Wednesday, May 20, 2009

DONE

I finally have put away the pump. After 15 months of feeling like a milk-cow, I'm done.
I can't help but feel a little guilty. I had planned to go til at least 18 months. There was no reason not to - it's the best stuff in the world for her, it's FREE, it's good for me... but I just felt like I needed to be done.

Brianna was NOT happy. At first we just diluted the breastmilk with regular milk, and she took one taste and immediately threw the bottle down. We tried it in a sippy cup and she did the same. I tried giving her the Enfamil and Similac Next Step Formula samples we got in the mail (gotta love those marketing ploys), and she REALLY hated it (so I tasted a sip - GROSSYUCKNASTY! Formula tastes retched!). I bought the regular whole milk (with added DHA) and she drank a little, with a martyred face.
By then, I think she had accepted her fate - her favorite drink, the only one she's known in her life, is gone. Depressing, I know.
So she drank the cow whole milk, and her body protested. I've never smelt (smelled?) worse flatulence in my life. And I have four older brothers. So we ditched the cow milk and tried soy. No more smelly gas. So now she drinks Silk Soymilk Plus - DHA Omega 3. It's $3.29 for a half gallon, which she finishes in about 3 days. You do the math - it's not cheap.
Brianna and I BOTH miss the free stuff!
Next objective: ditch the bottle and sippies; move on to CUPS!

9 comments:

Malerie said...

Sorry...that sounds like a rough transition. Madeline had some bad/gross diapers for the first week or so, but now has no problem with whole milk. Good luck!

Unknown said...

We found the stinky poop/milk problem too. So I bought the boxed soy milk from Costco. It's cheaper than Silk and Emma LOVED it. Course she loved formula too...

I bet you will loved being able to keep it all nice and packed away (the cow-like instruments) and not having to drag out the pump all the time!

Unknown said...

I'm glad that she found something she likes. Our milk that we buy is the same price $3.29/half gallon and we go through 6 to 8 half gallons a week! Good luck!!!

Crystal and Jordan said...

I will be doing free stuff for a while...I will for sure be asking for you advice when the tome comes

Debbie said...

That is quite the smile!

ChrisnDave said...

You should try rice or almond milk. Its super cheap/easy to make and tastes scrumptious!!! Rio has only had one sip of cow milk and hated it (not surprising since I do too) but loves the rice/almond milk. He's kind of weaned himself off that too, though, now and mostly drinks super-diluted juice.
But, anyway, AWESOME JOB pumping for FIFTEEN MONTHS!!!

ChrisnDave said...

Oh, sorry, one more thing - we were using Costco's soymilk too for a while until I read TONS Of reallllllllly bad stuff about soy... look into it and let me know what you think...

chelsea mckell said...

Chris - I do plan to try almond milk. It's too expensive to buy, so I'm going to look up how to make it. Actually, rice milk isn't that expensive, but it's very low in fat, which isn't good for Brianna at this age. She doesn't get fat from a lot of other sources, so she needs it in her milk. Brain development, ya know. And about the soy milk... yeah, I've read several articles about the "dangers" of soy milk. But non seemed very legit - nothing was peer-reviewed besides studies done showing the positive effect of soy milk on adults with hypertension. And... in general... you can ready tons of realllllly bad stuff about pretty much everything in this world. If I really wanted to protect my daughter I'd have to go Amish.

Mandy said...

You're funny, Amish life WOULD be interesting! :) We are lucky, my girls like cow milk JUST fine! We went Soy for a little while in an attempt to get Eden's eczema under control, but we went back when we discovered dairy wasn't the problem! My girls are milk freaks though, so I am glad that we are able to get a gallon for about a $1.60 at Sam's! :)

ANYWAY . . . Good luck with the transition(s)!! :)