Schedules

[rosedoe]

Hi Everyone...

I haven't been around at all in the last year. I had my son on Sept 15th, 2009 and have been super busy since then. I only have time now because I was in the ER tonight and my mom took the baby so I could rest.

So here's the deal. My question is what do you feed your toddlers everyday? How do you make sure it's balanced? Also, any advice for helping to make the transition from lots of formal to less milk a day would be welcomed. My ramble is below.

My son is one and my doc wants him on no more than 20 ozs of milk a day. He's been drinking up to 30 ozs a day of formula. He gave me the whole start feeding him a balanced diet three meals a day and one or two snacks. People food no more baby food. Ease him into it etc etc etc.

My problem...My son still wants his formula. He wants those 30 ozs and will refuse food and then drain a 6 oz bottle and scream for more. He's a big boy 31 inches and 23 lbs 4 ozs and he's running circles around me already. I tried searching online for toddler meal plans and could only find things for ages two and up. Some of the stuff he's obviously not ready for. He won't eat actual fruit even bananas when you mash them up real good he still won't eat them but will eat stage three banana baby food. He'll eat whatever pasta you give him but not always the meat or veggies in the pasta.

People keep saying to me give him what you eat, but I eat a very bland diet due to stomach issues so he can't have that ALL the time.

My plan was to give him four bottles a day. At 5 ozs each, but he's not having that. When he was born I tried to breast feed but I had a c-section and bled out and so needed a blood transfusion and all sorts of stuff. I was breast feeding then giving formula and pumping and then the next feeding I'd give whatever I pumped normal two ozs at the most then breast fed again pumped again (normally not getting anything out) and gave formula if he was still fussing. I did that for two months and just couldn't do it anymore. We kinda have just been letting the baby tell us what he needs. When he's hungry we feed him when he's tired he sleeps when he wants to play we play and if he has a dirty diaper I change it no matter if he likes it or not. As a result we don't have much of a real schedule.

This is becoming a problem because now I have to pick up kids for my mom's dance studio (we run an after care program) and so I have to be out of the house at 2pm and now I have to work from 3pm to 7:30pm (he comes with me since I work for my mom) and so when we get home we only have time for bath bottle and bed. I have more time during the day so I was trying to get him to eat a good breakfast and a good lunch, but he's just not having it.

I'm so afraid I'll mess him up somehow. I don't want him not to get what he needs. Today for example he had three bites (small bites maybe one adult size bite total) of an egg then almost six ozs of milk. Then he had a nap. Then he got up and I gave him baby yogurt and a toddler cereal bar. Then we went to get the kids and to work at 3:30pm or so I offered him one of those toddler meals you heat up and mix together it had pasta with veggies in a cream sauce and green beans. He refused it all so I gave him a stage three jar of sweat potatoes which he completely finished. Then at 6pm he had 6 ozs of formula. Then I went to the ER. My mom took him home and she said he's been eating his star puff things and cheerios, but refused all the "people" food she offered him. She's got an 8 oz bottle for him which at this point she's probably given to him and he's asleep. (Man it took forever for me to type this up.)

He's got 8 teeth and I know his molars are coming in because they are all swollen and red. Should I just keep him on the stage three food for now? Maybe if I could get him to eat three solid meals of stage three food and then the cheerios and puff and yogurt chips as snacks then work my way into more adult food that would be a better plan...At least that would get him used to the three meals a day thing and some sort of routine so he knows he's only being fed then and I'm not gonna just give it to him when he fusses.

I don't know.

If you read all of this. Sorry. I'm a bit hormonal today and I'm sick so I'm just going to lay down. Thank you so much for all your advice in advanced. I don't know when I'll get a chance to check it but I'm gonna make sure I make time even if I have to stay up after he goes to bed to do it. :-)

[Snapdragon]

I think you should give him whatever food he likes to eat. ( I mean as long as it is healthy obviously!)The baby food is just pureed regular food- and he is still so young. So I think feeding him that if he likes it is just fine!
I am not sure why your doctor would say not to give him baby food.
Also, if he likes formula and has been having it since he was born, I don't personally see the problem in giving him that. I think you are doing the right thing to listen to your baby and give him what he actually wants to eat.

[lifeguard]

To me formula would be better than a diet of cheerios.

I gave ds real food from the beginning of introducing foods but really he wasn't overly interested in food until around 14 months & then suddenly he was VERY into food.

Follow his lead. He's growing well & healthy - I don't see the concern.

And just keep offering stuff every day.

[rosedoe]

Thank you

Thank you both so much. I don't know why my doc was insisting on "people" food vs the stage three baby food. I just got myself into such a panic and didn't think I guess. I'll just focus on giving him the baby food three times a day and offering regular foods with it and whatever he takes he takes.

[butterfly_mommy]

I think maybe the concern your Dr. has is that some children who stay on purees past one year of age have a higher risk of developing texture issues. Also fresh food is more nutritious then canned or jarred food whether it is baby food or not.

When DS started solids i just started offering him whole pieces of food to "eat" he started at 7 mons and he mostly squished, licked, nibbled and smeared the food. That's ok, I just kept offering it to him working our way up to 3 meals and 2-3 snacks a day (or so) Sometimes it can take 8-15 times of offering a new food to a child before they will eat it.

There are some great books out there, I am reading one now called The Toddler Bistro which is really easy to read and gives lots of great info,some tips and some yummy easy recipes.

Also Dr. Sears has a good nutrition book

I think it is important to offer your son whole fresh foods and to get him used to all kinds of yummy fruits/veggies,grains, proteins, etc. Here are some tips I try to keep in mind when feeding DS.
1. A balanced diet for a toddler is not about every meal or even daily balanced but it tends to balance out over the week as long as a variety of healthy foods are offered.
2. Your job is to offer healthy foods and reasonable times through out the day your child will decide which foods and how much to eat from his plate.
3. When introducing a new food make it look appealing and present it in an attractive way (ex: a fruit slice rainbow)
4. Serve new food with at least one thing DS likes to eat. So if your DS likes the baby food bananas serve that in a dish with a little mini zucchini muffin and a bowl of frozen blueberries.
5. Try preparing the same food different ways (DS is not crazy about mashed sweet potato but will eat a whole sweet potato if I slice it into fries and back them.
6. Eat with DS, he would always eat more and be more interested in food when I was eating. he also would be more interested in trying new food that was off my plate.

After a year old I would offer DS his meal first and then his drink, incl breast milk or in your case formula.

I think a good plan for you and your son would be to offer breakfast while you eat, then offer a drink towards the end of the meal. The same for Lunch and Dinner. Also I wouldn't stress about him having 3 meals and snacks right away, you need to work up that that. I would also try to replace some of his formula with goat milk,you could also do some goat milk with his formula and just keep increasing the goat milk amount as you decrease the formula amount. Again this is gradual. As your LO's palate broadens and he starts really enjoying a variety if whole foods his bottle intake will decrease.

You are right to listen to your baby and to encourage him to listen to his body cues . I just think you need some information on nutrition for toddlers. Check out the books mentioned above and here is a great link from Dr. Sears.

Oh and DS loved "nibble trays" at a year old and still does.

[rosedoe]

Thank you so much. I'll look into the books.

[stephck]

several

I recommend Ellyn Satter...she's a nutritionist with a lot of work on the feeding relationship...she's got several books--more about scheduling and how you approach feeding than actual recipes. Her basic tenants are:
Parents are responsible for what is served, Where is is served and When it is served and kids are responsible for how much and whether they eat.

[rosedoe]

Thanks so much. I'll look her up!