Who needs milk anyways?

While Harris may be big enough to supplement with regular calorie formula, his poor little stomach has not loved digesting it. It is clear, even when Harris was on the preemie formula that formula was not as easy to digest for him as breast milk - but for reasons beyond our control (as is the case with so much of Harris's beginning) we went with it and he was a full and happy little man. So I was confident that when the doctor told us to switch to regular formula it would be an easy transition, not to mention a more cost effective one. Boy could I not have been more wrong.

So we diligently went to the store and bought the Similac Advanced - and began to feed it to him. The more he had the more we noticed that he was having gas and trouble going to the bathroom - all of which made him very fussy and angry. But we kept it up at the doctors advise, he may just be adjusting. In the mean time the doctor (or more specifically the triage nurse who I spoke to almost daily over the last two weeks) had us use a random array of interventions, none of which seemed to work all that well, to help ease his discomfort and support him in going to the bathroom regularly. Then I gave up - I just knew it wasn't right. Plus I was exhausted - the little man seemed to be getting worse - he was fussing and crying more and his screaming and crying was directly correlated with a gurgly stomach.

So yesterday I spoke to one of the pediatricians who agreed with me and said that he should be digesting on his own, as he had been previously and so it was time to try a different formula (still cow's milk) - Nestle Good Start. If Nestle makes it what could be bad, so I ran out and bought the new brand, two varieties and we have spent the last 24 hours attempting it. His stomach seemed better almost immediately BUT Harris hates it! He actually gags when the seemingly harmless fluid hits his tongue (Funny Mommy and Daddy never had that reaction to nestle products). He only swallows in desperation when he is so hungry he can't go on. So today I spent the day nursing almost every two hours - which is still not fulfilling him and trying to get him to take the supplement. But it came to a head tonight when I attempted to give Harris his feeding and he gaged and then opened up his mouth and all that he had taken it came spilling out.

Back to the drawing board... we will see what the pediatricians suggest tomorrow. In the mean time, and after hours searching the preemie boards I often turn to, and a conversation with a good friend. I am trying Similac Sensitive -- at least I can get him to eat tonight and maybe even sleep!