I would welcome any opinions on continuing my son on formula after one year. He was never breast fed as my medical past did not allow it. He has also never been a very good eater despite being completely healthy. He has always been very slow to gain weight and indifferent about bottles or food. He was taken off of high calorie formula at 6 months of age and has been able to maintain steady weight gain since. My concern with trying to wean him off of the formula is that he does not have much of an appetite and I would worry he wasn't getting enough nutrition. He is eating many table foods and drinking from a sippy cup. He is simply a very lazy eater that would more often not like to take the time to do so. What have other moms experiences been transitioning off of formula in regards to weight gain and overall intake. I do not want to give him cows milk at this time.
My son drank formula off and on until he was about 20 months. He was never really a good eater, so I had to give him formula. He also drank lots of milk too, but some days he would only have milk and nothing else, so I kept him on formula. He is perfectly healthy and a good weight and super smart( I know every mother thinks that!). I would keep him on formula as long as you think he needs it. There is no time limit really, IMO.
You don't say what formula he is currently on. There is a 2nd stage formula-based product- Enfamil NextStep, Similac Good2Grow, and Parent's Choice Stage 2. These are slightly different than regular formulas and are for babies age 9m-24m.
My daughter had issues with low-iron, and was slow to eat table foods (started around 7m), so I kept her on Enfamil Next Step until around 18m.
If you have concerns about if continuing is right for your baby, you should bring it up at your next well-check.
M.
i tend to agree with kate's answer-- maybe getting him off the formula would help his appetite. i think enfamil makes a toddler formula for situations like yours... i think it's called enfagrow. something like that might be more appropriate, b/c his needs as a growing toddler are far different from the needs of an infant. are you not wanting to give him cow's milk b/c you think he still needs the formula? or is there another reason? i would try taking him off the formula, and giving him whole cow's milk for a while and see what that does for him. if at his next appointment he isn't gaining appropriately, then you can talk to his pediatrician about a supplement like the enfagrow or they even make boost supplements for kids, too. this is the time when he will learn to eat healthy and make good choices, and you're setting his palate up to accept a wide variety of foods, and i'm afraid that by allowing him to take so much of his nutritive needs from formula, he'll be a picky eater later down the road. good luck!
My son was a good eater, but we didn't cut out the formula until he was eating tablefood about 75% of the time. Which for him was between 15-18 months.
We also didn't do traditional babyfood... but instead pureed and ground up and mushed real food (essentially whatever we were eating). We made sure he had the most nurtritionally dense foods... so lots of fats & proteins. AKA if I was having a BLTA for lunch, he would too... but his would be mostly bacon and avacado with just a little bit of bread, tomato, & lettuce... all slathered in mayo and cottage cheese. (aka I crumbled soft bacon in the cottage cheese). Carrots wouldn't be raw or steamed, but boiled in chicken stock and then the fat and vitamin rich stock would go into a sippy cup after it was luck warm... etc.
Most formula is make to give to infants. Make an appointment with a Nutritionist, maybe at a local hospital? and talk it over with her. If your Pediatrician says do then you can do it and know it is the correct thing to do too. the formula for older children is chemically different than infant formula, it has more calories for one thing. You might look at the nutritional suppliments like Ensure too. The kids like the vanilla and strawberry flavors but the chocolate is nasty....
Food is also a touchy subject too. He may just not like the foods being offered. My friends little boy wouldn't eat anything until she gave him Mango's, her daughter took off eating Avacado's. K only ate those little puffs that are flavored like tomato and spices. J, on the other hand ate anything you put in front of him and he still does at 3.
Get some cookbooks from the library and try them out. They have lots of ideas I would have never thought of and they quickly became by fav's and then I had to go and buy them at Hastings.
Baby and Toddler Meals for Dummies
Idiots Guide to Feeding Your Baby and Toddler
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My daughter dropped weight at 12 months. Her pedi advised me to keep her on formula, but switch to the toddler formula. We used the toddler one made by Enfamile (powdered; not a "flavored formula"). We continued that until she was 16-17 months. Then we started her on whole goat milk (she wasn't a big milk drinker) and goat yogurt smoothies (yogurt diluted with goat milk; these she drinks 16+ oz a day since she was 18 months).
She never would drink large amounts from a sippy cup. It was more for sipping. To get her to drink 8 oz at once, we introduced a regular plastic bendable straw.
There is no nutritional need for a child to stay on formula after 12 months old , have you considered the fact that he may eat better when off formula? It could be that he is not hungry enough because of the formula so is happy to not really eat any food. Also if you are wanting to get him off formula you would need to replace it with something , he does still need milk , so maybe look into something else if you don't want to give him cow's milk.
hes eating table foods he should be getting his nutrition from that. however that being said my daughter was on formula until about 15 months because she was so tiny. but really if hes eating food no reason to continue
