In Transition to Infant Milk Powder

Mommy has been exclusively breastfeeding Juan Or for about 9 months 3 weeks. Recently, Mommy started Juan Or on drinking partly breastmilk and partly infant milk powder because Mommy's current milk production ranges from 10 to 12 oz from 8 am to 6 pm per day which is far less than Juan Or's consumption of 18 to 22 oz. Previously, Mommy was able to produce 12 to 15 oz of breastmilk within that time period.

Mommy's colleague, Dr. Renee, offered to get a scoop of Enfalac from her sister-in-law who still has an infant to care for. There's also Ms. Stephenie, also Mommy's colleague and office room mate, who gave away the remaining quarter tin of a 900-g Similac (from Abbott Laboratories). Apparently, Ms. Stephenie wants to change brand to Mamex because she wants her baby to have more frequent bowel movements than currently is.

So Mommy handed the milk powder to the babysitter to try on Juan Or. The result? According to the babysitter, by drinking the infant milk powder itself, Juan Or retches or acts like he is about to vomit. So the babysitter fed him via the spoon. The next day, the babysitter mixed about two-third of Mommy's breastmilk and one-third of infant milk powder (with water), and Juan Or seems to accept it better. Of course, this time Juan Or won't drink from the baby bottle anymore. If fed by spoon, he will bite it. So the babysitter resorted to pouring a small amount of the milk mixture into the baby bottle's cap and slowly poured into his mouth. What a tedious baby! But luckily, the babysitter doesn't find too much of a trouble feeding him that way. How about Juan Or's bowel movements ever since consuming Similac? According to the babysitter, his bowel movements are daily and of the normal type - not too dry and not too wet, just nice.

Mommy is relieved that Similac goes well with Juan Or and that he accepts drinking it when mixed with breastmilk. Mommy is also relieved that Mommy doesn't have to succumb to the daily pressure of meeting the daily milk production target of about 20 oz. per day. Prior to this, Mommy's daily milk production falls short of Juan Or's daily consumption by as much as 6 to 10 oz. per day. For this reason, the buffer period of frozen breastmilk supply in the freezer has dwindled from a good 14-day buffer period (when Mommy went back to work after maternity leave) to a mere and miserable 5-day buffer period. According to the babysitter, everyday, Juan Or drinks 12 to 14 oz. of breastmilk and 6 to 8 oz of infant milk powder (with water). Mommy heaves a sigh of relief!