What happens when Sophie hits 12 months?

[Marisa6826]

My ped has already told me ( and I know from the threads here) that you switch to cows milk from formula at one year old. I'm lactose intolerant, I've told him that, but he doesn't seem to think it's an issue. I plan on *slowly* converting her over to organic whole milk.

Sophie will be 10 months old this week. She eats SOME solids, and usually takes five (5-7 oz.) bottles of formula a day. I must admit that I haven't been very diligent at all about giving her the solids every day. Lazy Mommy. It's just so much easier to give her the bot and be done with it. I do, however, try and give her solids at night when we eat dinner. She loves solid food, I've just been bad about supplying it on a regular basis. I know, I know...

Is she REALLY supposed to stop all these bottles cold turkey in two months??

She's no where near ready to go on full solids.

This ped made it sound like she would only be getting a bottle at night.

What's the real deal?

Can you sense the panic?? ;)

-m


edited to add that she only has two little teeth on the bottom (and they're only sticking about 1/8" out of her gums)

great question...I look forward tot he answers...

My body also prefers Lactose free, but that seemed to come with age, I wonder if children are effected like we are.

I spent a few days wiht my friend last week, a mother of two and an ICU nurse...she handed Tristan a sippy cup and I was amazed he liked it and used it. she also is one to feed him things way before I would have...he takes it!!!

I too am nervous about the solids 100% of the time!!!

[egoldber]

I think that most people gradually wean from the bottle to a cup. When Sarah turned 1, she was still taking 4 bottles a day. About one a week, I replaced a bottle with a sippy cup at a meal. She still got a bottle (of milk) at night until she was 14 months. One night she fell asleep before I had a chance to give her a bottle, so obviosuly she didn't need it anymore. So I didn't offer it anymore and she never missed it. Honestly, I would not make a big deal of taking the bottles away, but I would try and have her off bottles before she is 15-18 months. It is MUCH easier to wean off bottles before your baby turns into a stubborn toddler and has the verbal skills to ASK for the bottle, KWIM?

As far as solids, I would try and offer her solids more frequently. I can also remember being apprehensive about her being only on solids, but honestly I find it SO much more convenient for her to eat table food. It is obviously not a hard and fast rule, but by 12-14 months, she should be getting most of her nutrition from solids rather than bottles. This is especially important when you switch from fromula to whole milk, because milk is not a complete diet like formula is. It is important that she be eating a variety of solids, including protein, before then.

And Sarah had ZERO teeth before she was 14 months old. It never imparied her ability to eat anything except things I wouldn't have give her anyway, like tough meats and al dente veggies.

HTH,

[Marisa6826]

I have been giving her protein and she seems to like it. Anything from turkey (from my sandwich) to Cornish hen to chicken from soup to beans.

She seems to like veggies (although I'm far from being good at eating them myself!), as well as fruits.

There honestly hasn't been much that she doesn't seem to like.

Now I just really need to get on the ball about giving it to her!


On a side note, I started looking for straw cups for her in the store (I haven't gone to Buy Buy Baby or BRU yet), but all I see are ones for much bigger kids.

Does such an animal exist?

As I've mentioned, I have the sippy cup attachments for the Avent bottles, but she seems to think they're toys more than anything else. I tried taking the little filter thing out, but then the water just went all over the place.

ARGH!

-m

[Tondi G]

Try the First Years Take and toss cups for some reaosn i know a lot of people whos kids didn't take to a sippy till they tried this one in particular!!! Just fill it with water and give it to her with her meals... she can experiment with it and play with it at first! Eventually you can try formula or milk in there... she might take to it if it has something in there that she likes to drink!!!!

You don't have to go directly to cows milk at a year... you can stay with formula for a bit... then maybe try introducing 1/3 milk or soy milk to 2/3 formula.... see how she likes it! They also have those follow up formulas as well!!!!

I think the only cups that have the straw in them are rather large.... playtex makes them.. usually a 9 oz or so sized cup! My son loved his big ole cup with a straw though!!!!

Good luck
~Tondi, Mason(2) and #2 edd 6/6/04

[egoldber]

There's no reason she can't use the bigger cup. But the lids on the Playtex strsw cups fit all the Playtex sippies (except the two handled trainer cups) so you could put it on a smaller sippy.

Sarah had good success using the Take&Toss cups that TondiG mentioned. Those are great cups. And Sarah would have nothing to do with a sippy until I put formula in it. She had no idea she was supposed to DRINK the stuff that was in there, LOL!!

[Marisa6826]

I have the Take and Toss spoons and bowls and LOVE them. I will pick up the sippys.

Thanks!

-m

[lizajane]

dh and i are BOTH lactose intolerant. ds is NEVER getting dairy milk. we are going straight to soy milk. we will give him cheese, yogurt, etc. things that we both tolerate ok. but we will use whole milk yogurt, etc, for the fat aspect. the ped might prefer that we give him whole milk, but i know folks who have stayed away from dairy and their kids were ALWAYS a-ok.

[teddy]

FYI - If you didn't want to move to cow's milk or soy milk, I believe there are some "follow up" formulas on the market that are for children over a year of age. I think Enfamil makes one, and they have a soy based version also. Supposedly they contain more iron than cow's milk and other things a toddler needs. But I don't know how long they are supposed to stay on the follow up formula.

[friedmana1]

Marisa -
I also had a tough time weaning Leah over to solids. I was just like you - I'm so lazy - it was so much more convenient giving her the breast. Anyway, I knew that I wanted to wean her by around 12 months for personal reasons, so that gave me the motivation to start giving her food. Now she eats everything!!!! And she also has NO teeth in site! Don't worry about it - the 12 month mark is not a line we draw in the sand, and say you're a bad mommy if Sophie is still having bottles at that point. It's just meant as a mock goal for parents to start to realize that their kids are growing up, and they need to start treating them a little differently. Offer her the milk (or whatever) in a sippy cup, instead of a bottle and she how she does. And start gradually introducing a solid meal once a week, etc. The bottom line is that this is not supposed to drive you nuts - just take the lead from Sophie - she's ready for the big time!

Aimee
Mother to Leah 10/26/02