Small One Year Olds & Eating

[Raidra]

What's a normal amount for a small (20th percentile or under) baby to be eating? I have a friend whose (huge) one year old has eaten two full dinners (sitter mishap) with no problem, but Colwyn eats so little.

Colwyn's meals normally look like this:

Breakfast is 4-5 grapes, 1/4-1/2 cup cheerios, and maybe 1/2 container of Yo-Baby.

Lunch is 1/4 slice of deli turkey, 1/4 cup green beans, and 2 saltines with cream cheese.

Dinner is 3 1/2" cubes of meat, 1/4-1/2 cup pasta, and 3 small carrot slices.

He usually has two snacks a day, something like 3 cheese nips, 1/2 cup Goldfish, etc.

He drinks about 20-24 oz of formula a day.

I'm just worried that at his one year appointment, the pedi will tell me to put him on milk and Colwyn won't be getting enough to eat without the formula. Is that a normal amount of food for a ~18.5 lb one year old?

I guess I'm also worried that the pedi will tell us that we need to put him on toddler formula or something, because I can't wait to be done with formula! :D

Thanks!

[Momof3Labs]

Have you tried cutting back on his formula? He's not eating a lot of solids because he is drinking so much formula! As you reduce the amount of formula that he drinks, he will definitely increase his solid intake.

[nathansmom]

I second cutting back on the formula. Once I took Nathan off of formula he started eating more solids. Nathan was a small one year old and my ped had me start weaning Nathan off of formula at one year. Nathan is now 20 months old and just hit the 20lb mark.

[Raidra]

Thanks for the advice.. I'm planning on substituting his 3am bottle for water in the hope that he'll stop waking up.. maybe that'll help with his eating, too.

My mom has drilled it into my head that if he doesn't eat well at a meal, I should just give him an extra bottle.. looks like that wasn't good advice. ;) We were so worried about his weight gain when he was a newborn, and I've never really stopped worrying about it.

[sntm]

It's not terrible advice -- it's still nutrition -- but I agree that tapering back on the formula will lead to more eating of solids. But just glancing at your descriptions, most were appropriate toddler portions, so don't be too worried.
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shannon
not-even-pregnant-yet-overachiever
trying-to-conceive :)
PREGNANT! EDD 6/9/03
mama to Jack 6/6/03
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Breastfeeding 15 months and counting

[egoldber]

Honestly, it sounds to me like he's eating really well. I wish my 3 year old ate that well or that much, LOL!! As others, said, I would start replacing some of the formula with other liquids: whole milk, water and watered down juice if you like.

HTH,

[JElaineB]

DS was about 10th percentile for weight at one year and is now up arond 20-25%. I think it sounds like your DS is eating a very good amount at the moment. From what you have described it sounds like he is getting three good meals and 2 good snacks. I personally wouldn't worry about cutting out the formula at this point. I started switching over to whole milk right after his 1 year ped appt (about a week after his birthday) and did that slowly over about 3-4 weeks (1 week was 1/4 milk, 3/4 formula, next week was half and half, 3rd week was 3/4 milk, 1/4 formula, 4th week was all whole milk). As soon as we switched to all whole milk I noticed a dramatic increase in his solids intake. Like he "knew" he had to eat more solids. He also cut back to 2 bottles of milk a day (16 oz.) rather than the 3 or so bottles of formula a day. I do remember being worried about his food intake around a year old, so I did spike his bottles of whole milk with a tablespoon or so of heavy cream for a few weeks. But once I realized he had upped his solids intake I stopped. So it sounds like you are doing everything fine right now to me - keep up the good work and get ready for full blown toddlerhood! :)

Jennifer
mom to Jacob 9/27/02

[jubilee]

When my son turned one, the ped said ONLY 16-20 ounces a day of milk. This is roughly what I fed my son between one year old and 18 months old.

Grains- 6 servings a day
3 T. rice
1/3 cup oatmeal or infant cereal
1/4 slice bread
1/4 english muffin
4 small crackers
3/4 small pancake
3/4 small muffin or biscuit
4 animal crackers
1/4 cup cherrios

Meat- 2 servings a day
1 ounce lean meat or chicken
1 egg yolk hard boiled
3/4 scrambled egg
1 Tbsp. tuna
1/4 cup beans

Dairy- 1-2 servings a day PLUS MILK
4 oz yogurt (full fat version, like yo-baby)
1 slice cheese or little cubes of cheese
1/2 stick string cheese, diced
1/2 C. cottage cheese (full fat)

Veggie- 2-3 servings a day
1 broccoli spear
3 T. peas
1/2 cup mashed potato or baked potato
1/4 cup sweet potato, mashed
1/4 carrot or one baby carrot
1/4 cup green beans

Fruit- 2-3 servings a day
1/4 c. watermelon, diced
1/2 apricot, ripe and mashed
4 T. applesauce
5 grapes, quartered or eighted
1/4 c. fruit cocktail
1/2 banana
2 T. raisins
1/2 apple or pear
1/2 peach

All this food was divided among 3 meals and a snack or two. I didn't stress out if I didn't get him to eat everything- but I always offered this much food a day, and he mostly ate everything.

[stillplayswithbarbies]

Logan is 18 months and that is about the amount of food that she eats in a day, sometimes less.

...Karen
DS Jake Feb 91, DD Logan Mar 03
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