meals/snacks/milk for 17 month old

[MuddlingThru]

ds is 17 months and I think we have followed pretty much the same routine for his food since before he was 1 and I am now wondering whether it is still appropriate or whether I should have adapted it and moved on.
He has cereal for breakfast, bottle of milk mid morning, lunch about midday, another bottle of milk mid afternoon, tea about 5, another bottle of milk before bed.
I figure the milk is a healthy snack, he has to sit down to drink it so isn't wandering around sipping it and overall there are worse things I could be giving him.
However I am concerned that the volume of milk he is having will be impacting the amount of solids he eats at lunch and dinner.
I was wondering what everyone else's little ones were having between the 3 main meals of the day?

[NannyL]

by 17 months they dont need milk... also should not be having a bottle at all.... esp not during the day (bad for teeth)

my 12 month old charge has a cup of milk upon waking.... and a cup of milk after bath before bed....

he rarely has snacks... if he does its often some pieces of fruit . rice ckaes / bread sticks, but normall he has
cup of milk 8ish
breakfast 8.30ish
lunch 12 / 12.3o ish
sleep 1-3
tea 4.45
cup of milk 6.10

[pen73]

HI Muddlin'

Been wondering similar things myself about DD who is 16mo. Only she has a bottle of milk on waking and milk with cereal not too long after. She then has another smaller bottle, often only 4oz at bedtime but more if she's still hungry. She eats mostly pretty well as mealtimes, so I don't think her milk intake is hampering her appetite too much. Only I read recently that at this stage they should only have 350ml, inclusive of all other dairy and she has yoghurt & cheese too.

For snacks we have corn or rice cakes. I've discovered the corn ones recently and they are much tastier than the rice ones. Sometimes with hommous or fruit spread. Toast fingers, fruit esp avocado or banana, Satsumas in moderation as it's easy for her to eat a whole one but often the acid burns her bum, those little boxes of raisins are a huge favourite, bits of cheese, and occasionally plain biscuits or Organix fruit & seed bars. She's definately inherited mum's sweet tooth! I've tried carrot sticks but she's not too interested. Maybe one she has the molars she's currently working on. I'd be interested to hear of other ideas for snacks too as looking at that list it seems to lean towards the sweet side of things.

Anyway, I'll be interested to see if you get any other feedback regarding milk. I started thinking about it after speaking to a friend who's boy is 18mo and no longer has any milk drinks other than on cereal and sometimes a glass in the afternoon. Perhaps this is the other end of the spectrum, she thought it was normal. I always thought they had milk at bedtime till 5 or something!!

[pen73]

I should add that DD has milk from a bottle with the green spout. Is this OK?? She does also have other drinks from a cup, or a cup with lid & spout. I do brush her teeth every night but it mostly involves her biting the brush for a bit. Not much actual brushing does go on. I thought it was good just to get her used to the idea and concentrate on the finer points as the months go by.

[EllieChocolateOrange]

my ds is 12 mo. he has only just managed bottles so i am not going to cups yet, which he is rather bad at drinking from despite introducing them at 6mo. he has about 5 oz first thing, then cereal, lunch, 5 oz in pm, supper and 4 oz before bed. he was drastically dropping down the centiles a couple of months ago while i was still bfedding and worked out (with hindsight) that he wasn't drinking enough milk despite eating 3 meals per day...now he is on this routine he has gained some weight back.

[katylou25]

MY DS 20 months has a cup of milk first and last thing.

Breakfaxt at 8ish, luch at 1ish and tea at6ish. Has snacks most days - raisins, h/m biscuits/cakes, all differnt types of fruit, homemade cheese straws, crumpet and marmite, those organix crispy things etc etc try to mix sweet and savoury ones and as much home made as possible

[pen73]

Katylou, recipe for homemade cheese straws please!!!