Our Multiples Journey: FORMULA FREE!!!!!

The crowd watched as I mixed the VERY LAST CAN EVER EVER EVER of formula! Hallelujah!!!

As you can tell by the title, I am a (((little))) excited by this change! A year ago, when we first had all babies home, we dutifully fixed & consumed 32 bottles a day. Back then, we mixed formula & milk and measured by the precise mL. It seemed to take FOREVER for one child to successfully drink 1-2 ounces! As the babies grew and consumed more & more, we went to all formula and were SO THANKFUL that the children qualified for WIC benefits,which included formula.

Never. Again.

We washed and mixed and prepped bottles every day. Bottles went from 4 oz to 8 oz capacity. We washed and mixed & prepped bottles every day. They drank & grew. We gradually decreased bottles as they started eating more & more food, but the formula was still a daily necessity. Once they turned a year, we could have transitioned to all cow milk, but the WIC benefits still covered the high-calorie formula until their "adjusted birthday" (see prior blog, ha!). Trying to be frugal and grateful, we continued with formula but I literally counted down that last month's cans (which actually lasted two months because I started mixing it with cow's milk to transition their palate).

My notes in dry erase marker about formula conversions. And an important daily reminder to myself!

And so as my dear quad-mom friends who have quadruplets the same age as ours joyfully blogged about how they are formula (and bottle!) free now, I still. Dutifully. Washed, Mixed & Prepped. Twelve 8 oz. bottles every day. After day. After day. I'm not gonna lie, these last few months formula felt like Manna probably did to the Israelites in the Old Testament. Glad it's provided for nutrition, but not so excited about it either! ("Manna" literally means, "What is it?!?" It probably wasn't very tasty day after day after day...).

Our pitcher we used to mix formula in literally started cracking around July, so these last few months it has been barely usable. I am proud to say we have thrown it away and the babies have transitioned to milk easily! I still pour 8 bottles a day for a morning and night bottle, but it. is. so. much. EASIER!!! Now we just need to transition out of those 4-part Doctor Brown bottles- I am working on it...

But rejoicing in little accomplishments!!