Drinking his calories

[SeattleRain]

My son is almost 1 and just yesterday I switched him from formula to milk, because I ran out of formula and I just couldn't bear to buy one more freaking box of dreaded Enfamil. He loves milk! To my surprise he's happy to take his bottles and doesn't seem to be having any other problems. The only little issue is that he still drinks quite a bit of milk (4 bottles a day) and generally prefers liquids to solids.

This is a typical menu for Daniel:

Wake Up: 6oz milk

Breakfast: 2oz homemade fruit/veg puree + 1/4c. yogurt

1st Nap: 6oz milk

Lunch: Almond butter and jelly sandwich on whole wheat bread, maybe some cut up fruit

2nd Nap: 6oz milk

Dinner: A handful of whole wheat noodles and some cut up cheese/chicken/tofu, sometimes what we're having if it's ready

Bedtime: 6oz milk

Interspersed in there he gets two sippies of water, one has a little bit of pear juice in it for its laxative effect. He's DOWNING his liquids, but is picking at his solids and he's generally been a pretty good eater. I would say most of the time, he leaves 1/2-1/4 of what I serve him on his plate. His ped is somewhat worried about him because he's on the small side and very active, so she'd like him to be eating calorie-dense foods so he can put on some weight. I've thought about feeding him smoothies and shakes in his sippy since he loves drinking so much, but I'm worried that will just encourage his "drinking habit" and not help him to learn to eat. What should I do? Let him drink his calories? Am I giving him too much milk and that's the problem?

[anjsmama]

DS is 34 months and still "drinking his calories".  Not in the intense way you describe, like he did as a baby, but he still loves drinking over eating. He can and does eat all adult/solid food and has for quite some time, but he just loves his liquids. I just mix em up and make sure he's getting a lot of GOOD STUFF in those drinks since that's what he likes. I do smoothies with blueberries, strawberries, bananas, pineapples, pears, peaches, raspberries, blackberries, spinach, kale, cos, water or milk or soymilk or almond milk, yogurt (or not) etc. Bottom line; if he really loves to drink, make it count.  I guess it does sort of encourage the liquid habit but honestly, I'm sort of that way too. I sort of pick at my solids and drink a lot of smoothies! Haha!  DS is 38 inches and 32 lbs so very healthy for his age and incredibly active. He will eat whatever I put in front of him (tonight we had salmon, sweet potatoes and fresh salad) - he eats some of everything, it's just that he doesn't eat much. All the liquid calories help me insure he's getting what he needs. 

I don't know, it just seems like if DS and I had succeeded at breastfeeding, he'd have been the kid to nurse until he was 7. Drinking is so soothing for him. He still drinks (almond) milk before bed to make him sleepy. 

[callahansmama]

My 13 month old son drinks most of his calories too although mine is huge and breastfed. He doesn't tolerate dairy although he loves it so I try to get him to eat as much as I can, sometimes to no evail. My strategies are to try to feed him solids before nursing (as opposed to the other way around when he was younger) and to try to give him 6 small meals a day instead of 3. Also, now that he is beginning to use untensils (he can sometimes manage to get something on his highchair tray to stick to his little "sporks" or I will load the spoon or fork and then hand it to him) he is eating a bit more although it really varies. This is what C's daily eating routine looks like most days:

5:30 or 6:00 - nurse upon waking

7:00 - toast with jam or scrambled eggs or fruit or oatmeal or some combination thereof

9 - nurse before nap

10:30 - nurse after nap (not always)

11:00 - snack of avocado, banana, cheerios, crackers...

12:30 - lunch - some sort of meat or fish (prepared with olive oil for fat) with vegetables, sometimes rice or toast with it, raspberries

1:30- nurse before nap

3:00 - nurse after nap (not always)

3:30 - fruit

5:00 - dinner - same as lunch

6:30 nurse before bed

He also nurses around midnight and sometimes 3ish too!! He's starting to drop the extra nursing after naps. Most meals end in me throwing away a lot of food but today at snack he ate about 1/4 of an avocado which is out of the norm. He also loves eating the banana right out of the peel, while I hold it for him - eats way more that way than if I put slices on his tray.

I think that at 1 they are still pretty young. The only thing I would maybe think about is that cows milk is not really "food" in the same sense that formula and breastmilk are so while he's getting calories he wouldn't be getting all the nutrients that he could be getting from a variety of foods. Someone told me that their doctor said to limit milk to 12-14 oz per day after a year but I would discuss with your doctor rather than take my word for it. You could try small servings of smoothies to ensure he gets the extra calories while continuing to introduce lots of solid foods. I'm sure he's just fine:)

[prone_to_wander]

I thought that under ones needed to be either on formula or breastmilk. I'd be hesitant to replace all his formula intake.

[Buzzer Beater]

I think cow's milk is about 19-20 calories per ounce, and I think Enfamil is 25 or so? Over 24 ounces/day it comes up short on calories for a little guy, as well as fat and other nutrients.

[mommy212]

My little man loves drinking things more than eating ever since he learned to feed himself from a cup a couple months ago. He drinks 2-3 cups (like measuring cups) of milk (including kefir, almond, coconut and cows' milk) a day, and water sometimes. I don't think you really need to worry about actually teaching him to eat or anything like that- I would give him some healthy smoothies (milk, fruit, veggies, tofu maybe, almond butter, flax oil, even oats etc) maybe once or twice a day to boost his caloric intake and just continue to offer him solids at meal and snack times, if you do snacks. Or let the smoothies be snacks, you decide. Don't worry, this sounds like really normal eating pattern to me!

[SeattleRain]

Originally Posted by Buzzer Beater 

I think cow's milk is about 19-20 calories per ounce, and I think Enfamil is 25 or so? Over 24 ounces/day it comes up short on calories for a little guy, as well as fat and other nutrients.

Quote:

Originally Posted by prone_to_wander 

I thought that under ones needed to be either on formula or breastmilk. I'd be hesitant to replace all his formula intake.

I know, he's just only 2 weeks away from 1 so I didn't think it would be a big deal. I would not have done this a month ago or even two weeks ago. I just didn't really think our bodies made changes so quickly, like one day its okay to drink milk and one day it isn't.