Spew

Newborns don't come with an instruction manual.  Sure there are a gazillion books about what you could expect, there are weekly emails to say "this is what your baby will do in the next seven days" and there are well meaning friends and relatives.  Then there are babies.  No two are alike.  Some meet those milestones when the email says they will, some do it a little later, some a lot later, and some months before the email is sent.   George falls into that last category.  He's not following one single book, email, or his big brother.
At four weeks he started rolling over, at five weeks he had a tooth, at ten weeks a second.  He loves story time and now holds the books.  He pulls toys off his toy bar.  Sits pretty well when slightly supported.  etc etc...
This is not about what he can do.  It's about what he can't.
George is a spewer.  In the nicest way I can describe this, until Monday every liquid he's been given comes back.  Some quicker than others, but they all came back.  I'm married to a dairy farmer, if spew grossed me out I'd need a new life!:)  This isn't your normal run of the mill spit up...no sir.  This is spew.  It creates puddles on the floor if you're quick enough to aim him away from you, or puddles in your cleavage if you're not.  (aren't you glad you know that?)  This is not, as his doctor and I discussed, merely a "laundry issue" this is serious.
It's been a very fun filled few months trying to get to the root of this.
We started off on the boob.  Which lasted till day 4.  Small mouth.  That's all I'll share.
Started pumping.
The more he drank, the more he spewed.  Must be the green beans.  cut them.  Maybe the broccoli? cut them.  Dairy? cut (not easy, but cut).  So we changed nipples three times, bottles three times and nipples on the new bottles at least twice.  Some seemed to have a little change, but in the end there was still spew.
Off to the Doc for input.  Let's try a soy formula and do an ultrasound on his stomach.  He could have pyloric stenosis (a narrowing of the "emptying tube" from the stomach).  Nope that's clear.  Let him adjust to the soy.  Okay great.
Let's visit the dentist to get that tooth looked at.  Yea sure, a tooth, but also a tongue tie and a tight lip (re-read day 4-small mouth).  In office laser surgery.  Stretching his tongue and lip 4x/day. (Did I mention how strong he is?)  He's now a quieter eater...but it still comes back.
Infant Chiropractic works wonders on reflux issues.  Wonderful.  Let's go.  No adverse reactions, a few visits...maybe a little better? but alas, it comes back.
Somewhere around month two (it's all a blur), I heard that cereal in the bottle can help it stay down.  Game for anything, he needs to eat.  Guess what?  It comes back up thicker.  (Which also required MORE new nipples.)  Hmm.
Google oh google.  "Bottle thickening is bad, if they need it feed it on a spoon"  really?  he's so little?  what about the tongue thrust thing? what about his little digestive system?  what about we were waiting till 6 months?  Oh fine...he's hungry, lets try.  Wouldn't you know...it stays down.  Tongue thrust? what's that?  Non existent in this child.  So once every few days some cereal and applesauce.  On those "extra spewey days"
2 month visit: 14lb 2oz.  Okay, he must be keeping enough of it down.  Just a BIG laundry issue.
Joey's physical over 2 weeks later...under 14lb with a diaper and clothes on.
OK, not laundry.  He's not keeping enough down.  Time to step up the game.
He can't live on rice cereal and applesauce.  So we introduce new foods.  Green beans--not a fan.  Bananas--he would eat them every meal.  Peas, ok with bananas in the right proportion.  Baby oatmeal, fine.   Mommy makes REAL oatmeal finer--super score.  Squash--home run.  OK great, so he's keeping this down, and seems to be growing.  But I think he's eating too much.  Engage hyper-research-nutritionist mode.  That boy needs to cut back on bananas.  (100 cals per 1/2 cup!  and yes, he'd eat 1/2c with 1/2c of oatmeal!)  But, he's too little to go straight solids. PLUS he'll get dehydrated at some point.
What do I do?
So in trying to balance the right vitamins, minerals, calories, fat, etc I read the ingredient label on the soy formula.  Mother of God!  The widely distributed soy formula is made with 55% corn syrup solids!  24% Vegetable oil!  I wouldn't let Joey eat that!  Holy crap!  Why didn't I read this sooner?  Gross.  I suppose I'd spew it too:)  (After chiro, tongue, etc etc, we would introduce the breast milk as there is a great deal in my freezer, but to similar results.)
In all my research there isn't one kid who doesn't tolerate some kind of formula or breast milk.  Mine would be the one.  (For formulas we tried: regular, newborn, fussy/gassy, soy, and hypoallergenic.)
Raw milk.
Really?  Yes.  Many people who are lactose intolerant, can handle raw milk.  Why you ask?  Raw milk is a rather perfect food.  Vitamin for vitamin, calorie for calorie, mineral for mineral on paper it's the same as formula.  In reality, it's not engineered.  The vitamins and minerals are metabolically available.  All of the essential enzymes for building your body, are in milk.  Including the one that breaks down the lactose.  When the milk is pasteurized many of these enzymes are history.
But what about the bacteria?  I'm in a very unique position.  I live with the farmer.  He can tell me if any of the cows are sick, he, his father, or our older son are the ones who clean the teats, the milking system is sanitized twice a day, and the milk comes out of the tank and is driven home.  Actually his first bottle of raw milk was consumed minutes after being released from the tank.  I have no concerns over the product.  If we did, this wouldn't have been an option.
It was free to try.
The first 24 hours I almost stalked that baby waiting for spew.  A little with a burp, and a little when I gave him 8 oz instead of 6ish (mom error).  I will not go into detail, but the output in the diaper has increased significantly.  Proving there's more going in.  His appetite for his "solids meal" is about half.  It's also been reduced to once a day and about 80 calories.
This morning, I dressed him at 8:00...he had a bottle a nap, went in the car and the truck and when Daddy was eating his lunch...he was CLEAN!  Amazing!  Also, far more content.  Actually more alert than he was, which was pretty intense.  Since he's not busy spewing we've had more play time, more attempts at "tummy time" which in reality are "I'll stay on my tummy for a minute or so, but then I'll roll over."
Most importantly he can use this wonderful perfect natural food to grow, he can tolerate his feeds, have an age appropriate amount of variety, and not be dehydrated.  As bonuses, there's less laundry, I don't smell like calf grain, and we're raising him on a wholesome diet.

As a disclaimer: Yes, I think breast is best.  Yes, I'm totally for delaying solids.  (I even bought a non-reclining high chair a year ago.)  No, I don't think this is the answer for everyone, nor for anyone else.  It's just our story of what is working for our child at this moment.  Don't hate, just love:)