04/27/09 6 pound milestone

He’s officially 6 lbs and 6 oz.  The 6 lb mark is when he’s taken off his preemie formula and put on regular formula.  Preemie formula contains more calories per mL for more sustenance in a smaller volume.  Perfect concoction for those in need of calories but just don’t have the tummy volume.

Wil and I have been told that babies will react to a new formula by having different poo color, diarrhea, won’t eat (doesn’t like taste) or possibly allergic.  I was aiming for discoloration of poo as it wasn’t really a negative consequence, it was more of “that’s the color it comes out.”  For me, everything he does is novel;  “ha ha ha, he farted and that one lingered/smelled/rolled on for 3 seconds/disappeared like a ninja only to assassinate me when my guard was down” to “wow, that throw up had to have gone 6 inches.”  Needless to say, I wanted to add “oh wow, yellow poo” but the yellow poo never came to fruition.

He’s been feeding on it for a day now and has no problem with taste or any allergic reaction.  We observe for gas or diarrhea.  He often farts intermittently in short periods of time.  The good news is that he doesn’t have the constipated discomfort coupled with the frustrated constipation look.  I think we can say the gas discomfort has gone down, even though there is still gas.  We think he could be getting used to the pressure or its mildly discomforting instead of just painful.  As for the poo consistency, its a tad bit on the wetter side.  It doesn’t look too watery.  Okay, a perfect description of newborn baby poo is (insert color) light fluffy mashed potatoes from those powdered mixtures.   That is pretty much right on when you talk about texture.

I know I’ve created a terrible image for those of you who love mashed potatoes but I can imagine a junior food technician trying to make a mashed potato powder mix for a client turning to a senior food scientist asking, “what kind of consistency should I make this mashed potato mix?”  And the senior food scientist pauses thinking of her premature newborn son Noah and smilingly says, “I know just the consistency.”   (Any likenesses or similarities are merely coincidental)

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