True Mommy Confession #1: I Bottle-Feed my Toddler
So, you all know there is a whole list of American Association of Pediatrics recommendations for babies and toddlers: put baby on back to sleep in the crib with no sleep props, introduce sippy cup around 6 months, wean them from the bottle at 12 months, etc.
As my younger son approached 12 months old back in January, I began mentally preparing for the impending transition from bottle to sippy cup. We had already weaned completely from breastfeeding at 10 months, and I was so sure his doctor would instruct me to ditch the bottle at his next check-up.
I’d already been letting him experiment with the cup for a few months, and although he drank water from it just fine, it had become pretty clear he was one of those babies that decided he will only drink milk when it comes out of a bottle. This was a bit strange for me coming from an exclusively breast fed newborn who basically refused to take a bottle of any sort until he was 6 months old.
However, at baby’s 12 month check-up, the doctor informed me that he had begun to fall off the growth chart over the last two visits. You certainly couldn’t tell it to look at him with his chunky little legs and arms, but those plotted points don’t lie.
Doctor’s surprising remedy was for me to continue to bottle feed him between meals a minimum of 24 oz of whole milk daily. “What??”, I thought. “Doesn’t every expert say to reduce the amount of milk in favor of food after the 12 month mark?” Click here to read more (this link has been fixed)...
Comment
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Comment by bridget levenstein on June 24, 2011 at 7:09pm -
Michelle this is great! My son is 14 months he takes. A big boy cup a sippy cup and yes THE BOTTLE still too. I've tried to stick with the cup but his dad(we don't live together) isn't too consistent with my plan when my sons visiting him! With the cups I'm wondering how much he's actually drinking. He spits it out blows bubbles dumps it on the highchair and tries to lick it up......so if you see another toddler with a bottle its probably my son lol oh and he still loooooves his paci!!!!!
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Comment by Cristina Wang on May 13, 2011 at 11:51am -
I have a million excuses about that bottle. Got sick, had to get on an airplane, got sick, another airplane ride (14hrs!) it never ends. And same with the potty training. China is NOT a kid or potty friendly place. Most places have a porcelain hole in the ground! And many do not provide toilet paper in the stalls. I know it's time to start training now...as soon as we are over the jet lag....hahaha.
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Comment by Michelle Mills on May 12, 2011 at 2:16pm -
Monika, I supplemented with formula from the moment he would take a bottle because with two little ones, I was not willing to take the time to pump (plus I never felt like I got enough milk to make it worth while). We just went to full formula then at 10 months. You could talk to your doctor about going straight to whole milk, but my guess is that they'll say it's not a good idea...
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Comment by Michelle Mills on May 12, 2011 at 9:51am
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Sorry, ladies...here's the correct link to read the rest of the post...
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Comment by Monika J. on May 12, 2011 at 9:04am -
Thanks for sharing, Michelle! Unfortunately I wasn't able to finish reading your blog as every time I click on read more I get a "Server not found" error message ;-(
I have a question regarding weaning off at 10 months. My little one is 10 months right now, and while I only breastfeed him once and that at night (if he wakes up) I still pump during the day so he can still get my milk and he actually drinks it with the Nuk starter sippy cup. That is the only cup he agreed to use, all the other ones he completely refused. Anyways, my question is, when you weaned your LO at 10 months did you go straight to whole milk or did you give him formula for the next 2 months? I noticed that I'm not producing as much milk as I used to and very soon I will have to start giving him something in addition to my milk. My LO is very healthy and I'm wondering if I can go straight to whole milk and just do an easy transition for him with maybe mixing my milk and whole milk for few weeks. Right now he drinks between 18-20oz/day and eats 3 meals a day.
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Comment by Natalie H on May 5, 2011 at 10:00pm -
Still on the "bob" here as well! At 12 months we weened him to just 3 oz before nap and bedtime, but when he got sick the doc said give him anything he wants in whatever form he wants, and now we are all the way back to 4 5 oz bottles a day, and he wont take water from his sippy cup just from a straw!
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Comment by Michelle Lebron on May 5, 2011 at 1:20pm -
Ditto! Confessions#2 & #3 for my 27 month old. Ughhh...potty training is really hard for me to wrap around my brain, binky for nap time is really needed at this point in time.
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Comment by Nicole G. on May 5, 2011 at 1:08pm -
True Mommy Confession #3: Kevin only gets the binky when he naps, but I've been putting off taking it away from him completely b/c I don't want to deal with him screaming at every nap and bedtime. (I may or may not also keep a binky in the stroller so when he gets impatient with me in a store I can have a few more minutes before a full blown meltdown)...
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Comment by Stephanie on May 5, 2011 at 12:18pm -
True Mommy Confession #2- Im procrastinating potty training because it just seems like a whole lot more work without diapers =)
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