Baby still has formula milk at 12 months

[Sofielou]

DD turned 1 a couple weeks ago. I am struggling to let go of formula milk - she still has a 4/5oz bottle first thing in the morning, a smaller bottle in the morning or afternoon (we have replaced the 2nd day time bottle with cow's milk), and a large 8oz bottle before bed. So she's having 3 a day still.

She's picky with her meals, will eat bits but mostly throws it on the floor. This is the reason I'm still holding onto the formula because I'm worried she won't have a full tummy from the small amounts of solids she's eating.

Can I keep up with the formula until she's eating better? Or do I need to let it go? I'm so worried about her calorie intake and nutrition, it really consumes my mind. 😢

She loves banana, it's one of her favourite foods. I mean, she's pretty much being fussy with everything I give her at the moment (possible teething as she was a good eater up until recently). But I think she will eat this, I'm try it. Thank you.

I'd worry more about creating a snacker (which is very healthy) than I would her being a bit hungry. If you have a routine with food with one snack in between the meals, she'll know it's coming and look forward to it

Yes I was worried about food with my first child. I kept the formula until he was 2 which wasn’t the right thing to do thinking back as he was reluctant to eat as he was full with the formula. He never drank milk cow and at 6 still doesn’t. With my second and third, I completely stopped the formula the day they turned one and gradually they started eating more and more. I understand the worry having been there but honestly I am on my third child now and things are a lot more different as I have become more chilled out.

I was in a similar position with a fussy eater and continued using formula, the 12 month plus brand.

I'm not sure it helped, he continued to be a fussy eater and still is today though he became an obese fussy eater.

I'm not sure if the formula or sensory issues caused weight gain, he seeks plain bland food to comfort a lot.

Formula will stop hunger and she won't be encouraged to try more foods.

@Sofielou stopping formula at 1 isn't the done thing. The recommendation is to stop using bottles when they're 1 and use cups or beakers instead.

• You should continue to breastfeed or give your baby first infant formula until they're at least 1 year old. Breastfeeding will continue to benefit you and your baby for as long as you carry on. As your baby eats more solid foods, the amount of milk they want will decrease. Once your baby is eating plenty of solids several times a day, they may even drop a milk feed altogether.*

That's from the NHS website . Your husband is right. She will cry when she's crying or show you in other ways.

You can start dropping the morning bottle as there will be plenty of other opportunities for her to eat during the day. Either formula, or actual food. At 7 try a banana,a yogurt, a cup of milk, a yogurt, a slice of toast (even if she just nibbles at it). She will have breakfast at CM only an hour after so she won't starve.

I know it's hard figuring all out on your own,especially if you have no support . It was the same for me and DD was a lowish weight too with very small or no weigh gain. No one gave a crap, but I was massively told off for her being short at her 2 year review. 🙄

@changeis

Glad to see I'm not alone. I honestly don't understand where it comes from, as I was very well fed and looked after as a child myself! I was however very fussy with food and underweight most of my childhood/adolescence. I wonder if I am subconsciously trying not to create the same problems in DD by "over feeding" her?? 🙈

Took both my children of formula at 9 months old and gave them cows milk and i never feed them baby food I gave them what I had with out the salt there adults now so was a long time ago

I agree with this 100%! ⬆️

Mine were exactly the same. Don't stop offering a wide variety of food at every opportunity but try not to get too stressed about it if she's not keen - it'll all work out eventually.

That bedtime milk bottle hung around for ages in our house - our eldest son stubbornly resisted all attempts at swapping an actual bottle for a sippy cup, too! Had to resort to bribery in the end!! 😆

I came on to say exactly this. ^

Honestly, just switch to cows milk. You don't need to phase it just switch. She will be getting enough vitamins and nutrients from solids and babies really don't need to eat much. Their tummy shouldn't be 'full' all the time. Is adults would feel very uncomfortable if we were full all the time.

You can pick up some vitamin drops from the supermarket. I put Abidec drops in my DDs warm bottle of cows milk in the morning.

Get rid of the formula from today. It'll save you a fortune.

Formula will stop hunger and she won't be encouraged to try more foods.
To counter the above, she won't be encouraged to try more foods if she has sensory issues either.
Its a minefield.
The formula helped bulk if a sensory issue.
There are lots of play therapy things you can do at home if sensory.
Sand bucket, rice bucket, slim bucket, food play.

I would suggest the reason she doesn't want food is maybe because of all the milk ! Small cup in the morning and again before bed thank will increase her appetite and start to eat proper food which should be happening now I don't think it really matters weather it's formula or cows just cut it right back though

Ok thank you. It looks like I need to reduce the formula and sit with the anxiety...and resist the urge to give her something to fill her tummy!

Should I have had contact with a HV by now? I haven't seen her since DD was 4 months old. I've had no help and no appointments, nothing.

My DS went onto full fat cows milk at 12 months and drank loads of it. Might your little one eat a weetabix at 7am with lots of milk? Maybe half a banana? My DS would be ravenous as soon as he woke. He has always loved milk.

I think formula is very filling.

You should have a development review between 9-12 months. You can contact the HV team to request support if you feel it would be beneficial.

If she's resisting cows milks you can slowly introduce it by mixing the 2. Add an oz at a time so she'll get used to the taste etc

If you're happy keeping her on formula just use the next one up, I'm sure they make formula for older kids, but I might be wrong here

When I was nhs the clinic refused to give formula to women when baby turned one, you got £4 coupons for healthy start instead.

Surely baby will cry if hungry?

Try to switch from a bottle to a cup as well, she doesn't NEED the milk at this age so if she drinks less it's ok. You can also give her a yoghurt at lunch or some extra cheese to give her some more dairy.

If it helps, my children (5 and 3) have a cup of soya milk first thing and before bed. It's a drink that they like and is good for them. They have their milk at 7 and then breakfast is around 7:30/8 (depending on day of the week)

I had a cup of bedtime milk until I was well into primary school because I liked milk. It was my favourite drink.

Switch to cow's milk and give her some liquid baby vitamins at breakfast time, mine always liked Haliborange. She'll eat when she's hungry, get some good food into her but just start one meal at a time on schedule so that her tummy gets used to 7am = breakfast, 12pm = lunchtime, 5pm = dinner. Mine started with lunch at 6 months and built up to having 3 meals by 18 months, little morning and afternoon snack came later but only when running about for hours (so that's most days!!).

If she isn't super excited about food and not allergic then maybe it's worth thinking about what you are feeding her and how, because most babies will get interested in munching even on a bit of toast and slices of apple. We always ate with DS (except his dinner), so he had bits of what we had and just naturally joined in. Did you do a full weaning journey of tasting bits of lots of foods from 6 months? How did she do then? If she's done samples of everything so you've checked food allergies and patrticular dislikes, then try changing what you're giving her initially to get her into the habit of eating. Easy stuff that most kids will find interesting are lasagne, savoury pancake at lunch or fruit one for breakfast, stuffed omelette, honey or nut butter in porridge, houmous or mushroom pate on toast, tortelloni with veg pesto, breaded chicken sticks, veg-loaded pizza slices, shepherds pie etc. Put the veg into dishes chopped up really small if she's rejecting that and increase size as she gets older, then she'll get used to all the textures and flavours.

Honestly I never worried about this. I started ditching formula from 11 months onwards to lose the horrific cost. I gradually reduced the bottles so at 1 they were having a bottle at bedtime then sippy cup with cow's milk or water the rest of the day.

I always gave breakfast at 7 and never milk before otherwise she wouldn't eat it. Sippy cup of water with breakfast or small amount of milk in sippy cup after breakfast.

And yes your partner is right she'll cry or grizzle if she's hungry

By the sound of it you are filling her up on formula hence why she isn’t eating much. Cut out the formula and drop the milk feeds. Give her some milk in the morning when she wakes and again before bed.

your child isn’t eating because they aren’t hungry due to being fed formula milk.

Op try giving the meals first and a bottle after
You may find she doesn't want as much milk, and definitely switch to full fat cows milk
I was anxious like you and didn't go for baby led weaning
I spoon fed ds at that age with mashed and pureed food , yoghurt, porridge etc and that worked out really well for us.
He's 8 now and has a great appetite and eats a variety of foods , it worked for us.

All mums worry about different stuff, but definitely all mums worry about something or other that they really don't need to!

She will cry if she's hungry, she'll also get some initial words soon if she doesn't have any, don't worry she will let you know!

It’s OK to start to move into the next phase OP.

At 1 year plus, your job is no longer to “make sure her tummy is full”. Your job is now to give her opportunities to sample a wide range of foods, so that going forward she can regulate her appetite.