Before I was a mom, I said I would never....

let Gianna sleep in bed with us. Well, we all know that a couple days a week Gianna comes into bed with us around 5am to sleep for a few more hours. We often take naps in our bed together too :-)

I also said I would never feed my daughter formula, but guess what....she now is a Soy formula fed baby :-( It's so much harder on me than it is on her...here's the story.

Breastfeeding in the beginning wasn't easy but both G and I were figuring it out, until around 2 weeks when her AR (acid reflux) set in and she hated to nurse laying down. I ended up exclusively pumping so we could (literally) sit her upright and feed her a bottle to help with the AR pains. She did much better when we put her on Prevacid but was still a bit fussier than I thought was 'normal' and she was having these weird mucusy poos along with a terrible diaper rash (she had these open, red sores on her bum :-( ) Well it turns out Gianna has a milk protein intolerance. I had it when I was little so I guess I should have figured she would too. Basically to continue breastfeeding I needed to talk dairy completely out of my diet.....that meant milk, cheese, yogurt, etc as well as reading every label to make sure dairy wasn't lurking in the other foods I ate. It wasn't easy but I did it for about a month....however the sores would continue to come back and she still had some really fussy days. Jeff had really been wanting me to stop breastfeeding and try to put her on Soy formula to see if she did better but I just didn't want to. However, last Wednesday I finally gave in and we started her exclusively on Soy formula....and within 24 hours Gianna was a much happier baby (not that she wasn't happy before, she just seemed more comfortable). Before the formula she had lots of gas and we couldn't just hold her-she needed bounced, walked, rocked, etc but now she will just lay in her bouncer for 30-45 minutes while I cook dinner or I can just sit on the couch and hold her and she's content! The sores are gone and haven't come back either! I'm heartbroken I couldn't provide my babe with my milk, but I know she's happier and doesn't have an upset tummy anymore and that is what is most important.

I do have a few hundred ounces of breastmilk that I pumped and froze so I'm hoping to give her a few ounces each day around 4-6 months so that doesn't go to waste. Hopefully by then her tummy is a little more mature and can handle small amounts of my BM.

I think the worst part of feeding formula is the judgement I get from others, which is really sad. Alot of people have noticed I'm not breastfeeding anymore and ask why-and make me feel guilty for feeding her formula. I have to explain to everyone why she's on formula so that they don't think I'm a bad mom-that just isn't right! I know breastmilk is best for most babies but for mine, it made her tummy hurt so bad it wasn't worth it. Oh well..I guess everyone has their opinions.

Although formula is smelly, expensive and a pain in the butt to prepare my babe is happy and feeling better so I'm happy too. She also is a bit constipated on the formula so we have to give her an ounce of fruit nectar a day and she loves that stuff!! She sucks it down within seconds :-)

And a few cute pictures......

Gangster Gia ;-)

I got in the shower the other morning to find a little
note from Jeff...
how sweet :-)