11 --> 12 months old...HELP!!

[Jrwusch]

First time mom here (no surprise here)...

DC turned 11 months a couple days ago, and I'm starting to freak out about what comes next. I'll be talking to our pediatrician as well, but thought I'd pick your brains first :)

1. Sippy cup?? She's a pro at using a sippy cup (we have the Nuby soft spout kind). Should we start transitioning her to a straw cup? Or a regular cup?

2. Formula?? Right now she drinks about 25oz of formula plus solid/table food...should I drop that down even more?

3. Bottle?? When are we supposed to stop using bottles completely? When she turns one? Should we start giving her formula in a sippy/straw cup instead of a bottle?

4. 3 meals a day? Right now she gets 4 bottles a day plus solid/table food...when should we transition to just 3 "meals" a day?

Hope my questions make sense...any help/advice would be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks in advance!

[AshleyAnn]

DD just turned 11 months and I've been wondering about this too.

[KrisM]

Nothing magical happens at age 1 :). But, you can work on eliminating a bottle, moving away from formula and towards milk, moving towards less milk/formula and more solid foods.

I nursed and didn't use many bottles, so that wasn't an issue. But, DS2 was about 15 months before he figured out a straw cup and we just nursed instead. DD didn't eat any solids until 9 months and didn't have 3 meals until around 15 months. It'll all work out :).

[williams44]

My DD just turned 12 months 3 weeks ago. We had her 1 year checkup 2 weeks ago. Our ped said that we should switch to cow's milk. He suggested doing it gradually by mixing formula and milk until we get to just milk. He said no minimum on the amount of milk but the maximum is 24 to 30 ounces. It seems that other peds say much less milk, but that's what ours said. He said try to move her away from a bottle and pacifier.

So here's what's happened so far. We tried to stop giving her a bottle and formula cold turkey. She was not pleased. So we stepped back a bit. We mixed formula with milk until we figured out she's fine with the milk, it's the bottle that she cares about. So now we give her a bottle of milk in the morning when she wakes up and one in the evening before she goes to bed. She used to get 4 bottles a day. Now, during the day, she gets milk in a straw cup and water in a sippy cup. She took to the straw cup right away. She blew out instead of in once. My husband did it to show her, and then she did it. No problem. I was surprised. I guess we should be trying to get her to give up her bottle, but we haven't yet.

As for her pacifier, she only uses it for sleeping. The ped said get her off of it by 18 months. We feel that since we've taken away 2 bottles, we'll give her a little time.

As for eating, she eats 3 meals a day and 1 snack. So she gets 8 oz of milk in the morning right after she wakes up around 6:15 am. Then she has breakfast around 7:30-8. Then she gets some milk in a straw cup around 10:30 am and a snack if she seems hungry. Then she has lunch around noon. Then she gets some milk in a straw cup around 2:30-3 and a snack if she seems hungry. Then she has dinner at 5. And she gets a bottle between 6 and 6:30 before she goes to bed. DD likes to eat. So, she usually drinks a total of about 20-24 oz of milk a day.

The thing I'm wondering about is her nap schedule. She takes 2 naps now, once around 9 and once around 1 pm. But there are days where she refuses to take her second nap. So I think she may be transitioning to 1 nap, but it's unclear.

Of course, every kid is different and goes at a different pace. So whatever ends up happening will be fine. It all works out in the end.

[Jrwusch]

Nothing magical happens at age 1 :)

What?!! NOOOOOO!! You mean she's not going to wake up that morning, hop out of her crib, give me a big hug and exclaim "I love you mommy, you're the BEST!" ???!! :rotflmao:

[SnuggleBuggles]

What?!! NOOOOOO!! You mean she's not going to wake up that morning, hop out of her crib, give me a big hug and exclaim "I love you mommy, you're the BEST!" ???!! :rotflmao:

They act like 1 is some magical number where all of a sudden they are a different person than they were a few hours before- like an 11m364d old can have a bottle but if you do at 12m they are going to become bottle addicts, use a bottle till they go to kindergarten and just be doomed. I know I planned to nurse to a year. Then a year came and I thought, "why did I chose some random date to make end this?". It was pretty silly. I nursed till 18ish months with both boys and I had just rolled with it. There's no reason to make major changes anytime soon. Little bits here and there that work for you.

Beth

[maylips]

My DS is 14 months now and has been using a straw cup since, oh, maybe 7 months or so. I introduced those over sippies because it *seemed* my DD (my oldest, his big sis) learned to drink out of a cup earlier since she wasn't used to being able to tip the entire cup all the way back like a sippy. (I use asterisks because having 2 kids showed me that just because I think it's one way, doesn't mean it's necessarily that way, it just worked for one kid at the time).

Anyway, so feel free to introduce the straw cup if you want. DS is just now using a regular cup at times with dinner and he does well if he's really thirsty and makes a HUGE mess playing with it if he doesn't. So 12 mths is probably early for a real cup.

Can't help with formula, but I did quit nursing at 12 months with both kids. With DS, who didn't do much expressed milk, he pretty much got the into to cow's milk full throttle, meaning I didn't mix the two to gradually get him used to cow's milk because I didn't have a lot of expressed milk to mix it with. I don't think that's completely necessary, but if it makes you feel better, you could easily put 1/4 whole milk with 3/4 formula, then move to 1/2 and 1/2, etc. My daughter, who did it more gradually like that, does seem to like milk now more than my son, so does that help? Who knows....but my daughter drank a full sippy (instead of a bottle) when she woke up and before bed while my son doesn't sit still for that long to drink that much.

I would slowly start to replace the snack of formula with real food, but again, it's not a huge rush...it just helps you more! :) If your DD likes the formula, I think she's fine still having it more than real food, but if she's ready to move on, introduce her to solids during that time. My 14 month old pretty much eats 3 meals plus 2 snacks per day and has been for a couple of months now.