CSI: Des Moines

A few days ago, Ian suddenly started eating less. Almost overnight, he went from consistently eating close to six ounces at each feeding, to occasionally stopping around two. Tory was still packing in the ounces, so figured something had clicked in Ian telling him that formula wasn’t worth eating, like pizza crusts or anything with coconut.

I tried everything I could think of to find what suddenly changed to make him eat less. My first thought was I had just switched them from Alimentum to Nutramigen. They’re both nasty as far as I can tell, but maybe he finds the Nutramigen markedly more objectionable than the Alimentum. I figured the next time I procure formula, I’ll buy Alimentum again, but for now we have a stockpile of Nutramigen to use, and there’s no way I’m mixing two different types of formula without a major medical reason unless it means I can take one of them off of that horrid, expensive, uber-hypoallergenic formula.

My next thought was I’d recently tried mixing giant batches of formula to pour throughout the day. I hoped this might make preparing bottles a little easier (it didn’t), but my main goal was to give the powder more time to dissolve so it wouldn’t form giant, nipple-plugging globs in the bottles. Leaving the prepared formula in the refrigerator for a few hours gave those globs time to settle on the bottom, so my plan sort of worked as long as I poured carefully without shaking the container, but I gladly abandoned my scheme thinking Ian hates formula after it sits in the fridge for half the day. I lovingly mixed his next bottle just before feeding, and found him still rejecting it after a couple ounces.

After more brainstorming, I noticed he was spitting up prune juice throughout the day, even though I was only feeding it to him twice a day. Maybe the juice I was using to keep his gut a well-lubed machine was lodging itself as an undigested mass in his stomach, making him feel fuller than he was, or at least should be. I figured the prune juice was more to make me feel better than him because surely he has to be uncomfortable pooping only twice a week, and cut it from his diet. Then I waited for his gut to clear.

A funny thing happened while I waited though; Tory started eating less, and it didn’t seem to matter if they were eating formula or breast milk. I knew something bigger than the formula was happening, and I set about trying to uncover it like a television investigation show, only without the music cues, spiffy special effects, and quick resolution. My clues are all the funny things that they’ve done recently: Eating less, random irritability, increased drooling and desire to chew … aww hell.

Now my theory is they’re teething. I think Abbie started teething around this age and stopped about a week ago. I can feel bumps on their gum lines that I think are teeth, but I suppose they could just be normal gum bumps; I don’t have a lot of experience feeling toothless gums. As if they were trying to confirm my theory, they spent much of today complaining, waking from naps extraordinarily angry, wailing no matter how I hold them or where I put them, and generally being crankier than usual.

Their eating rebounded a bit today, but they’re still not eating as much as they did a couple weeks ago. Plus the amount they eat is highly erratic, ranging from as little as four combined ounces to as much as twelve. This combined with all their squirming makes feeding a pain, but at least I’m not dealing with the prune juice or giant vats of premixed formula anymore.