11MO help!

[twinkle2306]

DS is 11MO tomorrow.

His routine is as follows
8am - wake up - 7oz formula
Nap for 20mins to 40mins depending on night had
10:30am- breakfast
12:30/1pm - lunch
Nap for 30mins to an hour depending on morning nap
3:30/4pm- 7oz formula
6:30pm- dinner
8:30 - bed routine
9pm- 7oz formula

We've tried putting him down earlier but will not have any of it at all. So going to bed later works for us at the moment but are gradually bringing it forward.

Does this sound ok? Should I now be replacing his 3:30 bottle with a snack?

Should I be offering his formula in a sippy cup from now? And if so do I just let him drink it all or do I still hold it for him and pace it out?

I feel completely out of my depth!

Hopeful bump!

At 11 months DS was like this:

Wake 6.30 - 6oz bottle
7.30am - porridge / weetabix
9am - one hour nap
10am - snack
12 - lunch
1pm - Nap, 1 to 1.5 hours
2.30pm - snack
4.30pm - tea
5.45pm - 8oz bottle
6pm - bath
6.30pm - bed
Sleeps through.

He’s 13 months now and is basically the same except he has a cow’s cup of milk when he wakes up instead of a bottle and his morning nap is a little bit later and shorter.

We’re in the process of weaning him off his bedtime bottle so hopefully in a few weeks he’ll be having a cup of milk at bedtime too.

I like my evenings so he goes to bed at 6.30pm. If he sleeps until 7am (unusual / he’s more likely to be awake at 6) then I wake him up for the day otherwise his routine will be all over the place!

*cup of cow’s milk 🤣

Woah OP, why isn’t he having his breakfast until 10:30am? Are you really saying that you don’t feed him between 6:30pm and 10:30am? That’s 16 hours without food!

@rossKemp no he has his bottle when he wakes up and then goes back to sleep.

@Abouttimemum we are hoping to drop the 3:30 bottle and add a snack in there. So sounds pretty similar.

I can imagine getting them off bottles before bedtime is tricky!

He really shouldn’t be going that long without solid food OP. He’s nearly 1

A bottle of milk isn’t a substitute for food

@rossKemp he has his bottle then goes straight back to sleep. Whenever we've tried to give him his 'breakfast' earlier he doesn't want it so I won't force it.

I was under the impression that before 1 their main source of nutrition was the formula?

When he stops having formula then of course we won't let him go 16 hours without eating but he's full up from that

They only need 13.5 floz at 11 months, going down to 10 floz at 12 months.

With that in mind, could you give him something like this?

Breakfast 8 am with a cup of milk.

10.30 Snack

12.30 lunch with a cup of milk.

3.30 snack

6.30 dinner

9pm bedtime bottle

@JiltedJohnsJulie we are trying to get him to eat earlier. Originally he refused food until 1pm so this is a vast improvement.

He simply will not eat anything before 10am. We are slowly pushing this back but I'm convinced it's the formula that is filling him up. We did think about only offering him half the amount and see if he will eat afterwards?

Would you start offering it in a sippy cup from now?

I was under the impression that before 1 their main source of nutrition was the formula?

Sorry twinkle I seem to have cross posted with you there.

They used to say that but lots of people seem to have taken it a bit too literally. I think the advice was given initially to stop people moving to solids too quickly but now it's gone the other way.

He definitely only needs 13.5 floz at this age, moving down to 10 floz at 12 months.

There is a great guide published by the Caroline Walker Trust here. You'll need from page 77.

Once he's one, this guide is really useful as it gives portion sizes, sample menus and recipes.

Even if you are an advocate of formula being the main source of nutrition before one, he still needs to cut down on his bottles to get to the recommended 10 floz at 12 months

@JiltedJohnsJulie oh yes totally agree. He had dropped weight when we dropped to two bottles at 10 months so we put him back on one in the afternoon to get back to his line (dropped from 25th to 15th). Now that he's back on track and willing to take more solids we will drop it again.

I meant that post more in reply to Ross as I felt like it was implied I was starving him which I'm defo not. I just can't get the little monster to eat in the mornings!

Sorry, we seem to keep cross posting

If he's refusing to eat before 10, I would definitely stop the first bottle and offer him something like smooth nut butter or avocado on toast. Blueberry a Pancakes are a nice treat or ready brek with copped banana. If he has a cup of milk too, there shouldn't be any worry about him missing out on calories

My dd is 11 months old. She's a big girl, on the 95 percentile. We've already switched to cow's milk as she eats extremely well.
Her routine is:
5:30 am awake (early riser unfortunately!!!)
6:00am a bottle 4oz of milk
6:30am breakfast
8:30-10am: nap
10: snack
12: lunch
13: 15- 3:30: nap
3:30: snack
5: dinner
6: bottle 4oz milk
7: bed

I agree with the pp that giving food first thing/ cutting down on the amount might help with more eating. I haven't yet switched to a cup for milk as I did at a year with my first and he then refused to drink it.