Feeding and Napping schedule - 14m old

My LO is 14m old and is not a big milk drinker. Currently she is having 4 bottles a day to try to get near the recommended minimum of 400mls per day.


She is an 'ok' eater but sometimes refuses food and isnt very adventurous with lumps. Probably a typical toddler!


My problem is she has recently decided to cut her naps to one per day so this means she has a late lunch. Because lunch is so late it means dinner is too and also very close to bathtime and bedtime bottle. She is an amazingly slow eater and mealtimes can last nearly 1hr (hence the feeling that all we do is sit at the highchair!)


The last two nights she has thrown up the little milk that she took at bedtime and some of her dinner.


Her current eating/napping schedule is:

6-6:30am Wakes

6:30am Milk - approx 100mls


8:00am Breakfast (4tbsp cereal w fruit puree, 1 egg yolk or small yoghurt (2tbsp), Cheerios/toast as finger food & approx 50-80mls Water from cup)


11:00am Milk - approx 100mls


11:30-1:30pm Nap time (2hrs)


2:00pm Lunch (Usually meat, veg and fruit offered approx 8tbsps total plus 50mls water from cup)


4:00pm Milk - approx 80mls


6:00pm Dinner (Various things offered approx 8-10tbsps total plus 50mls water from cup)


8:00pm Milk - 60mls at best (sometimes refused)


Total mls on average = 350 (+ milk used in food)

Total tbsp on average = 22-25


I think I need to change my timings as to when I offer food and give milk. Dinner is way too close to bedtime milk and I think that she still feels too full and thats why she is being sick.


I am really lost as she doesnt take her milk in any great quantity each sitting and Im scared that if I drop any milk feeds that she wont get anywhere near the recommended amount. BTW, she eats cheese, yoghurts, etc daily.


Can you help me? What is your LOs schedule? How do you manage to get all the milk and food in during the day?!


Thanks

I can only tell you what I'm doing - daughter is 15 months old.


Wakeup 6:30-7 ish -

250 mls of milk while I get her older sister ready and work on breakfast. Generally finishes all her milk at this feed.


8:00 breakfast - usually french toast, or some finger food, sometimes congee, fruit, cheese, yogurt.


11:45ish (sometimes a bit earlier or later) - Lunch - generally rice with veggies and some meat, or korean style vegetable dumplings, soup broth made from bones (great calcium source)


12:30 - nap - around 2 hrs


2:30 -wake up - another 250 mls of milk offered = but sometimes she only takes around 150 mls. if she needs, she'll have some other carb based snack.


5:00 - dinner - rice, veggies, soup, Korean style.

6:00 Bath

7:00 bedtime


My daughter only gets milk 2X a day - and generally finishes between 400- 500 mls. She also drinks water at all her meals.


I'm wondering if your continual mixing of milks and solids is throwing her off - she may not be hungry enough? I'd actually try cutting her 11:00 milk and offer her lunch and then offer a bigger portion of milk after lunch.


is your concern that she just doesn't drink enough milk? If she has cheese and yogurt and other stuff, and you mix milk with cooking, you can cut down what is given to her in her cup. Also, it might be worth it to get her away from the bottle and into the cup...


Good luck.

hi there,


we turn 14 months tomorrow!


7am/7.30am- a cup of milk, about 160ml

he has a short play with daddy and then a breakfast of oats (with 120ml of milk in it) and fruits before 8am.


11.30am: lunch


12-2pm: nap

after nap, he will have some milk (so little i don't even bother to measure it, maybe 60ml, more as thirst quencher), fruit and sometimes yoghurt


5pm: dinner


6.30pm: milk from a cup, about 180ml


maybe you want to consider:


cutting the 11am milk feed and then give an earlier lunch (say 11.15am) until she gets used to having just one nap per day, then gradually push back her lunch and nap until she is around my schedule or hkcc's for lunch. see if that helps. and cut out the 4pm milk too, give her a snack or small drink of milk when she gets up from her pm nap. and give her dinner at 5pm but not too much water with the meal so that she is thirsty enough for a milk drink before bedtime.

if your concern is her milk intake, perhaps you want to feed her a breakfast that you can add lots of milk to. oats are a great way to do it!!


good luck!

just want to add that we ALWAYS had a problem with milk intake with my kid. he HATED milk but i pressed on and (touchwood) since he turned out, he has become a really good milk drinker from the cup.


some stuff i did:

not give too much water before his bedtime milk.

for days when he didn't drink much, i just made sure i topped it up with lots of yoghurt and cheese

use milk in lots of his cooking.

My almost 15 month old is on the same routine as HKCC ( a Gina baby??) but she also has milk at 6.30 before bed. She is not a big milk drinker either!!

My baby is 15 months old, actually, he turned 16 months old today!


Our schedule is:

6:30 wake up

7:00 breakfast - super porridge, yogurt, banana, some mango, some cereal pieces

9:00 - 10:00 - nap most days, or quiet time in his bed not always asleep - sometimes he cries and we skip this

10:30 - first lunch - vegetables, Egg (m-w-f), turkey/chicken (t-th), finger food

12:30 - 2:30 (not exactly) - nap

2:30 - second lunch - finger foods, cheese, tofu

5:30 - dinner - super porridge with, yogurt, vegetables and tofu mixed in

6:00 - bath, massage

6:30 - bed


Throughout the day, from 6:60 - 6:00 he has access to a cup with a straw filled with whole fat milk. He drinks four of these most days- but does not drink much with meals.


He was breast fed for 13 months. We introduced milk at 12 months. He never had a bottle, just the cup with a straw. He drinks the way an adult drinks - when he is thirsty, not just with meals.

He asks for Milk when he is thirsty or just picks up his cup.


He gets water from a cup with a straw before bed, and also has access to that during the day.


Our baby is a 10% baby, he never drank a lot his first year, but now he loves his cup of milk.


The Dr told us if he has access to the milk, and knows how to drink, he will drink whenhe is thirsty.


Regarding food, for a toddler, don't look at what they eat in a meal or in a day - but how much they eat in a week - add this up to a decent amount as some days will be good days and others not hungry days.

My boy is 13 months and his feeding/napping routine is as follows:

7.00: wakes up, drinks 240 ml cow's milk

8.00: breakfast, orange juice, porridge, cereals, yogurts, bread, as he wants

9.30 - 11.30: nap time

12.00: lunch, any kind of food, no idea about quantity

14.00 - 16.00: nap time

16.00: tea break: 150 ml cow's milk + biscuits

19.00: dinner, any kind of food


They drink water throughout the whole day.


My daughter started on this routine at approx. 10 months age and she's now 28 months and still following it, so both have the same schedule.


I think after one year, my babies like to do 'like Mummy' ie have a feeding schedule quite similar to ours, they see us eating at the same time as them, and it encourages them to eat. As soon as the babies are OK with solids, I don't give milk anymore except for morning and tea break, ie I don't mix solids and milk as meal. I also don't give milk before going to bed.


My daughter has a stronger appetite than my boy, but he started to show more interest in eating since he's feeding himself with his spoon.


My kids are getting approx. 400 ml milk/day from bottle + mil and yogurt in the food.

hi cara,


just curious as to why it's a bad habit to give a cup of milk before bedtime?

ah sorry, i re-read your post, it's because of the teeth thing....yes, never let your toddler fall asleep with a bottle in his mouth, not a good thing!


we brush his teeth after his milk and he drinks out of a straw cup, not a bottle.

sometimes daughter has a slice of cheese or some fruit or a rice cracker in the AM...but not always. Although she's only 50%ile weight, everyone keeps telling me she's too fat!

THanks so much everyone for your valuable advice. I will get to work on trying some of the things suggested.

Keep you posted!!

sarah_jane,


good luck!


stb:

i give snacks in the morning when we go out and run errands. i have some oatios and organic sultanas in his munchkin snack cup attached to his pushchair...most of the stuff winds up on the floor and my target is to finish my shopping before the cup in empty, hahaha! i am not too concerned about the morning snack as i think he eats enough, he usually "shares" (no actually it's demand) for my toast/muffin after he's had his breakfast!


in the afternoon, we usually have playdates and my friends usually have fruits and what not for the bubs so he'll have some of that on top of his 2.30pm snack.

I think by the time number two is going through this you are more relaxed about the whole food issue.

At 14 months they are not babies anymore so you can expect them to also be more expressive about their likes and dislikes of food.


My youngest is now 17 months and I've just realsied that my oldest was completely feeding himself by this age and I've totally babied my youngest and not given himt he spoon to feed himself. Also cause I have a helper who makes up congee for him all the time for all his meals he hasn't gotten used to eating enough really solid food.

So from next week we'll be on more of a baby eats what we're all eating plan and see how we go.


I always gave my boys a bottle before bed/nap time, they hold it themsleves lying in bed from 8 months old. It's a hard habit to break but if you are a very busy ( maybe lazy??) mum like me you may find it the easiest way to make sure baby has their milk intake. I have to admit I am not worried about their teeth as I brush them twice a day. And I don't really care about all the reasons why I shouldn't cause right now it works to get them to sleep and to drink their milk. They don't keep sucking it all night, just till they finish then I take the bottle.