my last resort.

And then hubby calls me earlier & says that a coworker of his says it’s the iron that’s in the formula, that his baby couldn’t tolerate it & it made for green stools & vomiting. But of course they ALL seem to have added iron............so what are we to do??

I am praying for success with one of these 3, hopefully for the one with rice starch. We shall see..................

Updates on the little J

It's been a while now since I've sat down & written a blog...........I do occasionally have the time, but just haven't been in the mood I guess.

As for little J.....well, he's been super fussy & colicky since very early after birth. The first month was really, really tough trying to just understand him & how he expresses his needs & figuring out what he needs when. As all of that started to get a little easier he then started the projectile vomitting & having loose green stools. I keep telling the doc & he keeps insisting that as long as little one is gaining weight (which he definitely is) & not losing all is fine. I really don't agree with this philosophy, just keeping the situation in prayer seems to be all I can do at this point.

He has been wearing size 3 month clothes for several weeks now & he will be 2 months on Monday. Yesterday I was in Target & a lady was in line in front of me with a little boy who was just a little smaller than little one. I complimented her on how cute he is & asked how old he is (expecting him to be around little one's age or a little younger) & she said he's 3 & 1/2 months. Yikes!! I'm no expert on baby sizing, but I'm guessing that little one is big for his age.

He also started teething a few days ago. To my knowledge 3 months is the earliest they start this & he isn't even 2 months yet. But he was getting fussy, drooling A LOT, & chewing on his hand & the nipple of the bottle, etc. We looked in his mouth & can see a tooth just under the surface of the gum!! (This is why I was at Target, buying 'baby orajel', LOL!)

I think that about covers the updates it for now............