Help! We can't seem to feed her enough!

[stephinct]

Good morning everyone,
we are soooo exhausted!  We have a little girl, nearly 13 months, Mary.  Just a few weeks ago we switched from formula to whole milk. She will only take the milk from a bottle (we keep trying to do it in a sippy cup, but she refuses).  Teh doctor suggested it's time to drop the bottle, and that she should have 18-24 oz of milk per day.  Well since we can't get her to take milk any other way but the bottle, we compromised with one 8 oz bottle of milk first thing in the morning & lots of dairy stuff during the day to make up for the calcium.  The last few weeks where she has been all kinds of sick starting with pink eye, sinus infection, double ear infection, then a flue bug that kept her vomiting for 8 days.. now croup!  In any case, she is also not sleeping very well now, seems to be in a growth spurt & now last night woke up to eat!  I just don't know how to approach this to get her back on track. It seems like food is the biggest issue, particularly last night.  Last Friday & Saturday we simply couldn't get enough food into her. Since then she's been eating alot, but not quite as much, but waking up ridiculously (and uncharacteristically) early, starving.  I need some help with how to get enough food into her so that she can sleep through the night again (and we can too!).  Last night was a nightmare..  and I'm hoping someone can give me some suggestions so that we can all sleep tonight. The following is what she had to eat yesterday...

Wake up 6:30am (this was late for the week.. she had been getting up at 5 or 5:30.. normal for her is rarely before 7am)..  8 oz bottle of whole milk.

7am - 1 slice whole grain toast with almond butter on it.
(SHe was at daycare for the day, so my times are estimates here)
8:30/9am - about 1/5 cups cottage cheese with blueberries
(She had a silly long (uncharacteristically long) nap from 11-2:30pm.
2:30pm Lunch - about 1./5 cups vegetarian lasagna.
4pm - snack of cheese & scone
throughout the day she finished off an 8oz smoothie (yogurt, fruit , juice)

6pm - dinner of steak with potatoes
6:40 - 1 slice whole grain toast with almond butter & 1/2 cup juice

bath/bed at 7:30.. but croup hit she was up again by about 9pm..

10:30 pm she was still up & acting hungry, so we gave her an 8 oz bottle & 1/2  a banana (we have only ever fed her at night once or twice before, and it's been months since then).  Then she woke up again at 3am, acting hungry again.. gave her the other half banana.  She was up again 5:00 acting starving.. she took 6 oz whole milk (didn't finish the bottle) & went back to sleep.. woke up again at 6:30 acting hungry again.. we waited until 7am and gave her toast with almond butter again.

She has perfectly regular bm's, etc I think I can rule out any digestive issues.. but then again, I'm no doctor.. I feel like I may not be reading her signs correctly, but the only thing that seems to calm her is food.

PLEASE help!!! We can't keep going like this.. she really needs that good 7:30pm to 7am sleep... poor little thing is just exhausted!  (Big puffy eyes.. that tummy won't seem to let her rest!)

Thanks in advance.
~Steph

[mum101]

I wouldn't worry too much about moving from bottle straight away, she's only just over one year. I found a good different kind of bottle with a very fast flow teat -

http://www.tommeetippee.com.au/products.asp?pk=2&seq=2 (see the blue bottle on this page).  It's a fast flow, so they aren't sucking hard to get the milk (and possibly affecting their bite), I also found after a while they 'break' in the teat and so they flow even faster!  It was a good transition for DD to cups. 

Personally I'd not worry too much about what the doctor says about bottles just yet (unless there is something more than just the concern of kids in general sucking on bottles all day), and gradually change her from bottles to sippy cups. 

You could also mix formula or toddler milk with normal milk instead of a sudden change.  I imagine formula is high calorie and nutrients compared to normal milk, so maybe she is just plain hungry due to that change. Slowly change the ratio of formula to milk so that she is eventually drinking normal milk.  That way she can adjust her other eating to compensate slowly.

It looks like she has a good range and amount of food over the day (ie not lacking protein etc etc).  As you say a growth spurt combined with no formula and less milk could be the key. 

I found that DD has growth spurts even now at almost 3 years old!  A few months ago she would constantly ask for food and if I went anywhere near the kitchen she would follow and ask for food!  Needless to say she stopped after about 3 weeks and now is on about half the food!!  Now she looks totally different, taller, older etc.  Makes sense in retrospect   

[MamaC]

I agree about not worrying about the doctor's bottle recommendation right now.... It seems like she's getting a really well balanced diet, with protein, etc.  Maybe another smoothie snack in the a.m.?  And a more substantial snack at night....maybe some yogurt or more cottage cheese?

HTH!  Growth spurts don't last forever!