Farewell, Ali!

For over a year, Alimentum (a baby formula made by Similac that is very pricey, very smelly, and very staining) has been the main source of nutrition for Julia. It's special because it has broken down milk proteins for babies with an intolerance to milk. She screamed while feeding - every method and option of feeding - for most of the duration of her life, but with Alimentum she screamed "a little bit less." Therefore, we stuck with it.

I bought my last supply (off eBay, where the stuff is a little bit cheaper) back in March. I had intended that to get her to her first birthday in June. Since she doesn't eat a lot & we started transitioning her to Gentlease successfully (YES!), it's only now that we're almost out of Alimentum. Once she was on 100% Gentlease without symptoms back in early July, we started adding a bit of Alimentum back in to start getting rid of it. Now our bottle concoction is a bit confusing. In fact, if someone other than us makes the bottles, they get a special bottle "recipe." It goes something like this: 2 oz apple juice, 4.5 oz water, 1-2 scoops Alimentum, 3-4 scoops Gentlease (don't use the same scoop!) to total 5 scoops of formula total, 1 scoop Duocal, 3/4 packet Simply Thick, stir with fork til mixed, then shake. The reason it's 1-2 scoops Alimentum is that I vary it slightly to try to make sure Julia doesn't get used to it one way because it could be hard to wean her off it when the Alimentum is gone. Then she'll be used to slight formula variations, at least that's how I justify it in my head.

I must say that I always screw up the bottle at the same part. I added my scoops of Alimentum (1....2....), and then I am not consistent about how I start counting the Gentlease. Sometimes I start with 3, sometimes I start with 1. And then I always get confused about how many scoops are in the bottle and how many more I need to add. At 2am or when tired, the scoop counting gets even more challenging. I know I've screwed it up quite a few times, and I tend to err on the side of more formula scoops than less.

As I'm hitting the bottom of the tin of Alimentum, I'm a bit sad about saying goodbye to it. Of course, making bottles will be a lot easier since I won't have to go through that daunting task of recounting :) . And after a few weeks on 100% Gentlease, we can start experimenting with adding whole milk to her bottles an ounce at a time. The end of the Alimentum era means that we're making another step toward toddlerhood.

Disclosures before I get lectured: Yes, I breastfed for several weeks. I was planning on a year, but it didn't work out. Yes, I know "breast is best" and all that. At the time I switched, I was told that formula would be better for her given all her latching, tongue, reflux, and intolerance issues. Yes, I know you can start giving kids whole milk when they turn 1. With her milk protein intolerance and being underweight, every doctor and therapist she's seen said to keep her on formula at least til she's 15 months (Sept. 4th).