12 Months food intake.

[Jayjay]

Hello,

Wonder if anyone has any ideas.

Reuben is 12 months, he isn't a big eater but loves his breast milk. At the moment he is having very little in the way of meals.
Todays food
Breakfast 1/2 a weetabix.
Lunch a few pasta bows in tomato sauce
Tea a spoonful of apple, banana and yogurt.

Reducing his milk intake doesn't really seem to help, my question is, do I keep up with 4 or more milk feeds in the day, or reduce it in the hope he gets hungry, or do I really not need to worry?

He wakes once or twice in the night.

Thanks

Jo

[binxyboo]

Hi Jo,

Welcome to BW! I was in a very similar situation with Riley when he hit the one year mark. I think we were nursing three times a day and around twice a night and he was not eating a great deal of solids. He was gaining weight and growing like a trooper though, hitting all his milestones, so I knew there was no great worry, but at the same time, I would have liked to see him eating more. And then at that time, he started teething his molars, so all food and liquid was a challenge....

I am assuming he has always been a small solids eater from what you have posted. I do think it takes some children longer than others to get firmly established on solids. At least you know he is getting good nutrition through nursing. Gradually over time he started taking more solids, now at 16 months I feel we have really turned a corner. At around a year or so, I did start reducing his night feeds, first to one a night and then he self weaned the second night feed. But I think at that stage the second feed was more of a comfort feed than anything.

What other kinds of food do you try him with? Is he more inclined to eat if he can self feed with fingerfoods etc? Are you offering the solids before you nurse to encourage him to take in a bit more?

[Jayjay]

Hi,

Thanks for taking the time to read my post.

Reuben at the moment doesn't seem to be bothered by finger food or spoon fed food. But he is obviously hungry as he comes to me for milk. i wonder if he is teething and sucking helps ease the discomfort.

Was Riley breast fed? How did you go about reducing the night feeds?

Reuben woke 3 times last night, he has milk and settles back to sleep fine, but it is still tiring,Yawn!

Thanks again for your time.

Jo

[binxyboo]

Yes, Riley nursed until he was 14 months. Here is a link about our experience about dropping night feeds https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=79260.msg677243#msg677243. It may be of no help to you as we cosleep, so I am not sure how you would go about it if your lo is in a crib. You may want to post that on a sleep board. I am going to look for some links about babyled weaning that I think might be of interest to you, all about following your childs pace when it comes to introducing solids. Could you please post your general routine for the day, when food is offered, nursing times, naptimes etc so we can all have a picture of your day. When Riley cut some teeth, he did nurse more for comfort and also nutrition as he would not eat solids, then for other teeth he refused everything.

Here is the link about babyled weaning http://www.borstvoeding.com/voedselintroductie/vast_voedsel/rapley_guidelines.html

[Jayjay]

Hi,

Ok so, Reuben's routine is as follows.

6.30am wake up and milk
8am breakfast
9.30-11.30 naptime ( maybe shorter though)
12 lunch
2pm milk and a nap for about and hour
5pm dinner
6.15 milk
6.30 bed.

Reuben doesn't seem distressed enough to need paracetamol for his teething but seems to find a lot of comfort from feeding, but surly this fills him up thus making him not need solids? Should I feed him as and when he asks or keep it to set times?

Thanks for taking the time to reply,

Jo

[binxyboo]

Hi Jo,

From your routine I see three milk feeds, whcih seems fine to me, but on average how may is he getting during the night?

One thing I would suggest is offering the solids first in the morning, and then nurse afterwards. I think three feeds is fine, although I know a lot of people only do two at that age. But if he is taking in a lot at night, then it stands to reason that his day feeds are going to be affected.

There are lots of different routines that may work in terms of feeding times, it really depends on your feelings about the nursing relationships. How many times a day would you be happy to feed? Do you want to nurse on cue when he wants it, or would you prefer at this stage to keep it to set times and work on increasing his intake from other sources. How is he with the sippy or straw cup ?

[Jayjay]

Wow , you reply fast, thanks!

I really would like him to be eating more solids really, my ideal would be for him to have just 2 milk feeds, 1 in the morn and 1 before bed.
At the moment he arches his back and tries to get into the milk position which a few weeks ago he wasn't, i guess this is when he is wanted to feed just for comfort rather than because he is particularly hungry.
i think I need to work on distracting him, seeing if he is happy to read a book instead of nursing.

In the night he often wakes once or twice, i am hoping he is getting into a 1 a night phase at the moment.

[binxyboo]

I have been thinking about this a lot, trying to figure out which way might be the best way to go. It really is such a personal thing when dropping nursings. First of all, I would definitely offer solids first thing in the morning, and then nurse at the time you would usually offer solids. Offer lunch as usual and a drink in a cup/bottle (does he use any of those???) if he doesn't eat much for lunch and you feel he will wake up hungry during his nap. You could offer a little snack upon wake up, then dinner, nurse and bed. How does that sound to you? It might take a while though before you start to see the intake of solids rise.

[Jayjay]

That sounds like a good plan. He went without a morning feed with a little persuasion this morning, he had milk at 2pm but was really desperate to have more at about 4pm, I can see another top tooth starting to poke through which is obviously upsetting him so let him have some then. Consequently he didn't;t really eat very much for dinner, but then he didn't eat much for lunch either. He is a funny boy!

[binxyboo]

Whatever works best for you. You may want to skip the morning nurse, offer breakfast, snack, lunch, give his access to a sippy through the morning, nurse before nap and bedtime. I guess if he is not sleeping through and wants to nurse everytime he wakes in the night you may want to consider it a habit as well, if he needs it to go asleep every time. It takes time whatever way you choose to go about it. Really, at your lo's age, Riley might only eat a 6 oz jar plus some finger foods for the entire day. I would be so worried at times, but in the end I just followed him (he is a stubborn little thing, so no choice but to follow him!), and he did come round in his own time. I never would have believed it at the time that he would give up nightnursing and start eating more, but lo and behold, when the time was right, he did. Let me know how it's going. Hugs to your lo, teething can be so rough on them xx

[Jayjay]

Well this morning we had breakfast at 6.45am before milk and he ate all the porridge in his bowl, with hardly any fuss! I think that is the way forward.
Lunch was a bit of a mess as we were out and Reuben hadn't had a long enough nap so was tired. He didn't really eat a whole lot. He then had milk at 1pm. When we got home from being out he ate a banana.
He and I then went to the supermarket, and I brought a french stick which he chewed on while we were going up and down the aisles, ( quite funny as I hadn't meant him to chew on it, he was sat in the trolley and the bread stick was next to him and next thing I knew he was having a good munch!)
Dinner also wasn't too bad, he ate most of what was in his bowl and a bit more bread stick and a yogurt. So all in all, I think he had quite a bit. So really he should go to sleep with a full tummy!
I think you are right about his night waking being habitual. He nearly always wake up around 2.30. Amazing how their clocks work!

Thanks for all your tips, they are really helpful and I'm feeling less muddled about it all now.

[binxyboo]

Yay! That sounds great so far!!!

Please keep me posted as to how Reuben gets on. That's so cute about the bread!

[Jayjay]

Hiya,

Things seem to be going really well. Reuben eats really well if we are home, going out isn't quite so sucessful. Having breakfast before milk has made a real difference.
He ate all his pasta and pesta this afternoon.
He still asks for milk around 10ish if he isn't napping but I try and substitue that with a piece of fruit which seems to be working.
So all in all I feel like we are being sucessful, yipee!

[binxyboo]

That is great, I am so happy for you both. Riley can be very difficult to feed while we are out. Tends to be hyped up and will refuse food etc. I find it best to offer him something like a granola bar in cases like that, which goes over well.

I can't wait to see a photo of Reuben!!

[Jayjay]

Here we go, a picture of my gorgeous little boy. The picture is taken at his favourite place, the beach! He went through a faze of eating sand.....maybe that put him off real food! His Daddy is a windsurf/surf fanatic so the sea is in his blood.

I think I will try finger food when we are out, Reuben so is sociable he just would rather have a chat to someone than eat, I'm sure it won't take him long to perfect the art of talking with his mouth full!

[binxyboo]

LOL!

He is a cutie!!!

Another blondie!

Riley is the sociable kind as well, loves being in a restaurant, so much to see and do, and gets too distracted to eat a lot. So fingers foods allow him to nibble at his own pace.

[Jayjay]

Well Reuben is still eating well, yippee! Although now has take to spitting his food out when he has had enough. He is such a monkey! I hope you had a great Christmas, Reuben enjoyed his Christmas dinner.

Thanks for all your help.

Jo