As part of my long, drawn out attempt to wean Xuan (refer to Month 7: Bottle Battle) to some form of liquid nourishment other than directly from my breast, we are now trying to give her formula in a sippy cup. We started giving her a sippy cup a couple of months ago after giving up on making her drink from the bottle. It took her a couple of months, but she has accustomed herself to drinking from the sippy cup quite well. Drinking water from the sippy cup, that is. Drinking formula from the sippy cup, not so much.
The first formula we gave her was Dumex, which she didn’t like at all. I did not expect this, but after referring to the internet, I found that many mothers who breastfed exclusively and especially those who had breastfed directly, had problems trying to get their babies to drink formula/milk. Overseas, once a baby turns 1 years old, they switch from breastmilk or formula to drinking cow’s milk. Only babies below the age of one drank formula, if breastmilk was not available. In Asia, majority of babies are given formula, even after they turn one. I read about parents trying many different types of formula to find one that their baby liked. Many babies had to be tricked into drinking formula/milk, through various methods such as mixing the breastmilk with the formula/milk and slowing increasing the portion of formula, adding flavour to the formula/milk, ie. chocolate, giving vanilla or strawberry or honey or chocolate flavoured formula/milk and slowly replacing the flavoured formula/milk with regular formula/milk. Another advice was to let the baby drink from mummy’s cup, something that was a novelty for the baby, so that the baby would drink the formula/milk. This was starting to sound like a lot of work, just like trying to get Xuan to drink from the bottle!
The next formula brand we tried was Mamex, which was kindly supplied to us by our neighbour. Our neighbour’s daughter is 3 months older than Xuan, and she was formula fed with a bottle since birth. I think our neighbours were pretty stumped when they hear about our bottle refusing, formula hating little baby! Xuan didn’t like Mames either. After one sip, she would purse her lips, refuse to open her mouth and turn her head away. I tried diluting the formula with more water, but she still didn’t like the taste. We did make milk pudding from the leftover formula and this Xuan loved to eat. But we can’t be feeding her milk pudding all day!
The third formula we tried was Dutch Lady. I tried giving her this is my mug, which she actually drank from. After the first sip though, she would push the cup away once she got a whiff of the formula inside the mug. I think she really didn’t like the smell and taste of formula.
Another friend of ours gave us some vanilla flavoured formula, but Xuan didn’t like this either. She only drank it the first time I gave her some, with a straw and at a cooler temperature. But she wouldn’t drink more than 2 ounces, and would drink any after that.
After talking to our paediatrician, she told us that it was fairly common for exclusively breastfed babies to refuse formula. She advised us to try cow’s milk since Xuan has turned one. I was so afraid that Xuan wouldn’t drink cow’s milk either. How would I be able to wean her if she didn’t drink any kind of milk, aside from breastmilk? I would have to continue breastfeeding her until she turned 3! Thankfully, she did drink cow’s milk, although in minute amounts. Over the months, she slowly increased her total daily milk intake from 2oz a day to an average of 12 to 20 oz a day. Maybe we can consider weaning after all!
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