decreased appetite in 11 mo

[SukieCat]

Hi All -

My DS is almost 11 mo, and for the past few days he has not been taking as much from his bottles as he used to.  He used to eat 4 6oz bottles (plus solids after).  Now he'll only take 4-5 oz.  When he gets to his "done" point, he cries and arches his back, but it seems like he's just anxious to get down and start exploring.  I'm not sure if it's normal at this age to start drinking less formula, or if I should change something to try to encourage him to eat more.  Bottle timing or amounts or even cutting out one of the bottles and increasing the others?  He eats plenty of solids after bottles. 

He is also not good at using a sippy cup yet - not sure if I should start putting his formula in there?  Right now he just get water or really watered down juice at mealtimes, but he just likes to play with it or chew on the spout.  I'll hold it up and he'll take a few sips but he won't drink from it on his own.

Please let me know what you think.

Thank you!

[creations]

Hi. I would replace one of the milks with a small snack and a sippy of water.  Either the mid morning or mid afternoon milk first.  See how it goes then switch the other.  This leaves 2 milks (WU and BT), 3 solids meals and 2 snacks through the day.
It's advised to drop bottles at 12 months so working on one at a time from now is not too early.  Many people do continue with bottles beyond 12 months but it's your choice.
From 12 months you are looking at around half a pint or 10oz or 300ml milk/dairy solids per day.  So if he is now on 20oz per day you can see that he has plenty and it's ok to drop some over the next month and beyond.  From 12 months solids are the main calorie intake with milk taking second place (but still important).  You might start to consider switching to cow milk rather than formula at 12 months too.  Again some continue longer but it's your choice.
I would encourage the sippy more and maybe try a straw too so that he isn't reliant on the bottles for his fluid intake.  When we dropped the last bottle (morning WU one) I switched to a straw because DS refused the sippy for that milk feed and I needed him to have a good milk then (had already dropped the BT one at 12 months, moved it to supper snack and sippy milk).  He did really well with the straw at WU milk and it meant all our bottles were gone at 13 months.

hope this helps

[SukieCat]

Thank you for the advice.  I've found feeding to be one of the most challenging parts of raising my LO because I feel like I never know if he is getting enough or too much food.  How much food would you give for a snack?  Can you give an example (or link to another post if that is already covered on this forum somewhere)?

[creations]

There's a couple of links here
Serving sizes and healthy snacks for toddlers
It depends really how hungry your LO is at that time.  A snack might be a piece of fruit or a bread stick.  On the other hand my LO had a 'snack' that was so large mid morning that it was more of a lunch but very very early (10.30 to 11.00am) and he would eat several home made pancakes made with fruit or a few bean/vegi burgers.
I basically let him eat until he was full, LOs are pretty good at self regulating so long as what they are offered is healthy and they are not encouraged to eat beyond their fullness (ie 'just one more bite' or 'finish this and you get pudding').  Only in extreme circumstances would you need to worry about the quantity (like if they are not gaining weight). You don't need to offer all the food groups in each meal and snack, look at balancing across several days or even a week.  Sometimes LOs will eat lots of one item one day lots of another the next but aren't always keen on eating a lot of different things in one sitting.
There are also lots of helpful recipes on the solids boards too if you need more ideas.  If you haven't already introduced finger foods now is a good time, at snack times and at family meals too.

hth

[*Kara*]

I just posted Canada's Food Guide for ages 1-2 and 2-3 yrs in Eating for Toddlers

[scruffymax]

Great advice above.  My LO was definitely down to 2-3 bottles/day by 11 months at 1 bottle by 13 months.  I've not been able to get her to drink milk from a sippy cup (even though she loves drinking water from one) so might have to try a straw cup like creations suggested.  The nurse I saw said that from 12 months, as long as they are getting 4 serves of dairy/day (eg milk on their breakfast, some cheese, some yoghurt, some milk in a cup) that is fine.  She encouraged us to be rid of bottles altogether by 15 months.

[creations]

scruffymax, if you try a straw my recommendation is to buy some straws, cut them in half/shorter if necessary and use with a regular cup or one of your bottles without the teat on.  I say this because I spent out a fair amount of various straw cups only to find that I couldn't truly get the milk out of the straw when washing. I would prefer washable to disposable but disposable seems cleaner.
If you don't like waste you can wash the straw and pop it in a craft box for counting, colour sorting, making pictures, sticking in play doh, threading with cotton reels etc so they get used again.

[scruffymax]

Great tip, thanks!  I think we may even have some straws in the cupboard already.

[SukieCat]

Thanks so much for the links and tips!  I will also check out the Eating for Toddlers board.