Ben: Milk guzzler

Posted by spots (Singapore, Singapore) on 15 July 2007 in People & Portraits and Portfolio.

I'm in the process of stopping breastfeeding. So have started to give Ben more bottles per day. Thank God, he is fine taking bottles from me now, though at the start, he was a bit fussy & cried in protest a lot. I'm stopping breastfeeding because I have less milk and less energy than when I had only Daniel to take care of. Most moms of 2 kids will attest that they tend to be more tired and therefore have lower milk supply with the 2nd kid, as opposed to the first. With Daniel, I breastfed till he was 8 months. With Ben, I'll be stopping soon, when he turns 5 months. Oh well. I actually think he's benefitting more from the formula he's getting from the bottle. First of all, there's more of it. And I have noticed his enthusiasm for milk has increased and he is definitely drinking more from the bottle than from me. His increased intake has also had a positive effect on his sleep - he no longer wakes from his long noon nap and cries. He just sleep right through, peacefully & soundly. YAY!

Then recently, he's been really guzzling up the milk. Like today at lunch, Ben drank 260ml of milk from the bottle, followed by 5 mini teaspoons of rice cereal mixed with 20ml of milk & 1 tablespoon of steamed pear puree! AND, for dinner, he took... get this, 320ml FORMULA & 5 mini-ts rice cereal!!!!!! (We stopped after 260ml formula, but he was so fussy, we fed him another 60ml and he drank ALL OF IT, making it a grand total of 320ml!!!) .... er... growth spurt??!! Here's a pic of him after his MEGA MEAL. *burp* His guzzling-ness has not been limited to today. It's been going on for the past few days - 2 days ago, he drank 260ml from the bottle, followed by 4 mini-ts rice cereal with water, then followed by 10minutes on the breast! This morning, he drank 240ml from the bottle, followed by 5 mini-ts rice cereal with 20ml of milk & 1 tablespoon of steamed pear puree, and then, he was hungry after 3 hours!

I seriously think he's going through a growth spurt - and it's about time! I still remember that up to 3 months old, Ben was super sleepy & very hard to feed as he kept falling asleep on the breast. At times, I joked that he was surviving on air! His appetite, compared to Daniel's, was really small. And it did bother me, as I thought that the more milk they drank, the better. Still, Ben grew quite nicely, became fairly rounded, and developed in all the ways that babies do - he started to see properly, grab & bat things, smile, and now he can laugh too! Ben is still smaller than Dan (when Dan was his age), but that no longer bothers me. I think children will differ, and it is no point trying to make each kid's experience exactly the same. Right?? ^__^

p.s. can someone tell me whether it's safe for my son to be drinking 320ml formula???? Dan, who had a huuuge appetite, never drank THAT MUCH!