Hi all. I am a first time mom and thought that I would try to do everything without reading any books or anything. Well...recently I have had a question and have found conflicting information on different web sites so I thought I would enlist the help of others who have been in my situation: you! =)
My problem is my 11 month old daughter. I have started the weening of the bottle process and have moved her down to three bottles a day and she also gets three solid food meals a day in between the bottles plus puff, cheerios, fruit, or cheesy poofs for snacks. I read on one web site that she needs at least 20 ounces of formula a day. Wel...she is not interested in the bottle. She usually eats 15-18 ounces a day and I'm worried if she's getting enough nutrients. I also have been told that they should not start dairy until they are a year old.
Can anyone suggest how I can get her to eat more formula? Should I go back to more bottles during the day? Or is she alright and I shouldn't worry about it too much because I'm about to take her off formula all together in about a month? A friend suggested I start giving my daughter half formula half whole milk...I'm just not sure what to do at this point and any advice or information would be greatly appreciated.
What does the DR. say? Is she under weight? Ask your Dr. about vitimins you could add crushed and mixed with applesause or if they have them in drops. If they are not worried about it, I wouldn't worry too much. If she likes the solid food great, but I would watch how much cheese you give her because of constipation.
You will find out as you go along being a mother is no child fits the books as to what the "EXPERTS" say. We learn as we go along. Most kids go through fases where they eat more at times and less at others. Relax, live and learn. List en to other mothers experiences and ask questions. This is a great web site for that problem.
Hey hun, I am a military wife also(marines) and I have 3 little girls. If you say that you are giving her all those other supplements like food and snacks I really doubt that she is missing anything nutrition wise.Remember you give food in place of a bottle. Some people give formula to their kids until they are 2 years old. You don't have to switch to whole milk it isn't going to do them any harm. I wouldn't worry about her not being interested in the bottle when she has so much new and interesting things to eat.
My first daughter had a bottle until she was 2 and had a pacifier(but thats a lazy hispanic thing, my mother in law was caring for her while I was in the service). My second daughter was about 10 months when she kicked her bottle for a sippy cup and my youngest girl was 8 months old when she literally threw the bottle at me because she wanted a cup. Your daughter is letting you know that she wants to move onto other things, you started the first step of introducing new foods now she may want to try a new drinking vessle.
Oh and remember also if you have been giving her all these new foods you have to brush her teeth thoroughly for all the different kinds of proteins and sugars. They sell baby tooth pastes in walmart and target etc.
Well, I know at my 1 year appointment they told me as long as she was getting 16 oz. of formula/milk per day then she was fine. So in the scheme of things, I wouldn't think a few weeks would make that much of a difference in terms of her formula consumption. If you are really worried, maybe you could offer another small bottle in place of one of her snacks when she is hungry in between meals - but if it were me (unless my child was very underweight) I wouldn't stress about it too much.
Also, I know moms who started their kids on whole milk at 11 months and everything was just fine. In my UNprofessional opinion (!), you could certainly try mixing the formula and milk now too if you'd like.
At any rate, although I know it is easier said than done, I'd try not to worry too much. Not all babies are the same and although the dr's give us guidleines for what they should/should not be consuming at each stage - not every baby is going to be able to follow the "rules" exactly because they are all different.
Hi Maranda,
Your daughter sounds just like my kids were when they were that age. I remember the 20oz minimum of formula and trying so hard to reach it. My advice to you- don't sweat it. Figure out what she will drink. My kids would drink 3 bottles of 5oz. So, that gave me 15oz. I would always put at least 7-8oz in the bottles in case they wanted more but usually they would stop at 5oz. So, I would take the other 5oz they needed to make 20oz for the day and mix it with their cereal and other foods. If they had a day drinking 18oz, I'd just leave it at that. Both of my kids drank formula until they were about 20 months. but during that time I also had them eating cheese, yogurt and other dairy products. If your daughter can eat some cheese and yogurt, then you have even less to worry about. Be sure that she is drinking enough fluids however as this is important - lots of water and some diluted fruit juices.
You could try making "smoothies" with the formula. My son drank lots of those. I mixed fruit and cereal in his bottles and to him they were more of a treat. Then there was my daughter who never drank formula at all. She went from breast to juice. I still cannot get her to drink milk at all. And the kids don't drink cow's milk, just soy. She won't drink milk period. But she's fine. She gets her calcium in her veggies. Luckily, she likes most vegetables. And she takes a multi-vitimin. Those are important.
Put the formula in a sippy cup. That's what we did. We did 3 bottles/1 sippy one week then 2 botts/2 sippies, then next week 1 bot/3 sippies till we were only on sippy cups.
You can totally do the whole milk now, 1/2 and 1/2 formula. Sounds like she is getting enough to me, tho. Kids won't deprive themselves of what they need. You are doing fine, don't worry! :)
hi - my son WILL NOT take a bottle and i only BF 2x a day now...what i do is mix 4 oz of milk with 1/2 cup oatmeal cereal and mix into his breakfast lunch and dinner...that way i know he's getting at least 16 oz with meals and then whatever he gets when he nurses from me...good luck!
I'm quite sure my pediatrician would say that is plenty of formula. Have you called your doc? If she's eating healthy food in addition to the formula, my guess is she's doing fine, but before you make yourself nuts, I would get a professional's opinion over a website.
If you get the go ahead with the milk, doing half and half is a good way. My daughter needed that for the transition. My son went right to whole milk at 12 months - didn't need to wean off the formula.
I have twin girls who also had the same formula problem once they hit about 9-10 months old. They, I believe, were actually taking less than the 15 oz. My doctor was not concerned. As long as your daughter is eating enough, drinking enough fluids in general and growing properly, let her do her own thing. You can start weaning her off formula, but do it slowly. I started with 1/4 milk, the rest formula. Then every week just up one a quarter. In a month she will be on all milk. After three kids, all completely different, I've learned they rarely go by "what the books say". You can tell if you're child is happy and healthy so just try and go with the flow! Good luck!
I am a laid-back mother of 3 as well as a Physician Assistant and have worked in pediatric medicine. Babies are very good at regulating their caloric needs. She is probably getting enough calories between her solid meals and formula. If you are worried about nutrients, I would suggest skipping the typical baby snack foods nad stick with the small cheese pieces, fruit and low sugar cereals like you are doing. Yogurt and cottage cheese are also a great snacks. Something else to think about...don't go for low-fat. Babies need much more fat than we do for brain development until they are about 18 months old.
Have you tried a sippy cup? If she refuses, put her warmed formula in it so she recognizes the flavor. Consider this at first only at meal times since likely she will just play with it. It helps to start without the stopper so she gets the idea of getting liquid out of the cup. I have started with water just so there is not a huge mess. There is no need for juice. If you really want to avoid a mess without the stopper, give it to her when she's in the bathtub - even cleaner if it doesn't get dunked into the water!
The only reason to wait on cow's milk is the risk of allergies. While it is unlikely that she's allergic if there is no family history, wouldn't you always wonder if she gets an allergy that you gave it to her before "the rules" said to?
Bottom line: Continue what you are doing. She will not starve, nor get malnourished if she is eating as you speak of. When you go for your 1 year pediatician visit, just ask if she is following the trend in percentiles for height and weight and as long as she is, you will know she is being well-nourished. If not, you can discuss options with your physician. There are high calorie formulas available but they are usually used for preemies.
Hope this helps. Don't forget, I am fairly laid-back so my instinct is to let baby regulate herself as I know they do so well.
My advice (and that's all it is) is to stop feeding her snacks that aren't real food, as what you described tend to expand in the stomach and give a sense of fullness without the nutrition. Rather than the bottle, I'd wean her off "puffy" things and start introducing snacks like almonds, celery, carrots, apples, pears, maybe even goat cheese for a hit of protein. I think she'll probably start to regulate herself a bit more and you'll be able to then "read" her body. A very smart pediatrician said to me once "if you leave a kid alone, provide balanced healthy real food, they will regulate their intake and eat exactly what is necessary". In my opinion we spend too much time trying to figure out when to do things, when in reality, if we just clean up what we provide, our kids come equiped with the wisdom of how much and when. If only we could keep that wisdom our whole lives!!
BTW - Goat milk is much more digestible. My daughter (adopted) nursed with a supplement of goat milk from the age of 4 months
And another BTW - A good book is Superbaby Food. There may be one for older kids as well, but I used the wisdom and ideas in that book till my kids were 2 or 3. good luck!!
I raised 3 kids and am now helping with my granddaughter, don't worry too much. For 6 months my granddaughter hasn't eaten much meat, I showed my daughter how to find other things that are good for her to eat to supplement. She loves beans, lentils, sometimes tuna, macaroni and beans, vegetables above most else. Feed the baby homemade food, not store bought, processed garbage. Find recipes for different kinds of pudding, try making some with the formula. When she's thirsty, try to give her some formula in a big girl cup. I'm trying to help my daughter get the baby off the bottle completely by only using straws which she has already been using for almost a year. "Necessity is the mother of invention". I hope this helps.
i would say talk to your dr, my ped started my daughter on whole milk at 11 months, she did not like the formula either, also i would try a sippy cup (the soft plastic nipple like ones) she was off a bottle by 1 and like the cup better then the bottle and i put her formula right in. now she was my second, my son was on formula till two and he drank his form right from his sippy cup too. i also tried to substitue teh nutrients into her meals.
Do not switch her to milk just yet, there are lots of vitamins and minerals added to formula that are not added to milk. If She is eating and drinking until she is full and not cranky from being hungry, then she is fine. If you use powdered formula you might want to try mixing it a little thicker, but you don't need to. She is also getting nutrients from the food she eats, and just about all food (especially baby & toddler food) is bolstered with vitamins and minerals.
My son, who is just about 8 months old, won't always take his bottle of formula either. He loves to eat by a spoon though so I sometimes mix the formuala in with whatever else he is eating like cereal or applesauce or whatever. Sometimes I just feed it to him by the spoon like soup!
Also, according to my pediatrician, at 11 months old, like your daughter, they only really need 16 - 24 oz of formula. You can supplement with yogurt as well and sips of actual milk is ok too. Unless she is on a special kind, the formula is milk-based anyhow.
Enjoy.
2 ounces really is not a big deal. If she's only taking 3 bottles a day then give her 3-7 oz bottles. Or even start giving it to her in a sippy cup. You might also try giving her fewer snacks so that she will want the formula.
I usually started switching my kids from formula at 11 months. I started with 1/4 milk and 3/4 formula for a week, then the next week 1/2 milk 1/2 formula, then 3/4 milk 1/4 formula. So that by 12 months they were on all milk. It doesn't always work that way. My 2 year old was on formula till he was 15 months because his stomach just couldn't tolerate it. It would curdle and he would spit it right up. So ever child is different. You probably shouldn't just start your daughter on the 1/2 and 1/2 mixture though. That might be too much milk at first.
I started my 14 month old on milk a month before he turned one year. I started using it in his cereal. I did that for a week. When I saw there was no reaction (other than initial constipation) I weaned him off his morning nursing and gave him a bottle of milk instead. AFter two weeks, I weaned the afternoon nursing and replaced that with a bottle of milk. He didn't take to it right away. I'd been giving him Stonyfield Soy Yogurt at breakfast, so I put a dollop of flavored soy yogurt in his milk. If you give the drinkable Yo baby yogurt (also by Stonyfield) you can put some of that in the milk as well. It just gives it a familiar flavor and they like it.
If you have no milk allergy and have had no problems with formula (like needing to switch to a soy formula) you should be fine switiching to whole milk. My doctor also said that it's a TOTAL of "milk" for the whole day - that includes yogurt, cheese, formula/breastmilk and regular milk. At this point, the food is giving a lot of nutrients as well and baby doesn't rely so much on the formula/breastmilk for the main feedings. Hope this helps! Ask your doc just in case. They all have different views!
My pediatrician told me to start my daughter on 1/2 formula 1/2 whole milk at 11 months, and it worked wonderfully. By the time my daughter was a year old, she took the milk without a problem. Also, 15-18 oz. a day is enough if she is getting sufficient vitamins and nutrients in her diet. When you take her off formula completely, it is more of an issue since whole milk doesn't have the same vitamins as formula.