Please tell me (kindly as poss!) if I'm being an idiot...

[stillfrazzled]

DS2 is one in five days and has been on formula since 10 months old. We will run out of formula tomorrow and I could do without shelling out another £8 for more formula if he's going to be on cow's milk from his birthday onwards. Plus I am sick of buggering about with boiled water etc etc etc.

But. He was 5 weeks prem and only 3lbs 5ozs due to IUGR at birth, so we had a real scare and I had a big struggle to get him bfing, plus months of guilt and worry over his growth - he's catching up OK now but still very small for his age, although developmentally exactly where he should be.

So up to now I have been obsessive about his nutrition and following 'the rules'. I think I know I'm being daft, but I am actually worried about stopping formula a whole four days early.

Written down it looks even siller, but any gentle kicks up the backside welcome...

How many actual feeds does he have? Is it helpful to look at his diet as a whole rather than seeing milk as the primary source of nutrition? Certainly by that age dd was having only one (or soemtimes 2 if she was unwell)breastfeeds which were not in any way the bulk of her calorie/nutrient intake. She was also having cows milk as a drink with meals. The breastfeed was just a little snack really in the scheme of things. She had lots of creamy sauces, cheesy things and I'd add Creme fraiche to stews because she was quite skinny and I wanted to up her intake of fat/calcium. Ds1 the same. Ds2 more keen on breastfeeds so he probably had proportionately more in terms of his total diet. He's prob the smallest of the three though!

But but but - if you WANT to go by the book, you could always buy some ready made cartons. Though I don't think is necessary.

I was in same situation with my DS, he was IUGR, delivered at 37 weeks and 4lb 2ozs due to pre-eclampsia. He is 4 now and still small for his age, very small appetite and sometimes takes an hour to get him to finish his dinner.

I dont think 4 days will make any difference if you want to stop his formula. I actually didn't stop with formula till he was nearly 2 only because he didn't really take to food till about this age despite me constantly giving him pureed food from 6 months. He hated home-made food as well and would only eat tiny amounts of jar food.

I think with small babies like this the trick is to get them to eat little and often. Even now my son balks at big plates of food but despite all this he is very loving and energetic so i've stop worrying a lot about his eating.

Interesting things to think about from both of you, thank you.

DS2 has three bottles a day, 7ozs each, and guzzles the lot. He's had Greek yoghurt (the full on fat-b*stard stuff, nomnomnom) for breakfast since he was 6 months old and has quite a lot of cheese etc, so gets plenty of other dairy. I used to add butter to lots of his food but have stopped the last couple of months because he's little, but he's quite fat so didn't seem to need it!

He's off his food at the mo (chest infection and anti-Bs) but is normally a complete nosher. Jars, home cooking, toast, you name it he'll scoff it. So would say he has a good mixed diet with plenty of different kinds of food. Not sure if he's incredibly greedy or just senses he has some catching up to do...

Looking at what you've written, I am being OTT. May buy a couple of cartons just to give him one a day till the magic day, though. Knowing you're being irrational isn't always enough to stop, is it?