1 year old feeding

[kittykat5839]

Mums I need your help!

my one year old has transitioned to cows milk and loves it to bits happily drinks her bottle but I have a bit of a picky eater and am struggling to find her feeding routine.

she basically still has the same amount of bottles as she did on formula (7oz every 4ish hours) following her cues ofc.. and she has cerelac in between (maybe 2/3 times a day) which then decreases her milk intake.

but I’m finding it really hard to incorporate food in her diet.
I don’t know how to or what to make and I feel like a crappy mum.

Can you guys please give me your takes on what or how I should be handling her feeding/meals ? X

TIA XX

She should probably still be having formula (they make it for toddlers too, for nutritional boosts.)

Purée fruits and veggies, and try to spoon feed her. Let her have the spoon and bowl and/or make a mess, if she wants to. If she doesn’t eat the purées, you can try freezing them in ice pop molds and offering them that way (great for teething.)

You can also give her produce that has been cut into safe shapes sizes (not a choking hazard) and give those to her to play with and explore, as a means of exposing her to them. Inevitably, she will put them in her mouth, because that’s what babies do. Can google “baby led weaning” for examples of ways to cut things up safely.

Soft proteins like eggs, tofu, beans, moist and tender (or puréed) meat, Greek yogurt, etc. and we’ll-cooked grains like oatmeal are good options too (thought my DD wouldn’t eat meat until she was over 3 years old, so YMMV.)

Babies with minimal teeth are not great at chewing, so keep that in mind. And she may gag occasionally— that’s normal.

Can you gradually phase in more textural food instead of the cereal? I'd pick one meal a day where I gave something else (toast, vegetable fingers either steamed or raw, scrambled egg) and let your LO have a play.

My baby is about the same age and likes finger foods.

At 12 months my daughter was still on a lot of formula and was 20 months before she ate enough to sustain herself without formula and we could start reducing it.

Our routine was
Breakfasts
Formula before am nap
Lunch
Formula before pm nap
Dinner
Formula before bed
Formula overnight

She was very slow to wean and even though we offered 3 meals a day she probably only ate 1 of them a day for a really long time. The important thing for us was to offer food first and formula second. Her weight gain stalled after weaning started as she was needing food and formula to gain weight neither on their own were enough.

I disagree with her still having formula at this age. Toddler milks contain a lot of iron which can suppress appetite and they are basically a UPF. Fine if they’re needed when baby is small to keep them alive, but that’s not the case here

I’d start by cutting down on her bottles @kittykat5839.

At 12 months she should be having roughly 10 Floz of milk a day and she’s having just under 3 times that amount. Not a criticism at all but it probably explains her lack of enthusiasm for solid food.

Could you try dropping one bottle for now? I found it easiest to drop the first milk feed on the morning and go straight to breakfast.

You could give her a small cup of milk with her breakfast if you are worried about cutting it out altogether. It might take her a few days to get used to feeling hungry and having to eat food, and she might complain as it’s not what she’s used to at all, but she’ll get there.

Some things you could try for breakfast are:

Cheese on toast with some halved cherry tomatoes on the side.

Eggy Bread with berries

Ready Brek with chopped bananas

Smooth peanut butter on toast

Omelette

Blueberry & Banana Pancakes which have the benefit of being freezable.

Why is she having cerelac several times a day? Is there a reason or just to fill her up? Having something so smooth and tasteless will not help her weaning journey unfortunately.

I would do breakfast first, then milk. Lunch first and then milk if needed and same with dinner. At one they need to start reducing their milk intake as it reduces their iron absorption so swap round for doing milk before food.

Some really easy recipes I use to start out with

Banana pancakes: 1 banana mashed, 2 tablespoons of flour, 1 egg. Mix together and fry in discs.

Pasta- fill water around 1 cm above the pasta and boil, add half a stock cube ( I use Knorr low salt) and some frozen veg boil for around 10 mins add a splash of milk and some cheese.

Potato tots
1 potato, 2 carrots cooked and mashed. Add a handful of cheese, shape into squares or fingers and bake in the oven for 20 mins.

Cream cheese on toast with a boiled egg and tomatoes. Boil an egg for 10 mins (water boiling before adding the egg) add some quartered tomatoes 2-3 minutes from the end. Pop toast on. Cut the egg into quarters

Microwaved oats -1/2 a banana, 40grams of oats, 60ml of milk and a spoon of peanut butter mix it all in a mug and microwave for 90 seconds

How have you both got on today @kittykat5839?

@kittykat5839 did you start her on solids at 6 months? What did you feed her then?

Charlotte Stirling Reed’s How to Wean Your Baby, Rebecca Wilson’s What Mummy Makes, and the Solid Starts app were the most helpful resources for me during weaning. All have really helpful recipes and the free version of the solid starts app tells you how to serve particular foods to babies of different ages. If your little one has only had purée textures you can always start with what’s recommended for six month olds and then use the recommendations for each age group as a road map for how to move through the textures.

I think it’s helpful to think about weaning as a long term plan to teach them how to eat, rather than a short term plan to get enough calories in in a given day - it might give you more confidence to offer flavours and textures that they reject on a given day to know exposing them to it isn’t about them eating it today, it’s about what they’ll be willing to eat in six months time! It’s wise what a pp said about starting with one meal a day though - it might be a bit overwhelming for them and you if everything changes.

It’s easier for them to fill their tummies with milk, so I also try to make sure they haven’t had milk for three hours or so before having a solid meal. However, you also don’t want them to be so hungry they’re too angry to try new foods and focus on learning how to eat solids! A delicate balance!

good luck xx

Why is she having cerelac 3 times a day? Is there a medical reason for this? Have you consulted your health visitor or GP?