I'm pretty sure I messed this up, but I was at a loss for what to do then and am at a loss now. So, my daughter just turned one last week. Since she was about 6 months old, I have been offering her water in a sippy cup at every meal. She would just take a few sips. Also, I have always (until recently) given her her milk before her solid meal. So, her schedule was that when she woke up in the a.m. or after naps she would drink formula in a bottle. About an hour later, she would have her solid meal. At age one, I switched to cow's milk. She seems to like that about as much as the formula, which means she doesn't willingly drink that much (about 4-5 ounces at a time if she is entertained by something else while I hold her bottle). I also thought that I needed to switch and give her her milk after her meals after my friend who is a doctor said that I can't let her get filled up on milk before she eats her food. I thought well this is a good time to cut out the bottles then. I then started giving her a meal when she wakes rather than a bottle and offering her a sippy of milk. I also offered water/milk throughout the day in a sippy. As a result, she drank probably 1/2 and ounce of milk a day for that week and drank so little fluid total that I noticed her wetting her diapers less (still wetting them, but much less wet). The pediatrician told me not to be concerned about the dairy thing as long as I'm giving her cheese, yogurt etc. at meals. Fine, but I assume she needs to be hydrated. Today and yesterday, I went back to the bottle and gave it to her in our usual way and she drank 6 ounces each time. What do I do? If it isn't clear from this too long post, my main concern is that I don't want her to get dehydrated, but my second concern is that I don't want to have her drinking out of a bottle unneccesarily. Thanks in advance for your help!
