Hi Moms,
My son will be 11 Months on April 15th. My questions is concerned about his feedings.
He gets up at 10 am...and as soon as he gets up I take him to the loo for Poop. After that I give him 4-5 tbs cereal mixed in formula. He then plays and around 12 AM he takes breast milk and takes a nap of 15-20 mins....in the afternoon at around 2.30 PM I give him 2 tbsp Pulses-Rice mixed with different vegetables (around 4 0z) and a 3.5 oz Gerber yogurt...he takes breast milk at around 3.30 and takes a nap of around 30-45 mins...in the evening I give him either a banana or a jar of gerber stage 2 fruit. In the eve either he gets agin breast milk or I give him a 4 0z bottle of formula. in the night again I give him some Semolina or Porridge or some other healthy meal. In the night he takes breast milk when he sleeps around 12 AM with us....NOW what my concern is I earlier when he was around 4-5 months he used to take formula happily along with breast milk in a day. But now from 7 months onwards he just want breastmilk. I make bottle of 5 ounces and he hardly take 2-3 ozs and sometimes much lesser than this. in total in a day he takes only 5 oz-10 oz formula in a day....as for breast feeding....he takes it only for a few minutes each session. I m worried he is not getting enough formula or breast milk as is recommended at his age. I am dying to put him to more formula but he is not leaving breast feeding. Also in a month he will be 1 year and I am afraid what if he does'nt like cow's milk...as he is not fond of taking formula and bottle . I dont want to breast feed him after he turns 1 year. Also please see if he is having enough solids. Not to forget, he takes 2-3 ounces water in a day and getting 3-4 wet diapers. Also tell me that as he sleeps through the night, wakes up for 2 -3 times but sleeps again with pacifier...so do I need to wake him up and feed him formula or breast milk?
He sounds perfectly healthy to me. If you are struggling w/ the formula, can you mix some breastmilk with it (if you pump?). As long as he is getting 3-4 wet diapers it sounds like he's well hydrated. You could try cutting out the water and maybe he'll take more formula or breast milk. He is also getting some water from the foods he eats.
I know this isn't your question, but is there any particular reason that you are keeping him up until midnight? Is it so that he'll sleep later in the morning? His naps are VERY short! My 10 month old naps twice a day, for a total of about 4-4.5 hours, and sleeps about 10 hours at night. We put him in bed around 8 and he gets up around 6 am.
11 months is close enough to 1 year to start using cows milk.
as long as he is eating enough solid foods.. (and he is ) you can start transitioning to cows milk.
my kids didnt like formulas but did like cows milk..
Our son's are a week apart! Your son sounds like an eating machine... perfectly healthy. My son eats when he wakes up, before he takes his 1st nap, after his 1st nap, before his 2nd nap, after his 2nd nap, before his bedtime and sometimes he wakes up wanting to eat more. This is 3 feedings of formula, the rest a mixture of snacks and fruits and vegetables... I didn't include 6oz of water he drinks throughout the day. He poops in the morning and has about 4 wet diapers throughout the day. I lost my milk supply around the same time his teeth came in, and that boy has some chompers (7 teeth before 10 months old), but he had to live with what I had available to him. Your son will not agree with the formula at first, but when he's hungry you betcha he's gonna eat it. I totally agree with DM's post. You can try a mixture one week of formula and breastmilk, but the next strictly formula. He's only going to need formula for another 5 weeks or so, so, again make the switch when it comes to cow's milk and just be firm with only giving him cow's milk when the time comes.
I know this will be hard and you feel like he's starving, but that will not happen. Good Luck!
You absolutely do not need to wake an 11 month to feed!!! Do you give hime adult food or just baby food?!?! My 10 month old eats mainly what we are eating.....she can't get enough!!! She will barely eat baby food anymore, I still give it to her, but she prefers our food!! I would give him fruit with his cereal in the morning and he is old enough for stage 3. I feed my daughter on a breakfast, lunch, and dinner schedule and give her those foods accordingly. I also let her snack on cheerios, puffs, yogurt melts, and other finger foods throughout the day. She is strictly breast fed on demand and has a sippy cup of water throughout the day. She is also a fast nurser and finishes quickly! I would start cow's milk!! My pedi said I could start to introduce it at 11 months, and I know several moms who started at 10 and even 9 months old!!! Formula tastes horrible and he is old enough for cow's milk!! Give him milk in a sippy cup, he doesn't need to drink from a bottle. My little one likes the Gerber sippy cups with handles a lot! She also drinks from a cup well and also a straw!! He has a strange sleep schedule, but every baby is different. My daughter is in bed by 7:30-8:00 and up between 6:30 and 7:30. She still wakes to nurse a few times at night, but also refuses a pacifier. She takes 2 naps a day and they are about 2 hours each nap!!! Is your son waking from his naps on his own?? How much does he weigh? As long as he is growing well, I am sure he is getting enough!!! If your pedi isn't concerned about weight/growth, then he is getting enough!!! Good luck!
His schedule seems a little odd. The naps are very short. Usually kids that age sleep around 14+ hours a day. My daughter went to bed at 7:30 woke at 7:30 nap at 11:00 am (ish) another nap at 3:30 (ish) for an hour each. Meals were breakfast mashed fruit or toast and breast milk or formula, snack before nap with a bottle of formula, lunch when she woke up from nap usually a veggie or soft pasta and fruit, then a bottle at nap, snack when she woke up, usually puffs or baby snack food, then dinner with 2 veggies and a soft protein (ground chicken was her fav) and a bottle at bedtime. No nighttime feedings from about 5 or 6 months but she slept through the night very early(lucky us). There is no need to wake your son for night time feedings, just the opposite. Some babies just don't like formula. You could try a different brand. As you want to wean him from breast feeding maybe you could switch to cows milk or goats milk or even soy milk. That would take the heat off you so you can get your milk to stop producing. It seems like if he is only feeding for a few mins maybe he is weaning himself and in that case just switch to milk.
Good luck
It sounds like he is getting adequate nutrition. He is eating a good variety of solids and plenty of liquids. Also, remember the yogurt and the formula added to the cereal add to his dairy intake. I definitely would not wake him and have to agree that midnight is way too late of a bedtime and that he may be overtired. I don't agree with the moms who said you should start him on cow's milk now. I think you should wait another month. I would ask his pediatrician advice also if you haven't done so already.
I'm a gramma to 7 kids and know that each child has their own way of doing things and Mom's should just relax.You will probably go through a stag where your kid will not eat hardly eat at all.
It sounds like your a great Mom,but just remember that the child has a mind of their own and they will be boss.Just enjoy and pat yourself on the back.
He sounds fine. I would skip the formula altogether and just breastfeed on demand.
It is normal for babies to want less milk/formula as they take in more solids... and you are giving water, too.
If he is growing and developing fine otherwise, don't be worried about his milk intake, when he nurses he might be getting more than you think.
- oh, sorry I didn't see that you want to wean... in this case why don't you pump and mix some breastmilk with the formula to make the taste more palatable...that stuff is gross! Seriously, try it...
Or you could just wait another month and wean him to cows milk... skip the formula altogether and save some money too!
Good luck.
I personally would replace the formula with solid food and continue nursing. Do some pumping so you have breastmilk to mix with the cereal, etc. You're giving him water so he'll be getting enough liquid. You could also start cows milk.
The weaning will take a while. Don't just go cold turkey. Even with the little bit you are nursing now you will become very engorged and that will hurt and can cause infections!
Once you get him off the formula, which shouldn't be an issue because he doesn't like it, I'd start slowly replacing the nursing sessions. You'll have to replace the nutritional part of the nursing with solid food, but there is also a level of comfort that babies get from nursing. You will have to replace the nursing routine with something else, either cuddle time with dad or with a story or something so that he's not asking to nurse. Do the feedings one at a time over a long period of time until they are gone. Start with the midday feedings first as those are the easiest. The hardest ones will be the nighttime ones. One a week is usually okay as long as the baby is adjusting. If he's not you'll have to slow down even further.
Hope that helps.
Your baby's schedule seems a little odd for a child his age. Is there a reason he stays up so late and doesn't eat meals at somewhat regular times throughout the day?? It seems like he is getting enough food, it just seems to be spread out in a way that is not very typical. My kids are 2 and 4 now, but at that age they slept from about 7:30pm-6:30am (give or take). They would wake up, take a bottle and have breakfast (usually fruit and cereal, maybe some cut up toast, pancakes or whatever). Lunch was around noon... yogurt and babyfood or table food (soft pasta, cheese, fruit), dinner was usually around 5:30 or 6:00, stage 3 babyfood or cereal and veggie and some of what we were eating. Another bottle around 7:30 before bed. Two naps for about 1.5 hours each, around 9:30 am and 2:30 pm. We would give sippy cups of water or juice throughout the day, and a small bottle of formula before the second nap (but weaned to a sippy cup of milk around 11 months for this feeding). We offered small, healthy snacks between meals as well, ie. cheerios, Gerber puffs etc. There is NO reason your child should be waking to eat (other than habit) at this age. Maybe you could play with the feeding schedule a bit to make it bigger meals 3 times per day and snacks in between? This also might help make his naps longer... he may be waking because he is overtired, not hungry, as his naps are too short to really be beneficial.
At 11 months , I would think breakfast cereal and fruit and bottle,
lunch, finger type foods or yogurt and fruit and dinner (at least in my house)
was whatever I made for everyone. Bottle or breast at lunch and
before bed. Fill in during the day with snack as necessary. I do not think
he is getting enough solids. You schdedule seems a bit confusing. So in
summary, three meals and milk a day plus snax as he wants.
I agree with some of the other postings, his schedule sounds a little out of whack. He seems to graze alot instead of filling up at each meal, and he sure does go to bed late for a little guy. Please don't take it as criticism, I don't know what your schedule is like, but it just seems a little unconventional. He should be able at this age to sleep a good 12 hours per night and nap a good 1x-2x per day for a total of 3 hours. And if he's filled up at each meal, I'd bet it would help his sleep. The amount of liquid he's getting is probably ok. I think the dr said at this age, they should be getting 10-20 oz of formula/breastmilk per day. Good luck.
