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Formula Freakout


So we dove into feeding the baby formula because I wanted to quit pumping. I have quit pumping. I'm still nursing (more and even more frequently over this past week). This is because I think we dove into the formula too quickly. Baby girl's stomach was quite upset last week, and I think it's because we started feeding her up to 4 bottles of formula each day. We didn't take the expert advice of subbing one feeding for a bottle in a progression until she's weaned. I just stopped nursing her during the day, all of a sudden.

Last Wednesday, baby girl threw up all over our nanny. All over her. I washed nanny's clothes and gave her an extra outfit to wear. Within minutes of changing, baby girl threw up on her again.

I called the pediatrician and he said to go back to exclusively breastfeeding until the stomach issue cleared up. So back to breastfeeding I went, and it was like starting over on so many levels! I think I had allowed my milk supply to drop a teeny bit and so we built it back up. Baby girl was cluster feeding and waking up 2-3 times a night again. It's like we had a 6 week old, and the strongest 6 week old in the world. Thank goodness for Lansinoh nipple butter.

Wednesday of this week, I had a meeting in the Valley in the late afternoon. It was amazing - I put on makeup, got dressed and drove myself somewhere on a work day in the middle of the week. I conversed with adults and felt so free for an afternoon. But since I haven't started pumping again, going to the meeting meant it was time to try formula again. So I left the nanny with some Gentlease formula for gassy, fussy babies. Baby girl drank her bottle and did well.

I was still in the car on my way back from the meeting around 6:30pm when hubby decided to go on and prepare a second bottle of formula so he could feed her and put her to bed. He did a great job, as he always does putting her down.

But when I finally got home, I looked in the fridge and saw two open bottles of premade formula - the Gentlease our nanny had opened earlier in the day, and an opened bottle from last Friday! The Gentlease bottle had only 2 servings to start with, and there was definitely one serving left in the bottle in the fridge... I already knew the answer but asked my husband, "Which bottle of formula did you feed her from?"

He had given her the old stuff. We'd opened that bottle last Friday, and so we estimated it had been open over 120 hours when we fed her that formula. The instructions on the bottle clearly state that it should be tossed out within 48 hours of opening. Ugh.

So naturally, I freaked out and hit up all of the BabyCenter forums and mamma groups I belong to on Facebook, and Googled "what will happen to my baby if I feed her premade formula that's been open in fridge longer than 48 hours." I couldn't find anything that made me feel much better... just that most moms abide by the 48 hour rule and suggested I do the same.

I thought about calling the pediatrician's hotline and asking what might happen to the baby. But I decided against it... Instead, I went to the fridge, took a sniff and took a drink. I'd tasted formula for curiosity's sake before, and it tasted about the same. It smelled no different than I expected. I dumped it out and discarded the bottle to prevent any future mixups. But I actually felt okay enough to go to bed.

She has not been sick again. And for the past 2 days, we've alternated between Gentlease and breastfeeding and so far it's going well. I guess the takeaway is you shouldn't feed your baby old formula because you'll freak out, even if the baby is fine.
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