Okay moms (& dads) I've got some questions!! We are approaching Isis' first birthday so things are changing with her! Her little body is just growing & growing & she keeps moving from milestone to milestone! So here's where I'm wanting some input & different perspectives/strategies.
When did you switch baby to a forward facing carseat? We are waiting to 12 months, but I'm wondering how many people kept them rear facing & for how long.
What was your strategy with transitioning to a cup/weaning from the bottle? Isis has taken sippy cups with water since 6 months old, but we tried putting the formula in a sippy cup & she HATED it.
Also, how did you transition from formula to milk? And at what age was your baby fully off the bottle?
When did your baby transition to just one nap per day?
What is your feeding schedule like after 1 year? Like when do you do solids, snacks, what does night time look like? Like dinner at 5, snack at 7, then bed? Stuff like that. How much milk do you do and when?
And Isis has all of a sudden decided she's going to be a picky eater!!! She's previously eaten everything from broccoli, peas, carrots, sweet potatoes, tofu, beans, rice, parsnips, chicken, strawberries, papaya, pears, prunes, apples, etc. And now, ever since she stopped eating pureed food & started eating pretty much all finger foods, she won't eat ANYTHING. She will eat graham crackers, salmon sticks, vegetable tots, bread, cheerios, banana, grilled cheese & tomato soup. And literally - that's it. We keep trying new things every night. Pastas & things like that. She did eat beans & rice at the Mexican restaurant the other night. So what strategies did you have for feeding picky eaters?? Or just for finger foods in general? Did this get better once they stopped drinking formula & started doing mainly finger foods?
Thanks for your help!!! I have 12 days left of student teaching!! Yay!!
Comments
The feeding thing gets so confusing. Sometimes I miss the EBF days for that reason.
1. Laney is 13 months and still rear facing. Her carseat goes up to 32lbs/32inches and we're going to try and leave her that way for as long as we can.
2. We are still doing 2 naps a day. I have the No cry sleep solution and it says babies drop the second nap between 12 and 24 months so there is quite a range.
3. We wake up, have milk, breakfast at 8, lunch at 12, milk at 2, dinner at 5pm, milk at 7pm then bed. I give her snacks if she seems hungry and it's awhile before the next meal.
Hope some of that helps. I have no idea about the bottle thing. Laney never really took one to begin with.
2. seeing everyone else drinking from a cup usually makes baby want to, but not one of my four every accepted milk in a sippy cup. it's as if, in their minds, milk comes in a bottle with a nipple and that's that. I know you're suppose to stop bottles at 1, but my kids have all kept their bottle until they were almost 2 and could fully grasp that they were too big for bottles now.
3. Damian went from soy formula to soy milk at about 14 months, Natasha at 10 months. Every child is different. I think both Damian and Natasha found they liked the taste of soy milk over the soy formula, so it was easy to switch.
4.Damian and Natasha have both been taking one 3 hour nap in the middle of the day from the age of one. (Natasha's only been doing this a few weeks.) It's not something I trained them to do, they just started doing it. But the teens, they were still taking two naps a day until they were around 3.
5. Damian did 8 ounces 3 times a day, morning, bedtime and naptime. Natasha is still doing 4 ounces every 4 hours. I think how much milk you do is based on whether it's cows milk or soy milk or almond milk, because you can have too much of certain vitamins and calcium in your system. Research online based on what kind of milk or ask a nutritionist to be sure. It's not something I would have thought about ten years ago, but I learned it's an important factor.
Damian and Natasha both eat a lot of whole grain food and fruits. It's 3 meals a day with snacks in between. Dinner is usually around 5 or 6, bedtime is around 8. Sometimes they'll have wheat thins with spreadable cheese as a snack around 7.
asll my kids are terrible picky eaters and all eat different things, so this one i can't answer for you.
hope the rest helps.
As for picky eaters. I have one really picky eater, one totally not picky eater, and one in between. The only advice I can give you is to not "feed" into their pickiness (excuse the pun!. Keep on putting all that good stuff on their plates and don't become a restaurant offering lots of different choices. My children know the only alternative to the dinner I make is a peanut butter an jelly sandwich and my older two have to make it on their own! Works just about every time!
First, on rear-facing. Do it as long as your carseat will allow you. Babies are much safer rear facing because of the immaturity of their spine. Even at a year old. If she's not freaking out on you everytime you try to put her in the carseat, don't switch. There's plenty of time later for her to see where she's going. We didn't switch #4 until she was 18 months and I wish we had waited even longer.
On naps: If she's napping easily twice a day and still sleeping at night, count your blessings!! LOL IMO there's no need to change up the routine until she starts protesting a nap very regularly. With #4 she was about 13-14 months old when she started refusing her AM nap. After a few days of unsuccessful attempts at what used to be an easy nap, I moved her PM nap up an hour and cut out the AM nap altogether. It was exactly what she needed.
My #4 won't drink milk at all, so I can't help you there. LOL
On food... Oy. I've got the queens of picky eating. At that young age, just keep trying new stuff first and offer sure fire hits second. And don't get frustrated. Like everything else, it's a phase. Especially with eating. She's learning she can have an opinion about things and she wants to see what that looks and feels like.
Can't believe she's almost one! Big girl!
We switched Q to front-facing at about 14 months, I believe, but mostly because he's very tall for his age and started to seem uncomfortable.
Q is not a fan of the sippy cup. He will take it occasionally, but he is very attached to his bottle and is a milkaholic. He's 22 months. I figure we'll do a serious push for the sippy cup at 2.
He transitioned to one nap at about 13 months, but it took about 6 weeks. Not a fun transition time. Be forewarned! She may skip naps altogether for a little while. But he has been sleeping for 2 to 3 hours in the middle of the day for a while, which I think is great.
Q is a picky eater. I would say he can eat two decent meals a day and a couple of snacks. He often ends up throwing much of one meal on the floor. But I'm just trying to keep offering because that's what all of the literature says to do.
Hope this is helpful!
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Never had to move from bottle to cup, because my kids refused bottles to begin with. Never given them any formula either, but started giving them milk from about 12 months. It took them a while to get to like it.
One nap - around 13-14 months.
As for picky eaters - it is still a constant struggle for me. Keep on offering a variety of food. My kids go through stages, sometimes won't eat anything they don't know and sometimes they are keen to try new foods. It's important to be ready when the second stage comes and introduce some variety.
Car seat. F is STILL rear facing at 20ish months. It's the safest as long as a seat accomodates.
F is also a very picky eater... and still is. Some of her favorite finger foods (that are healthy) are homemade quesedillas. Even today she had quesedillas with beans, and roasted sweet potatoe 'fries' with cheese. All smashed inside like a sandwich! Also, I started making my own tomato sauce this summer and would get veggies like carrots, peppers, etc. in her spaghetti meal, or even the tomato soup. She also LOVES bread so I began making pancakes out of zuccini, pumpkins, squash... just to add a little more vitamins. Sneaky Chef ALL THE WAY!
Good luck finishing school and transitioning yet again!!!
2. you have done a great job to introduce it with water.... when you start milk just put it into the cup (not the bottle). that will be the only way she knows the taste of cow's milk :) you may want to put the stopper back in so you don't have sticky mess! try a straw sippy cup if she has trouble doing milk with the regular one.
3. i introduced milk at 12 months and ivy still had a bottle at bed time with that transition type formula until she was 14 months. one night i didn't offer the bottle and she had no problem.
4. we probably did this too early! i was so ready. i started trying to stretch her to one nap at 12 months. she would sometimes crash while eating her lunch and then not sleep as long bc she would wake up hungry. then she was a grouch around dinner bc she really needed another nap. watch for isis' signal that she is done w 2 naps.... when she fights going down for either nap she probably doesn't need the morning one anymore. the pm nap will be earlier.... like noon.
5. ivy's feeding schedule was like ours :)
6. keep introducing new foods and she may go back to liking it. i think hitting the picky eaters is super common at this age. i know ivy did it and now she is a good eater again. they will definitely eat more food when they are off formula.
wow! can't believe isis is almost 1!!! happy soon to be birthday, pretty girl!!!
Little Chick became a bit picky with vegetables once she started getting a woder variety of foods. I held off on any sweets like cake or ice cream for quite some time. She did not miss it because she did not know about it. Then at around two she got some birthday cake and loved it! I would talk with your pediatrician about the milk. I hope you and your family have a great Thanskgiving!
Mama Hen
When did you switch baby to a forward facing carseat? We switched right at 12 or 13 months for all three girls.
What was your strategy with transitioning to a cup/weaning from the bottle? Transition slowly. Do one sippy cup a day the rest bottle then the next week 2 sippy's a day and so forth. Eventually they will get the hang of it.
Also, how did you transition from formula to milk? I purchased the milk based formulas like next step enfamil to transition over to eventually whole milk. Water down the milk in the beginning, it's more gentle on the tummy.
When did your baby transition to just one nap per day? By 12 months
What is your feeding schedule like after 1 year? Like when do you do solids, snacks, what does night time look like? Like dinner at 5, snack at 7, then bed? Stuff like that. How much milk do you do and when?
When my girls turned one I pretty much put them on a schedule like mommy and daddy with healthy snacks in between.
Hope this helps with the variety of other advice given lol You pretty much have to go with your mommy instinct though. You know your child the best and no child is the same or on the same schedules. Good luck and congrats on this new milestone in your parenting life :)
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