Parenting a 1 year old.

[PandaEyes2]

Hi all,

Ok this going to sound so stupid! My son has just turned 1! Amazing to think how far he's come in 1 fast year. So far this parenting thing has been fairly easy for us. I think we've taken quite well to it (considering neither of us had even held a baby before our son). Anyway... I have a few questions.

1. We have switched him to cows milk about a week ago and didn't even batter an eyelid! We've got a few tommee tippee cups that are free flow. Are these the best to use or can anyone suggest something better? I really want to wean him off the baby bottle completely if I can.

1. Do we still need to sterilise? I thought we only needed to sterilise for the first year but my partner thinks we should still sterilise for a little longer.

1. He's having about 3-4 bottles a day. What sort of snacks should I be offering him? I have the BLW cookbook so when I have time I want to make him some veggie bites etc but wondering what others do.

1. We have a good routine for bedtime. 7-7.15pm - bath

7.45pm - bottle 8pm - usually in bed and asleep straight away, if not he does settle himself off. How does this compare to other bedtimes? He sleeps through but should he be going to bed earlier?

Sorry this is so long but I suddenly feel a little clueless again about what to do with him 🙈. Any words of wisdom would be greatly received!

Hi give all milk in a cup now if you can. Mine refused milk in a cup till they were 3 😂 when the bottle teats broke and wore out they begrudgingly used cups

I'm not that experienced but my DD is 15 months so I'll answer what I can:

1. Don't think it matters what cups as long as he is happy with it. My HV said no bottles from 15 months and that's what we've done, she gave up bottle last week (she only had 1 at night anyway) no problems. Whenever your ready I guess
2. Sterilsing not needed anymore.
3. At that age my DD was only having a bottle at night and a cup of milk in the morning. So I would give yogurt or cheese and cucumber sticks as a mid afternoon snack and raisins in the morning. Don't think he needs that many snacks if he is still having milk in the day.
4. We do bath at 6, bed by 6.15 but it's completely up to you and what works for your family. For some 6 would be way too early. If it's working I would stick to it to be fair.

Thank you lovelies for some reason suddenly him turning 1 seemed really daunting. It should all fall in to place now then. He seems to be doing quite well with the large tommee tippee cup. He just gets to the point he dribbles and plays with it which I hate as i have to change him and as we know, I don't want to create even more washing than I already have lol x

My DS is just about to turn 1. He is in bed for 7pm and settles straight away but still wakes 1-2 times a night and gets up for the day at 5:30am.

We are still using bottles for milk as he doesn’t like sippy cups. He is on 3 bottles a day (mid morning, mid afternoon and bedtime). I am going to sterilise then for the foreseeable future as it’s not really any hassle to put the steriliser on at night.

Mine are a bit older, 2.5 and nearly 4, but at 1...

We used straw sippy cups. They're possibly not the best for milk. You have to give the straws a really scrub to clean the milk. But we just replaced the straws regularly and never had any problems. Mine never mastered the Tommy Tipee ones, it was like they were being water boarded 😅

Nah, not sterilising is fine. They eat dust off the floor!

Snacks that were/are winners with my girls include:

• pancakes. Either regular egg, milk and flour with an assortment of fruit added. Or mashed banana with an egg and a bit of baking powder)

• fritters. Basic batter with veg. Sweet corn with a bit of bacon, courgette and feta.

• muffins. Use a mini muffin tin and again try different fruit or veg.

• hummus. With crackers or eg sticks

Bedtime as a baby is to suit you really. We do/did bed at 7, but of 8 works for you then that's fine. I guess it maybe depends on what tine you want the day to start!