Dr. Brown Has Left the Building

Dr. Brown bottles, that is.

I'm so happy to say that Lincoln is no longer taking a bottle as of October 11th! I love not having to wash and wash and wash bottles and nipples, and all the other parts that come along with the Dr. Brown bottles. Not too shabby to be weaned from the bottle at 17 months, for a kiddo with a start like Linc had.

While this is great news developmentally, this month will be challenging as far as growth for Lincoln since he is still picky about drinking milk/formula from his cup. He has been drinking water from a sippy cup since about 6 or 7 months old, and occasionally drinks water from an open mouth cup, too.

Over the past month or so I really started to push whole milk in Lincoln's sippy cup during meal times. I could see the end of the bottle coming and was starting to get a bit nervous that he might get to a point where he didn't want his bottle and didn't want to drink anything but water from his cup. And then we would really he hurting in the calories department.

Thankfully, Lincoln stepped up to the plate and gradually started drinking whole milk during meals. I just mixed increasingly higher concentrations of water and milk, since he loves his water so much. I had tried this in the past without success, but I just didn't know what else to try, so I gave it another go.

That being said, Lincoln is still playing catch up with his calories. Whole milk is not even close to the kcals in his formula (18 per oz vs 45 per oz). Even though Lincoln was only drinking 4-6 oz of formula in his bottles per day, that is still 180-270 kcal he isn't getting. It may not sound like a lot, but for Lincoln, it is. He needs around 1000 calories per day to catch up on his growth, so every little bit counts.

So far in the past two weeks or so, Lincoln has had some really stellar days, drinking 10oz of whole milk, and some pretty poor days, drinking about 1oz. Overall, I do think that he is eating more solids without his formula, and he is definitely eating more consistently at meal times. I think he is just feeling more hungry, and that is the best motivator for Lincoln to consume his needed cal.

So far, Lincoln hasn't gained any weight since dropping the bottle. He has maintained though, he's right around 19lbs for over a month. I am always so excited when Linc reaches another pound gained!

I am still hopeful he can do this transition to whole milk. His dietitian and neonatologist at SLCH are happy that Lincoln is making progress by dropping his bottle feeds, and they agree to give Lincoln a few more weeks to see if he can gain weight on just whole milk and his Duocal supplement. Come on, Linc!