We had a similar journey with Pipsqueak (allergies that are now a lot better, breastfeeding issues, hated formula). The only major difference is that she stopped any night feedings in her own around 5 months which definitely made things easier on me.
By 7 months I knew that we needed to switch to formula and that for a variety of reasons we were both ready to be done breastfeeding. I also knew it was going to be a huge pain and I drug my feet for a month before going through with it. But we were fully transitioned to formula by ~8.5 months and it is indeed a better choice for us right now.
I stopped breastfeeding except for first thing in the morning (you could probably do overnight feeds instead of the morning one? I’ve read that nighttime feedings are associated differently than daytime ones). Other than that I pumped exclusively for about a month. We started with 100% breastmilk for about 3-4 days and then very very slowly started adding in formula. I think we started with 5:1? Every 3-4 days we would increase the amount of formula by a small amount. After about 3 weeks we were up to 1:1. We were visiting family and I didn’t bring enough breastmilk so we offered her a full formula bottle and she took it at that point! So we started doing mostly formula along with whatever breastmilk I produced as I weaned off the pump over the course of a week.
ETA that this was with alimentum, so it was the super gross smelling hypoallergenic stuff. We’ve since done more allergy testing and have moved to Similac total comfort which is thankfully working fine. The transition between formulas was super easy compared to the transition to formula in the first place.
Yes - Alimentum and Nutrimegen are the 2 formulas that we are allowed to use. They are smell (and I assume taste) so bad! I’m so happy to hear that you were able to wean her down to using formula. You are giving me hope! I’ve really struggled this time around with negative feelings and a lot of it has been wrapped around her eating issues.
You are in an awful and difficult situation. Are you already pumping? Can you give yourself a day off of breastfeeding and do bottles just to get a break from the biting?
I am not. Since I’ve been working full time from home and since she hasn’t really been willing to drink from a bottle we were just strictly nursing. Occasionally I pump if I get engorged but we don’t even have a full feeding worth of milk in the freezer. I had to pump yesterday and then in the afternoon we had another session where she just bit and wouldn’t really eat. I gave it to her in an open cup and and she was MUCH more willing to drink it that way, but I think she only got around 1 oz down because most of it ended up on her chest. We are considering trying to introduce formula again but I put all of the bottles/formula stuff in the storage unit! So we might buy a few bottles from Target just to give it a try (or try to find the right box in the storage unit).
Thankfully night feedings are still going really well, and honestly for most of her life we’ve assumed she gets most of her food at night anyway. She has always done very short feedings during the day and then good, long feedings at night. It just stinks because I’m so apprehensive with every feeding now, just bracing myself for her to bite down.
This is a good idea. Ryan actually spent some time researching this as well and he found some moms who said to give her something to bite on for awhile before eating time. I’m starting to wonder if it’s her way of telling me that she isn’t hungry yet, since she is eating more solids now. We were also letting her drink a little water with solid meals using a 360 cup, but I’m worried that’s where she got the idea to bite from since she has to bite down to drink from it. So now that cup has been removed and we are just trying to teach her to use an open cup.
My issues were mainly supply related and pipsqueak refusing to latch. She briefly went through a biting phase and all the experienced parents in my life told me to just push her head into the boob, then unlatch and end the session. They claimed that this is much more effective than saying no or reacting audibly because that can become a game. I’m not sure if you’ve already tried it, but I wanted to mention it just in case.
We have both the uppababy Cruz and a Zoe stroller. I love them both. The cruz was awesome with a newborn bc we borrowed a bassinet and we love on the ground floor. For a toddler I would go with the Zoe or if you’re taller than me, an uppababy minu. The Zoe’s are a really good price for what you get. We got it for travelling abd did manage to get one used but they also have returned open box sales pretty often. The Zoe is what I’d recommend if you need to climb stairs carrying it. I picked it over other compact travel strollers for the bigger basket ans huge sun canopy.
I’m sorry, this all sounds so stressful and hard. Short-term idea for the biting: have you tried a nipple shield? They’re mostly used for latch issues which you don’t have, but I also found that it dampened the biting a bit. The caveat is that once my baby got used to the shield, it took about 1-2 weeks to gradually wean him back off it.
That might be a good idea. Today has been terrible. We decided to try pumping + bottles today so this afternoon we gave her the 1 bottle worth of freezer milk that we had and I pumped. She only had one ounce. Then her next feeding we tried the bottle again and she only ate one ounce so I tried to nurse her and she just bit me. She seemed extra hungry (because duh she hasn’t eaten all afternoon) but I just tried nursing her before bed and she nursed for 2 minutes and then started biting again! So I took her downstairs , heated up a bottle of pumped milk, and she refused it again. She drank maybe half an ounce then cried herself to sleep. I see a very horrible night in my future because she didn’t eat enough today. I don’t know what to do. She can’t refuse the bottle and bite me. She has no other options.
I’m so sorry E. Thinking of you. If you need a late night texting buddy/discord chatter let me know. I remember the nights were the hardest. I can leave my phone ringer on.
Thank you, you are so kind. As expected it was a very rough night but I just continued to read my way through all of the Julia Quinn books. At one point Ry decided to try putting Lily back to bed since she had eaten an hour and half prior but she just cried and whined for 30 minutes until she woke up Bella and I fed her. Hopefully she eats more throughout the day today so we have a smoother night. This morning she had a small feeding on one side only when she woke up, and it ended with her biting me.
I also realized that since she wasted 3 bottles of milk yesterday (one 6 oz and two 3 oz) there is no milk left for us to try giving her a bottle again today. We can’t be consistent with offering her the bottle, unless I make up a bottle of straight formula. Why does feeding her have to be so hard? We had no problems at all with Bella. She nursed well and then when she got too wiggly and curious about distractions we switched to formula and she didn’t have any sensitivities, and she happily weaned to solids.
feeding issues like this become all-consuming so quickly. I was thinking about you guys at 2am when I was up rocking pipsqueak.
A few more brainstorming suggestions if you want them: have you introduced a sippy cup or a straw cup? I’ve heard of people having success doing formula in those instead of a bottle (full disclosure it didn’t work for us). The other suggestion I see all over the internet is adding a drop of vanilla extract which can mask the taste a bit, or if you’re desperate maybe even adding a tiny bit of something sweet like apple juice, just for the transition period. Apparently there is alcohol free vanilla extract. I’m not a doctor and haven’t actually tried any of these things though so big disclaimers all around.
feeding issues like this become all-consuming so quickly. I was thinking about you guys at 2am when I was up rocking pipsqueak.