Help at 12m

[petmummy]

I've just seen my HV and she said no more bottles and no more mashing or chopping foods now my LO is twelve months.  Oh dear!  He is just getting the hang of lumps and texture after being a puree addict.  He is mostly fed by me and will sometimes take a loaded spoon and put it in his mouth.  If I don't chop his main meal I don't know how to feed him.  Eg. tonight he's got lamb and veg.  He's picky with new finger foods but is getting better.  If I gave him a chunk of lamb as suggested by HV, I don't think he'd eat it.  I usually chop in small pieces and mix in with rest of food.  Has anyone got any advice on this?

Secondly, I'm very confused about milk.  He's having a morning bottle 0f 200ml at about 7am (followed by B/fast with 150ml milk at 8.30am), usually 150ml in afternoon and bedtime bottle of 200ml at 7pm.  I read in BW book that they are usually weaned by 18m.  Does this mean he would still have his morning and evening milk in a cup or would it be more spaced throughtout the day?  He also has yoghurt and cheese.

Thank you so much in advance for any help.

[elmarie]

My Lo is 19 months old and I still feed her part of her meal. She would eat and experiment and I let her but  sometimes she just looses interest and that's when I take over. I think you need to go with your cut feeling her.  At 12 months my Lo only had 4 teeth so there was no way that she would be able to eat without mashing and chopping food 

Regarding the milk I would over the sippy cup during the day and still offer a bottle when she woke up and went to bed.  I believe in baby led weaning .  At 14 months she decided that she prefers the sippy and doesn't want the bottle.  There was no stress and no tears.  the same is now happening with the transition from sippy to cup.  Sometimes she wants the sippy and sometimes she wants the cup and I know when she is ready she will do the switch

So I would say just relax and let your Lo lead you...

[amywiz24]

I would start the meal with finger foods so your LO is motivated to self feed when he is hungriest. After that, you can spoon feed the rest.
As, for milk, I was giving my DS a sippy with milk every meal, but the bottle to sippy cup transition was tough. I would start with a sippy cup that they don't have to work too hard to get the milk out, like the take n toss.
Good luck.

[Lolly]

We are still very much chopping/mashing here too. My LO is very good with finger foods and is getting the hang of a spoon but if you don't chop or mash how would they get any on a spoon?   I do a combination at meals e.g one meal today was cottage pie and veg, the pie was mashed and spoonfed to him and he had veg which he picked up and ate himself. Some meals he feeds himself like sandwiches or pasta but most are a joint effort. I agree with pp go with your gut feeling and just keep offering chunkier food to him.

My LO still has bottles of milk too. He has a 6oz morning bottle and 9oz for bed. He used a straw cup during the day for water. I am "thinking" about changing the morning bottle to a sippy soon but he really loves his bottles so I will keep the bedtime one as long as he wants. The danger is if they are sucking on the bottles for a long time it can be bad for their teeth but my LO is done with his bottles within about 10 mins and then we clean his teeth so I think it's fine.

Laura

[skatty]

Gee HVs cause a lot of stress sometimes  So she has a set of guidelines but hey our babies are individuals and at 12 months aren't suddenly going to go from purees to feeding themselves etc!

Leorah is 16 months and at the table drinks from a regular cup, on the go she has a straw cup and at bedtime she still has her milk from a bottle and I don't care!! She is only now getting competent with a fork and spoon and still makes loads of mess and we did BLW so she has been feeding herself since 6 months.

As for weaning onto a sippy cup your LO might surprise you and love it, Leorah loves trying different cups. I don't know much about going from puree to chunks as we didn't do it that way but I agree with offering lots of finger foods, I'm sure your LO will love experimenting and playing with them and it is not like they will still be on purees when they go to school 

[EllenS]

I think going from stage 3 foods straight to big chunks of meat is pretty unrealistic.

We do a lot of yogurt and soups, anyway - she tries to make them into finger foods, but it's pretty gross.

What I would do is to give either chunks that are very soft, like large chunks of banana, avocado, or cooked veggies; or else small pieces of harder foods (like meat, raw apple, raw veggie)so he's dealing with size or texture, not both at the same time.

I don't know why you "have" to suddenly eliminate bottles???  We bf, and just this week went from 3 meals and 4 bf per day to 3 meals, 1 snack, and 3bf per day.  She also gets a sippy of milk with her solid meals.  I plan to keep at least the morning and bedtime bf as long as it still works for us. 

Anyway, you can do sippy with meals and still use bottles in the AM and PM if you want.  Sometimes after reading things on here, I'm really glad I live in the US and don't have to deal with HV's

[petmummy]

Thank you all for the great advice. Very much appreciated.   I am following my instinct and I think he's doing fine!