almost a year old and need help

[cookie cookie]

Hi. Sydnee is almost a year old now and I've been changing her routine a little. I've just switched her first bottle of milk in the morning to after solids. It's only been three days and all three days she is a cranky bear until I get her in the high chair and put food in front of her. I assume she thinks that I've forgotten that she is supposed to get milk first!! Once I get her set up with some food she is fine. I have been teaching her some sign laungauge and she does the milk sign very angrily until she sees the solids. I've been waiting about an hour to an hour and a half after solids to give her the bottle of milk. Should I wait that long? Should I be giving her milk in a sippy with breakfast? Or water? She doesn't seem to like milk in a sippy much but I guess that's because she has only been getting water in it until recently. I'm not sure how to start weaning from the bottle to the cup??? I've been trying milk in a sippy at different mealtimes lately just to see if she'd drink it and so far she puts it in her mouth and lets it all spill out. I usually warm her milk in her bottle but have been offering it cold in the sippy. I thought that might be the problem so then I warmed it and put it in the sippy. Still no luck. She is also going through the throw everything on the floor stage now too (from her highchair that is) and it's driving me insane. I know she is an infant and try to keep my cool but it sure is hard. I feel the anger swell everytime she drifts something from the highchair!! Another thing I'm unsure about is how many bottles a day should I be giving her. She is currently on three 8 oz bottles but a few people have told me that I should now drop the afternoon bottle and only give her 16 oz a day. Any tips or words of encouragement is appreciated. Thanks, Sydnee's Mom.

[tylersmommy]

A couple of questions for you...what prompted the switch to solids first? Are you planning to drop bottles when she turns 1, or were you planning to start dropping them now?

Reason I ask is that it seems she's not thrilled with the new arrangement. If you switched things up for a reason, and this is the way it's going to be, you might have her breakfast pretty much made beforehand so all you have to do is heat it up. Tyler used to be the same way, so I'd pop him in the high chair as soon as he woke and lay out some cheerios to eat while I got his breakfast out of the fridge and into the microwave. It's up to you what you put in her sippy at breakfast, we've always had water for breakfast. It's also up to you when you want to give her the milk, but I kind of think that where you have it is fine until you're ready to drop bottles. Another thought...you might be able to take advantage of her morning hunger as an opportunity to get her used to the sippy. As soon as she wakes and is ready to eat, you can sit her in your lap with the sippy, just as you would with a bottle, and offer that before solids. Try it warm first, like she's used to, and see if she's hungry enough to drink it. Be warned, though...have breakfast ready, because sometimes it can totally backfire and you'll end up with one hungry and annoyed little girl!

It doesn't matter how many bottles she gets, but you want to keep her intake around 24 oz if you can.

For transitioning to the sippy, what you're doing is fine. Let her keep getting used to the sippy, even if it looks like she's just tossing it around and not drinking from it. When you're ready to drop bottles and transition to the sippy, there are different ways of going about it, but we just started by cutting out a bottle (doesn't matter which one), waiting a week, then cutting another. The first couple weeks were kind of scary, because Tyler barely drank anything from the sippy, but we offered it to him periodically during the day so he could take little sips here and there. HTH!

[LindseysMom]

Hello, I still give Lindsey milk first thing in the am.  I figure she is thirsty after going all night without anything to drink.  I think it is ok if you want to give her the milk with breakfast though.  Or maybe if you offer her the warm milk in a sippy first thing in the am she will take to the cup better.  I also think 3 bottle/cups of milk is fine at her age.  You could just give her milk first in the am and then offer it in a sippy with meals.  I however give Lindsey her milk/yougurt in between meals with or as a snack and she gets watered down juice with meals. Lindsey would let the milk spill out of her mouth to when I first started offering it to her but she drinks it now fine.  Just be patient and give her some time.  And the dropping things off the highchair is just her way of discovering things, try not to make a big deal out of it.  If you do she will do it more to get a rise out of you.    

[cookie cookie]

Thanks for the responses ladies. Melissa, to answer your questions, I decided to switch to solids first and then milk because she is almost a year old and I'll be returning to work in a little over two weeks and I thought it would be easier to feed her before I go to work and let her caregiver give her a bottle after I'm gone. About dropping a bottle, I was told by a friend who is a doctor that I should drop to two 8oz bottles instead of three. I believe she suggested this because at a year old most of her nutrition should be coming from solids but I question it because all of the literature I read suggests that babies should get up to 24oz per day at a year old. Sydnee is a solid baby though weighing about 26 lbs so perhaps she should be cutting some milk out... I don't know. She sure loves her bottles but I don't want to make her overweight although my instinct tells me she'll be fine. She is very active and is walking now so I'm thinking the weight will slow down for a while. She's weighed about the same for over two months now. I agree that at breakfast to put out Cheerios while getting the rest of breakfast ready. I actually did that this morning and it helped a lot. I'll do that from now on. LindseysMom, thanks for your words. I agree with you that when I make a big deal over her throwing food from her high chair she gets worse. How should I approach it? Ignore totally when she throws the food? Or calmly tell her not to? Right now I am trying to stop her mid throw when she is about to send her sippy cup to the floor. I think she is getting worse when I do that. Should I just let her throw it and say nothing then just pick it up and put it back on her tray for her to throw again?? Where do I buy some patience??? 
Can you ladies give me any advice on when and how to transition Sydnee from warm milk to cold from the refridgerator? Also, I should mention that I'm also changing her formula to whole milk now too. I've been mixing it 6oz formula and 2 oz whole milk and plan to adjust it weekly by an ounce until it is all whole milk which should take at least a month or so. I remember reading in the BW book that milk and formula should not be mixed but Sydnee refused whole milk cold and warm from both a bottle and a sippy cup so I didn't know what else to do. Any thoughts there? Sorry I have so many questions but this is all so overwhelming not to mention my crankiness over having to return to work in a couple of weeks. Too many changes to deal with!! But I really want to do the right thing for Sydnee. Thanks again ladies. This is a wonderful place to get help!

[LindseysMom]

Hello again.  When Lindsey was first starting to throw her cup I would just hand it back to her. I really think they are just discovering cause and effect and they just want to know what happens if they do something.  Now if Lindsey throws her cup I will give it back to her once and if she keeps on I don't give it back.  If she wants it after she is down from her highchair I give it back though. 

I would not worry to much about her weight yet.  Lindsey is 28 pounds.  I don't think you really have to worry until age two.  I mean it is best to always offer healthy foods and all but I don't think kids at the ages our babies are will overfeed themselves. 

Sorry, don't have much advice about transitioning from warm to cold milk.  Lindsey did not seem to have a problem with the temperature of the milk, just the taste at first.   She was and still is breastfed but she does drink reg. milk some too.   Hopefully as she gets older she will not mind the temperature  as much. 

I know waht you mean about the patience part.  I always thought I was the most patient person until having a child.  They really can try your patience that is for sure.  Even now when Lindsey is doing something that bothers me I just remind myself that she is just a child with no impulse control.  They literally do not have the cognitive ability to control their urges yet so I try to remember that when she is acting like a fool.    She really gives me a hard time when I change her diaper.

   Another thing about throwing food that I have noticed with Lindsey is that she usually only does it now when she is full and done eating.  That is when she starts wanting to play with her food. So perhaps your dd is done eating when she does it?   

[cookie cookie]

Hi Lynne,

Well, this morning at breakfast I did really well not to show any signs of frustration when Sydnee threw her cup on the floor. I left it there until she asked for a drink via sign language and then I picked it up and gave it to her. She took a drink and sent it back to the floor. The next time she asked for a drink I picked it up and gave it to her she took a drink and put it down on her tray. A big improvement just by ignoring her. As for throwing food over the side. This morning she ate first and then about ten minutes into her meal she started to throw some food while still eating some. I guess she was starting to get full. Perhaps I should end the meal there rather than letting her pick at more food. About the diapering, Sydnee can be a challenge at that too! I just bought her First Steps diapers last night by Pampers. I thought that might be easier for the times she is wound up. When she is sleepy she'll usually just lay still for me so I'll use regular diapers then. We'll see how that goes. I've decided that the whole milk mixed with formula is a bad idea. Sydnee has had really runny poops now for three days and today is day four of mixing her formula with whole milk. I went back to all formula this morning and will give her no whole milk until she feels better. At that point I think I will only offer her whole milk in a sippy cold from the fridge. I will continue warm milk in her bottles. I'm sure eventually she will drink the whole milk if I consistently offer it. I have to make sure she isn't having an allergy to it first though which may be the case right now. I reread BWSAYP this morning and I see where Tracy suggests not mixing the formula with milk and I also read in there where Tracy recommends from one to two years of age only 16 oz of milk so I guess my doctor friend was accurate with her suggestion so I will start to drop her afternoon bottle and replace it with a small solid snack. Glad to hear that Lindsey is 28 pounds. That sure makes me feel better. I agree that we shouldn't worry until after they turn two. I do always offer healthy food and she is in total control of what goes in so I'm sure she must be fine. Well, I think I'll go read the chapter on taming toddlers in BWSAYP since Sydnee is napping and toddlerhood begins in about two weeks!! Wish us luck! Thanks for your help. I really appreciate it. Lindsey is sweet. A nice big baby just like Sydnee. More to love I keep saying!! Thanks, Tanya.

[tylersmommy]

Have you tried changing the temperature of her formula? Maybe if you gradually warm it less and less, she'll start getting used to the idea of cold liquid. Tyler always drank his formula straight from the fridge, so I don't have a ton of experience there!

[cookie cookie]

Hi Melissa,
I will try that. I think I'll wait until next week though as I feel like I'm making a lot of changes all at once with the poor baby. We'll see how that method works. Thanks for your help. Tanya.