Formula Woes

It's not all sunshine and roses with formula. If you'll check your can, regardless of the brand you use (more on that here), you'll notice that your baby is getting about 1.8 mg of iron per 100 calories of formula. I think you'd have to have a masters degree in mathematics to figure out how much that is in ounces, and how it compares to the 18 mg of iron found in a traditional women's multi-vitamin, but all I know is, it's a lot.

Your baby needs a lot of iron, but unfortunately, when your baby is getting that iron from formula, it's not always easy on the tummy. I've never claimed to be a doctor or a nurse, so please keep that in mind as you read on.

Since my babies were both formula fed from birth, I did notice a trend between them. When they're about 4 or 5 days old--and have been formula fed that whole time--they get a little, um, bound up. Both of my kiddos did right about day 4. All I can say is that it's sad and it sucks and they cry and they bring up those tiny legs and you can tell their tummies (and later bottoms) hurt.

With both my babies it lasted about a day. With weensies, it's hard because there just aren't a lot of options. For us, both times, pushing through that "day 4" drama and sticking with our same formula worked really well. I gave my babies a little water through a bottle and did the Nurse Jean "I love you" massage (more on that here).

Bubby never had any other problems with the formula binding him up again, but Boo ran into some trouble at about 3 months. At that point, a little apple juice (1 ounce in 3 ounces of water) did the trick nicely. My sister-in-law has also had good luck with cayro syrup. As always, talk to your doctor.