If you were to ask me the number one thing that I wasn’t preparing for when I became a mother, I would say breastfeeding without hesitation. And the number two thing would be formula feeding.
It’s been about a year since I gave birth to Cal, so I figured it’s time to write about my feeding journey with him.
First things first, I don’t care how you feed your baby. I don’t care if you breastfeed, formula feed, combo feed, triple feed, pump exclusively, use a bottle, use an open cup, use a supplemental nursing system, nurse for a day or nurse into toddlerhood. You feed your baby however you feed them.
Second, if you’re curious about Calvin’s birth, you can find that post in my “Storytime” section or you can click this link:
IN THE HOSPITAL
If you read Cal’s birth story, you know that I delivered him vaginally, full term, with no complications, and had an uninterrupted hour of skin-to-skin immediately after his birth. I tried to get Calvin to latch during that hour, but he was so angry about being born that it just didn’t happen. I wasn’t concerned and was just happy to have my little boy in my arms.
Once we had all taken a little nap, we worked on nursing again. I was able to get him to latch well (or so I thought) on my right side, but had zero luck on the left. (This may be too much info, but in the interest of being honest, I have one exverted side and one inverted side. And the inversion can make latching really difficult for some babies. Not impossible, but quite difficult). I told the hospital lactation consultant about it and she encouraged me to focus on nursing on my right, told me his latch looked fabulous on that side, and to just pump the left every time I nursed Calvin.
So there I was, roughly 6 hours postpartum, learning how to use a breastpump. I hadn’t expected to need a pump for the first 4-6 weeks, and then to only use it when I went back to work. The instruction I got for the hospital pump was a one page print out. It wasn’t super helpful.
I really hated pumping and honestly, I just really hated having to deal with it on top of trying to sleep, eat, drink enough water, go to the bathroom, deal with all the mesh underwear/pads/Dermoplast/Tucks etc., have visitors, and enjoy my new baby. But I did it. Every time I nursed Calvin, I would pump my left for 15 minutes. My milk hadn’t come in yet, so I was only pumping very small amounts of colostrum at a time (I’m talking like 1-2 mL. An ounce is roughly 30 mL). The nurses had us give Calvin whatever I pumped through a syringe that we squirted into his mouth.
They discharged us without issues and we went home thinking everything was great, nursing was going fine, and made an appointment to see the pediatrician in two weeks.
THE FIRST TWO WEEKS
For those first two weeks, I nursed Calvin every 2-3 hours. Something I noticed was that Calvin prioritized sleep over eating. Even in the hospital, I often had to watch the clock and wake him to eat. The nurses told me to make sure I was seeing enough wet and dirty diapers and to call my pediatrician with concerns. We also had a follow up appointment with the lactation consultant at the hospital 10 days after discharge just to make sure things were going alright.
I felt like everything was going great. My milk had come in, Calvin was eating often, and he was making plenty of wet and dirty diapers each day. At the LC appointment, the two women there had me nurse Calvin and told me everything looked great! They encouraged me to continue to offer him the left side, but to not be surprised if he didn’t learn to eat on that side until he was a little bigger and stronger, and that I should continue pumping.
TWO WEEK WELL BABY VISIT
We went to see our pediatrician for the first time when Calvin was two weeks old. Typically, doctors like to see babies at least regained to their birth weight, if not heavier.
Calvin was not back to birth weight. His doctor told us that it was very important for him to gain weight so that he could develop properly and recommended that we start supplementing Calvin with bottled milk (either pumped or formula) after each nursing session and to go see a lactation professional. He also wanted Calvin’s weight checked every 2-3 days until he was back to birth weight.
FROM TWO WEEKS OLD UNTIL TWO MONTHS OLD
For the next six weeks, I fed Calvin every two hours around the clock (12+ feedings in a 24 hour period). I would nurse him, then pump for 20 minutes, and give him a supplemental bottle of either pumped milk or of formula. I was still struggling with giving him formula, but I knew that he needed to grow.
I was EXHAUSTED all of the time. And it was hard to give Calvin the formula at first because he used to spit it up. We finally got him back up to his birth weight when he was four weeks old. That’s when I went back to work. I would nurse, pump and bottle right before left and as soon as I got home, as well as pumping 1-2 times during my 5 hour office shift. We continued triple feeding around the clock until he was about six weeks old. At that point, I had a virtual consult with another lactation consultant. She told me that his latch looked great and that my supply should be fine based on how much I was pumping, so I could go back to exclusively breastfeeding him.
A couple of weeks later, Calvin had his two month check up. The pediatrician told me that Calvin still wasn’t gaining weight (again) and that he needed to go back to supplemental bottles. I was pretty heartbroken, but we went back to the triple feeding.
TWO MONTHS TO FOUR MONTHS
I tried to keep up with all of the feeds, but I just couldn’t do it. We started giving Calvin formula before bed so we knew he was getting a full feed and I wouldn’t have to wake him up in the middle of the night. I continued waking up once between 2:00 and 3:00 in the morning to pump, and then would triple feed during the day.
We could really tell a difference when Calvin was fed well and when he was still hungry by this point, and he was needed more and more milk to supplement him. By around four months, my supply had all but dried up. I tried to keep at least one nursing session right before bed, but Calvin had developed serious preference for the bottle and it just wasn’t working anymore.
NOTHING BUT BOTTLES
Stopping breastfeeding was much harder on me emotionally than I was anticipating. I missed nursing Calvin, but once we figured out his bottles, our lives got so much easier. I was able to sleep more than a couple of hours at a time and Calvin had the energy he needed to grow and to play.
We fed Calvin on demand, but he settled into a schedule pretty quickly. He was eating 24-32 ounces of formula a day and it was so much easier than triple feeding. It also put my mind at ease knowing that he was getting enough nutrition and that he was thriving. Formula was a miracle for us.
STARTING SOLIDS
We waited until Calvin was six months old before starting solid foods. That was around the time he was sitting independently. I made his first foods and decided to feed purees at first. We had a good time trying new foods and learning what Calvin liked and what he really did not. I kept giving him all of his daily formula (about 32 ounces) and then just letting him eat as much or as little solid food as he wanted. It worked really well.
I introduced finger foods when we were about a month into solids and Calvin was well-accustomed to not drinking all of his foods. I gave him banana pancakes, puffs, and tiny pieces of fruit. Calvin loves pretty much everything except for scrambled eggs. He has never enjoyed scrambled eggs.
LEAVING FORMULA BEHIND
I started weaning Calvin from the formula and transitioning to whole cow’s milk a couple of weeks before his first birthday. I knew that he could healthily eat formula well after he turned one, I just didn’t want to have to buy formula anymore. It was an expense that I wanted to leave far behind me.
Calvin was having four room temperature bottles a day. 6 ounces first thing in the morning, 4 ounces before each of his two naps, and 6 ounces before bed. I started with his nap bottles. I would give him 2 ounces of formula in his bottle, and then when he finished that, I would pour 2 more ounces of whole milk into the same bottle and give it back to him. At first, he didn’t really like the taste and would just decide he was done with the bottle. But after a few days, he got used to it and would finish off the whole milk. After a week or so, I just gave him whole milk without a formula starter and he drank it fine. Next, I switched his morning bottle to milk by giving an ounce of formula followed by five of whole milk until he got used to it, then I stopped the formula. The night bottle went the same way.
It took me about 3 weeks to transition him entirely to whole milk and he doesn’t miss the formula at all. He eats breakfast, lunch, dinner, and two snacks each day. He still has milk first thing in the morning, before naps, and before bed. I’ll started working him off of the bottle soon, but for now, this is working.
Thanks for reading about my feeding adventure with Calvin.
BARREL OF MERRELL'S 
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