Eating Schedule when on 1 nap?

[JennVanessa1083]

Hello!

My 12.5 month old DS is transitioning to one nap. I'm having a hard time timing his meals and snacks. I still BF. My routine used to be;

WU/ BF 7:30 am
Breakfast: 9 am
Nap: 12-1:30/2 pm
BF plus snack
Lunch 2:30-3 pm
Nap 5:45-6:05 pm
BF or snack
Dinner 7:30 pm
BT/ BF 8:45 pm

Now I'm doing:

WU 7:30 am
Nap 12:15-2/2:15 pm (working on making it long)
BT 7 pm

I feel like there's not enough time to get all his calories in. 

[jessmum46]

I would bring breakfast earlier to a sensible time in the morning, shortly after WU.  You can still do a BF as part of that if you wish . Then I'd do a snack mid-morning 10ish, and early lunch at 11.30 OR big snack around 11ish and lunch after nap.  Snack/BF mid-afternoon if needed, bring dinner earlier to 6pm as you are likely to need an earlier BT for a while and then BF at bedtime.  Basically just bring meals a bit closer together, and if you are finding he's not so hungry for his meals then maybe switch breast feeds around a bit so he's not so full up of milk.  Hope that helps x

[JennVanessa1083]

That does help!

Question: when you say switch BFs around, do you mean doing solids before BFs?

[jessmum46]

At this age yes I would, breastfeeds have obvious benefits but should now become more of a drink than a main food - obviously you can feed as much as you like but I would be aiming now for most of LOs nutrition to be coming from solids.  Breastmilk is a bonus   Perhaps you could do breastfeeds in the morning (with/after breakfast), bedtime and then at snack times?  But really it is up to you.  The other option if you wished would be to reduce/drop the daytime breastfeeds as many do with older LOs, but again there is no reason you have to do this and plenty of people will continue to breastfeed several times per day until their toddlers are ready to wean entirely x

[JennVanessa1083]

I could drop the day feeds as he eats tons of solids. He still has an early morning feed that won't quit lol

[Erin M]

When my kiddos moved to one nap, my aim was just to stuff as much lunch in them as possible before they passed out for their nap.    That could mean that you'd do breakfast when he wakes and then either drop the BF or use it as your mid-morning snack. 

[JennVanessa1083]

lol Erica that's a good idea!

What did your EASYs look like around this age?

I gave him breakfast after his BF which he ate a lot but then spit up a bit a little later. I'm approaching his nap and not sure whether to give a BF/ snack or wait until after the nap. 

[Erin M]

Considering my youngest just turned 5, I'm not sure if I can remember all that well!  But I think we went something like this:
7:30(ish) - WU/breakfast
10:00 - midmorning snack (if you want to BF during the day, I'd do it here and then add in some fruit/crackers/etc)
12:00 - lunch
12:30-2:30 - nap (again, I couldn't tell you what their A times were at this point if you paid me, just a guess)
4:00 - snack (you could do a BF here as well - I dropped the midmorning first and then this one)
6:00 - dinner
7:30 - BT

[~*Nicole*~]

I am confused about you feeling like there is not enough time to get calories in because with him only taking one nap, don't you have more time for meals and snacks than if he was having 2 naps?

I am still BFing as well with my 12 month DD and she is sometimes taking one nap. She wants to eat every couple of hours so I space meals and snacks about every 2-3 hours throughout the day and do a morning BF, a breakfast, then a snack, a lunch, a nap, a snack, dinner, a Bedtime BF and bedtime. She has water in a sippy and she did start on some whole milk at times during meals and snacks, but she pulls at my shirt and still wants a BF through the day and I am fine with that and sort of just go with the flow on any BFs outside of the wake up and bedtime ones that I know she usually wants.

Some of our snacks are on the go. I'll pack them for a trip to the park, the store, a friend's house, etc. The true meals I have her sit in her high chair at home or at a table if we are elsewhere so it's more like a real meal with everyone. She would probably eat all day long if she could!

[JennVanessa1083]

Nicole- I feel one nap gives less wake time in the day so it feels like I have to cram his meals in.

However, I like the idea of just feeding every 2-3 hours rather than doing by a clock per say. DS' appetite is definitely increasing. He eats SO much plus I still BF. Probably because he's just so active and learning to walk 

[~*Nicole*~]

I always kind of viewed snacks as activity times and it would sometimes help distract my LOs when trying to extend they're A time to a reasonable nap time anyway lol

[JennVanessa1083]

Lol sounds like DS!