You might remember my post about four weeks ago where I was so happy that my kids took formula and it wasn't a problem. I thought it was so easy to switch them that I stopped worrying about the formula thing and kept trucking away nursing.
Why? Because nursing is EASY. It's fast (ten minutes or less per kid), there's nothing to clean and nothing to set up. So I nursed and thought that the next step was waiting for me when I was ready.
Fast forward to the present - I'm eight weeks away from my goal end date for breastfeeding and I started offering them formula so that I can begin the weaning process. My kids won't freaking take it! They gag on the bottle and spit out the formula and make the most god awful faces and sounds.
{ 16 week old rugrats }
Reese has a dairy sensitivity and she won't touch Nutramigen or Alimentum. I tried Good Start because I heard it was sweeter and she won't take that either.
Ryan also refuses all three.
I've tried one ounce of formula in three ounces of breastmilk to "hide" the taste and they still gag on the bottles. I'm not going to lie, it's a lot of work to pump, mix bottles with formula and then force feed them. I hate doing it. And when they won't even take the bottles and I lose all the milk it makes me angry.
As a result I've diminished most of what's in my freezer stock because once I've pumped, mixed and dumped, there isn't enough left in the boob these days to try to feed them again.
I went from being able to pump 10-16 ounces in a session for the first three months to now I pump around 4-6 ounces at a session if I'm lucky. When they are nursing I know they are getting what they need, as they are not fussy or hungry in between feedings. But from the looks of it my supply has really dropped and I'm terrified of losing my supply and having babies that won't transition to formula.
Last but not least, we are meeting with our RE to discuss a FET next week. I want to go back for baby #3 soon and be done with this TTC phase of my life. I can't go for #3 until they are fully weaned and I am SO stressed out about being their only source of food right now.
If you have any experience with this or any advice/words of wisdom I'm all ears. Thanks in advance!
