Thursday 23 June 2011

My Failed Transition to Formula

As many of you know, I have been breastfeeding my baby girl since her birth (in the delivery room itself no less). It was never a doubt in my mind that I would breastfeed as I have read about the many benefits of breastfeeding. The minimum time you should breastfeed your baby should be at least 6 months to a year and thereafter according to the preferences of both the mother and the child.

The preference of this mother was certain: Breastfeed her until one year old then make the switch to formula.

The preference of the baby of said mother: Formula? Bleah! NO WAY! Absolutely no freakin' way!

And believe me, we tried everything (that we can think of that is).

We actually started introducing formula to her when she was 1.5 months old to supplement breastmilk whenever I'm overseas and there isn't enough stored breastmilk for her to drink. She seemed to be ok with it so I thought everything was fine.

Until she turned 10 months old and became smart. I had wanted to swap out one of her feeds to formula (i.e. the midnight one) so that she can sleep better throughout the night. I chose to start earlier as I know babies need some time to switch completely to formula (as adviced by my friend Belle).

But she would have nothing of it!

She would take one lick of the formula milk before cringing her face and pushing the bottle away like it was the worst thing she has ever tasted in her entire life. And then she gives me this look as if saying, "Look ma, this stuff right here tastes like crap! Seriously, why the heck would you give me this vile tasting 'poison' when you got perfectly tasty stuff right there (looks in the direction of my you-know-what)?!?"

I tried to ignore her cries. I tried leaving the room and let my mum-in-law feed her. But my mum-in-law would come by my room later complaining that my girl would rather drink barley water than drink the 'vile tasting poison'. We tried mixing breastmilk with formula to try and fool her into drinking it. She took one sip of it, gave me the look of disgust that obviously said, "did you think I'm dumb ma? This is soooo not my milk!", then pushed the bottle away and refused to drink from it like ever again. True story.

And it's definitely not because she doesn't like the bottle. She will drink from the bottle if it's breastmilk that I had just expressed.

Girlee drinking my expressed milk from the bottle

Girlee, my food critic extraordinaire, can taste the difference between fresh mummy's milk, frozen mummy's milk and the 'vile tasting poison'!

I kept thinking perhaps she would grow out of it. So I tried again and again but she would have nothing of it.

"No way ma.. NO NO NO!!" (what my girl would say if she could talk) *shakes head*

I was actually pretty disappointed with her response as I got all these free samples of formula milk given to me by my aunt's relative, who's an OBGYN at a local hospital. She receives samples of formula milk by various companies regularly to distribute to her patients so she kindly passed some to me.

Sample Milk Formula: Stage 2 (for 6 months onwards)

Ok, so I was a bit greedy. By some, I really mean 15 cans. Hey, we're a one-income family so every bit of saving counts alright (1 can of milk costs about S$20++ at the supermarket)! They are absolutely brand new and only expiring in mid-end of 2012.

Hence, in order not to waste almost S$300 worth of formula milk (seriously think of all those poor babies with no milk to drink), I'll be having my first ever giveaway! Well.. sort of.

If you would like to get one or more cans of these formula, just leave me a comment or email me on the number of cans and the brand (subject to availability) that you would like. This giveaway is first come first served, while stocks last! =)


P.S. My baby's dislike for formula has nothing to do (as far as I know) with the quality of the milk. Although absolute care had been taken to store them appropriately in a cabinet in the kitchen, I would not be held responsible if the quality of the milk is compromised due to manufacturing error so please exercise discretion and follow the manufacturer's instruction.


UPDATE: ALL the formula milk has been taken up! Thanks for expressing interest in my 1st giveaway :)
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