12 mos, few things - weaning, cows milk, no teeth and early wakes!

[nevviemama]

There are a few things we're coping with now that I'm hoping to get advice on. Lo just turned 1 this week, but 11.25 adjusted age. Prior to 11 months we had terrible naps, and lots of nw's. Finally with some consistency we weaned the paci, did pu/pd, wi/wo and at 11 months she started to sleep 10-12 hr nights. At that time, I was giving 4 feeds a day, and started weaning. First, 3 bf, 1 midday bottle. Then, replaced midday bottle with snack and replaced mid-morning bf with bottle. Still giving formula, but just yesterday started offering cows milk in her sippy cup at lunch. Here is our routine:

7am - wake, bf
8am - cereal with fruit, from 5-10 tbsp depending on day
11-11:30 (usually after nap) - bottle
12-12:30 - lunch - cubes of banana, avocado, other soft finger foods, along with either homemade leftovers or jar food (veggie, meat, fruit, whatever she'll eat). Sometimes yogurt, cottage cheese, grated cheddar. Mum mum or biscuit.
3 ish - snack - fruit, mum mum or biscuits
5 ish - dinner - pretty much same as lunch, more picky here and doesn't eat as much
6:30 - bf and bed (early cuz naps are crap)

So here are my questions
1) Should I work on reversing solids/bottle?
2) Over how much time should I alter formula/cow milk amounts until she's fully on milk? Would she have milk as often as she would have bottles, or just in a sippy cup at meals and then offer as well through day?
3) She still has no teeth, but seems to really dislike most jar baby foods, and wants to eat everything with her fingers. But I don't give her pieces of meat for ex. Can she chew meat with her gums? I've tried tiny pieces of chicken when she tries what I have but it seems to stick to her tongue cuz she can't get it down. Other ideas?

Now the doozy. When she first started sleeping through the night, she did a full 12 hrs. The last few weeks, she has been waking anywhere from 4-6, crying hard. At first I gave her a half feed, then rest when she woke around 7am, but lately she still screams until I give her a full feed. My mom and sister both think she's waking from true hunger then, but although she has 3 meals a day and a milk feed just before bed, can this be the case? How can I fill her up more to get that extra hour or 2 in the am? I feed until she pushes away or starts spitting food out, and even then I offer a few more options before considering mealtime done. She loves dairy; would it be ok to give her more of that at dinner cuz I think she'd eat more, or might it bother her tummy? I suppose it should be ok considering that eventually she'll have a cows milk feed before bed?

Help appreciated!

[Colin Macs Mom]

Bumping up for you!

[marensmama]

Hayden just turned one and she just got her first tooth last week.  She'll eat anything I give her, those little gums are a lot tougher than you'd imagine!  Feel free to give meat.  Hayden eats steak, I just cut it really thin for her.  Chicken breast meat seems to go over very well chopped into tiny cubes, but it can be dry so make sure she has a drink available.  She'll also eat tuna and canned salmon. 

As far as the milk/BM/formula issue... I don't know if I am doing it 'right' but Hayden gets BF 2X a day, or 3 if I'm not at work for the midday feed.   I offer cows milk with all meals and snacks and then water between.  She eats three meals and two snacks a day, plus milk... I don't worry about the quantity of milk, because she's still BF for two feeds.  A bit laissez faire but she's doing so well.  We held onto that 3 am feed from 7 weeks to one year, and only on her first birthday did she start to sleep through.   She has reflux and we just switched her med so she's doing better and doesn't need the night feed anymore, she doesn't wake for it.

As far as dairy, it's got lots of good fat and calories in it, too much can be constipating for some and have a laxative effect for others... I give one slice of cheese once or twice a day and yogurt (full fat, with fruit puree) plus her milk.  If you think she's not getting enough to get through the night, try to pick high cal foods (nutritious, like avacado) and proteins like meat (against most advice, we've given Hayden peanut butter since we have no food allergies in the family).

I hope that helps.   Maybe someone more knowledgeable will pop by to weigh in. 

[nevviemama]

Thanks marensmama. Currently I do 3 meals plus one snack, but because I'm phasing out the bottle during the day, I think I can add a mid-morning snack now. I wasn't sure exactly when to offer milk/water; your way makes sense. I didn't think of canned fish either - will give that a go.
She loves avocado and usually give it for lunch, but will try it at supper too to help fill up. I give her at least 3-4 tbsp of yogurt with fruit a day and some grated cheese; doesn't seem to have any digestive issues so far. I've also started buying almond butter, and she seems to like it so will give a bit more of that.
Today she was up at 5am -fed her and she slept until just after 6 - maybe I'll check out sleep boards for more tips on how to manage that really early wake.

[marensmama]

Hayden has some EWs too, but it's not out of hunger in our case... it's the start of the 2-1 naps transition so cutting back on her first nap seems to be helping.  Good luck!

[nevviemama]

You know, I never thought of that - naps (and sleep in general) have been a struggle really since the beginning. She only began sleeping 10-12 hrs at 11mos, before that she'd wake every 1.5-4 hrs and have terrible naps. She skips pm nap a lot but even if I do get it, it's short (30-45 MAX), as is the am nap. A while back while posting on the nap boards I thought it may be time for transitioning to 1 but it didn't really work and I've left it at 2, or put to bed early if she skips. I wish I had a decent am nap to 'cut', but I don't - I'll have to review the 2-1 transition again to see if I can nip this in the bud. I really don't want to feed back to sleep at 5am and I'm sure now I've created a bad habit doing it!

[EllenS]

Our "magic" dinner when we were first starting to get 12 hour nights after 1 year was avocado, banana, and scrambled egg. It really did seem to fill her up and hold her all night better than anything else - she had it practically every night for several weeks.

OT can definitely cause EW or NW!  We had some awful times with NW and EW when naps were wonky.  We finally settled into about 11h at night and 1.5 - 2h in the day.  The biggest key to getting good night sleep was the interval between the end of PM nap and bedtime - not too long and not too short, so maybe it is time to review and work on the 1-2 switch?

[nevviemama]

She had almost half an avocado tonight, along with a bit of chicken, half a jar of sweet potatoes, slice of apple and 2 small cookies - we'll see how she does. We're dealing with a time change tonight so worst case we may be in for a 4am wake. She loves banana - haven't given whole eggs yet, but will try your combo. Also read on the nap boards a member who at 1yo gave a baby duvet and pillow and that seemed to help the ew - maybe a comfort factor. Not sure about that though.

I always have trouble with just what you mentioned - the time between last nap and bedtime. If she does nap in the pm it's usually until 3 or 3:30 latest, so I aim for about 3.5hrs from that wake. At 1yr not sure if that's good or not, but of course she's tired so she goes down quite easily most nights. I can't truly rely on her cues cuz she yawns a lot through the day, even after a nap (cuz it was only 45min!). And now I try to get the am nap right too and that's tough because of the early wakes, so then it throws the day off and of course I have to put her to bed early - vicious cycle. But scared of OT if I stretch her to a later bedtime on days when she's up so early. I'll definitely check out the 2-1 threads...