Tomorrow we're going to start the transition to a sippy cup instead of feeding Jonathan from a syringe. We've been at it for about three and and half weeks and feel like now would be a good time to start. He'll now drink water from a sippy cup when he's thirsty, knows/likes the taste of formula, and has levelled out on his weight gain suggesting we've brought him up to the level he should be at. More importantly, we've limited his dependence on breast feeding.
We're expecting him to take a couple of days to transition to eating on his own. We may have to step in here and there to make sure he stays hydrated. He'll probably lose some of the weight he's gained. One of our biggest concerns is that even if he transitions, he won't eat enough (like when he was just nursing). He's easily distractable and eating seems like an afterthought or an inconvience. He might just make a pit stop long enough to keep going but will revert back to running on fumes.
I think we've eliminated the possibility of an ear infection/sickness and hope that his vomiting has just been because of the process involved in force feeding him. The hardest part about the entire issue is that it appears only two things could be going on - both on the opposite end of the spectrum. Either he's perfectly normal and just a poor eater or he does have some medical issue that has not been detected. Everything points to the former, but both present problems.
Although frustrating most of the time, we still we blessed to have such cute and good-natured kids.