Thanks for your reply loveroflife.
Can i tell you my routine and see what you think please. I know theres no right or wrong way because every child is different but some guidance or advice would be much appreciated thanks.
6am wake/water
7am breakfast cereal with milk on.
9.30am 7oz milk
9.30-10.30 sleep
12pm lunch
2pm 7oz milk
2-3pm ish sleep
5pm dinner
7pm 8oz milk bed
obviously water at meals and inbetween if needed.
I dont see how i should alter his meals/milk as he turns 1...
Hi again clarebear,
I'm happy to give my thoughts - I'm no expert at all though and another poster might have a completly different opinion to me....
I wouldn't bother with water first thing - no real need and could you maybe give him his feed/get to him wake a little later - maybe 6.30/7 so it's a 12 hour routine? Might not work for you though if your house rises early - the later the better in my book!
I personally give a bottle at 7am rather than breakfast first because I think he's gone 12 hours without it and he guzzles it, so I know he really appreciates it. Also, it's 'easier' for me to give him his milk rather than fanny about with breakfast as soon as he wakes up. However, a friend who is a bright lark and very early riser gives breakfast first and them gives him his bottle out and about at 9am, so I think the answer is what's your morning routine like - i.e do you need to be out of the house early? Of course it is easier to give a bottle rather than weetabix in the doctor's waiting room!
12pm lunch - sounds good.
Have you thought about dropping the milk at 2pm? He's having 22oz of milk, that sounds like quite a bit. NHS recommends three servings of dairy a day www.nhs.uk/planners/birthtofive/pages/thefoodgroupsexplained.aspx so maybe 2 milk feeds (8oz in morn and 8oz at night) and a yoghurt after lunch or dinner.
Just from my experience - most friends and family dropped the afternoon milk feed by one - but god that's not gospel and someone else may think their baby still needs it. Have you asked any friends if their one year olds still have their afternoon feed?
The only thing is once I dropped his afternoon feed, he ate more of his dinner and I knew it would be dropped eventually, so I felt at one was the right time to drop it. Obviously if he was screaming with hunger at 2pm, i would have re-introduced it, but i think he was just having it out of habit. I presume you will be coming off formula and onto full fat cows milk, so maybe as he is just a couple of weeks off 1, gently drop the afternoon feed and see how he responds, before you change to cows milk.
Dinner at 5 and milk at 7 sounds great - same as me but I start feeding him his bottle at 18.45ish (with brushing teeth) so he's in bed for 7 - it's a psychological thing!
Do phone your health visitor tomorrow and ask her what she thinks - it might be totally different to my thoughts. Good luck - don't worry though, what's his weight and is he sleeping through? If he is sleeping though and if you drop the afternoon feed and he starts waking then there is your answer! He still will need the afternoon feed. Every darling baby is totally different....
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