Milk Strike

My mom thinks I'm the greatest!

We've had a whirlwind of a week with this boy named Micah! He was doing so great on his four hour eating schedule and then BAM, a week ago Friday he stops drinking milk. I'd been slowly introducing formula into his diet since he was six months old. He's a small guy (16 pounds, 5 ounces at 8 months), so I thought the formula might help him gain weight. Well, he'd been on it almost exclusively for about a week when he stopped taking it. I almost lost my mind. We went to the doctor twice, including a trip to the night clinic. I've tried nearly everything short of starving him (he takes baby food just fine) when finally my mom suggested that maybe he no longer likes the taste of soy. He was on soy because it was easier for him to digest, but when I switched to the milk based formula, he started taking it again. He's still not eating like before, but I'm managing to get around 14 ounces a day into him.

So, now I think he's going to need more frequent, smaller meals. He seems to do better if he gets solids and then a couple hours later, milk. He basically said, "screw you" to the lovely little schedule I had him on :-) But I hear that's "normal" for his age...whatever normal is.

Oh, and by the way, I always thought that bottle feeding would be easier than breastfeeding. The only thing easier about it is that I don't feel self conscious doing it in public. Other than that, breastfeeding is soooo much easier - always the right temperature, always readily available, no tools (bottles, liners, etc.) required, no wasting, and I don't fret so much about how much he's getting because I don't know. He just eats until he's full. I truly regret giving it up so soon.

UPDATE: Milk strike finally ended this week. We tried him on Similac, and he LOVES it. Of course, it's the most expensive formula on the market, so he would love it. Here's the schedule that seems to work best now. I'm posting this so that if our second child goes on a milk strike around 8 months, I'll be more prepared. These times are all "ish":

6:30 am - 4 oz. bottle + breakfast
8:30/9 am - nap #1
11 am - 4 oz. bottle + lunch
2 pm - 4 oz. bottle
2:30 pm - nap #2
4:30 pm - snack (yogurt?)
6:30 pm - dinner
7 pm - 4 oz. bottle and bed