Saturday, October 9, 2010
Eating confusion!
I had to write today, maybe for a little advice! I feel like I am throwing TONS of food at Gabriel and spending too much on formula. About two weeks ago I decided no more formula. Then a toddler formula sample came in the mail. I found that it was super easy to make Gabriel a bottle in the morning, at night, and when we were on the go. Rather than thinking of a meal for the road while I'm out running errands. Anyway, I've now purchased two formula cartons (ran out of the sample pretty fast) and am STILL feeding him three meals a day. I am either not feeding him enough or he is going through a growth spurt? Typically he will have a bottle in the morning, a fruit or veggie with a meat for lunch, and whatever we eat for dinner. He will also drink his normal 3:00 bottle (albeit slightly less than when he was not eating solids), a 6:00 bottle, and a 9:00 bottle at bed! I'm confused! Either this kid is growing OR just likes to put food away like there is no tomorrow! This transition is not as easy as I had hoped. He likes whole milk and will drink water too, but I feel bad getting him off the formula because I feel like he is starving? Maybe its in my own head?! At one year old are kids only supposed to eat 3 meals a day??? The sippy cup is another problem. He really doesn't like the thing and does not get enough fluids in him. I have to give him a bottle so he gets what he needs. Any suggestions?!
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Be patient. It's hard, but they get it when they are ready. Sometimes (both kids with me) you have to go through several cups before you find one they like. Ender likes a certain straw one that Randy picked out. Before that we had bought about 6 sippy cups and he wouldn't drink out of them! Babies at one typically eat 3 meals and 1 snack. Also should be getting at least 24 ounces of milk a day! It's totally fine to switch him to whole milk now too. :)
ReplyDeleteare you feeding him until he is all done or just giving him a certain amount too? the doctor told me that ender only needed 24 ounces of milk since he eats cheese too. the rest could be water or water/juice. ender will eat all he wants and he'll pack away the milk, so we do have to limit it. (however, i still will give him more if he really wants it!)
ReplyDeletehaha. and just to add another post, teaching them the sign for all done and more is really helpful too!
ReplyDeleteAmy, thank you so much! I need to learn all done. I got the more.. Maybe I'll look that up today! I will try another sippy cup. He just throws it. He may take one or two sips but that definitely isn't enough to sustain him. I have just been feeding him until he is done. We have learned that when he is done he will start playing with it. He will also start feeding the dogs when he is finished (I know..bad habit. He sees them down there cleaning up, so why not feed them?!). It seems like he is just sucking down the milk just because. You may be right on that. I will feed him until he is done and then an hour later he could drink a whole bottle! What kind of juice do you give him? His 1 year is this week but I really don't like my doctor. Don't know if she will be helpful or not..
ReplyDeleteAlso, did your kids get constipation? Gabriel is bad.. I feel soooo sorry for him. I have been giving him suppositories, feeding him lots of fiber, and even tried coffee. The coffee and suppositories help. I know its the transition to solids, but any other suggestions?!
ReplyDeleteyea...this whole food and transition to 1 yo old is tough stuff.
ReplyDeletefor the sippy cup, i've tried them ALL! He's only ever drank from the Nuk learner cup. I'm trying to transition him to the straw sippy cups now, but he only sips from them and won;t drink whole meals in them. So i just give them to him with water or juice to have throughout the day so he can learn on his own. I find that with Ruben if i try to help him, he won't do it. But if I just leave the sippy cup in front of him and walk away, he'll take an interst to it and learn drink from it on his own. I guess he doesn't "need" his mama much anymore! *TEAR down my face* you just gotta try them all i guess until he finds one he likes. I'm trying to wean from the bottle by only giving him formula at his 1st am feeding and bedtime feeding. The formula throughout the day is in the Nuk sippy cup. He's def drinks less in the sippy cup so what formula he does not finish i mix with rice cereal and give that to him.
He's only 11 months but I'm trying to transition to whole milk. I'm on day 4 of adding 1 oz milk to every bottle and will then do 2oz with less formula, and then 3oz with less formula, etc until he's 12 months and i stop formula completely. I'm with you though...i'm scared he won't drink enough milk and may try the toddler formula too if he doesn't do well with the whole milk.
As for food, i just feed him until he turns his head or pushes his hands at the spoon to let me know he's done. He's never really been a crier when he's hungry, so I usually just feed him every 4 hrs with a small snack in between. I have found that every child is different so I feed him different things everyday to try to help him not be a picky eater. I'm scared to give him pieces of chicken i make bc he doesn not have many teeth (just the 2 bottom and 4 on top) and I'm afraid he will choke. That's just a problem i have to get over. So I give him those gerber chicken sticks bc they are very soft...but they make him go poop fast and soft. Not liking that.
Ruben had a problem with constipation when he younger and i had him on enfamil formula. But ever since i switched him to Gerber good starts protect plus formula with probiotics he's a regular pooper. ANd now that i;m feeding him more fruits and veggies, he poops too much! yuck! They have some type of Probiotics drops for babies so you may wanna look into that to help get him regular. My friend had to do that for her baby.
Just know that Gabriel looks like a healthy happy plump baby boy and you are doing a wonderful job!!!! and yup, maybe a growth spurt going on so feed that boy!!! Ruben goes through phases with eating everything in sight to eating barely anything. I call those growth spurts and try not to worry.
Sarah, Just glancing through your concerns and everyone's comments.
ReplyDeleteWith Brayden, I switched him to the Munchkin sippy cup around 9mos. He really prefers sippy cups with soft nipples. Brayden definitely goes through spurts of drinking and eating me out of house and home. The Dr. told me to make sure that I had snacks readily available for him throughout the day due to him being more active now. I've tried multiple different juices/water, but he has no interest. He prefers water and/or milk. As for the constipation, try giving him either yogurt or the yogurt drinks once a day plus his normal fruits and veggies. Don't worry about making sure he gets the complete amount of fluids everyday. If so....you'll go crazy trying to keep up with it. He's a precious little boy!!! Keep it up momma!!