Should I be worried? 12 month feeding issues

DD will be 1 next weekend. She is a terrible eater. She never really took to baby food at all. Gives me a terrible time. I can get her to eat applesauce, bananas and yogurt and that's about it. She loves Cheerios and cheese. She'll also eat real bananas cut up.
I'm still trying to give her 5 bottles a day and put around 7oz in them. She NEVER finishes lately and screams when I try to make her. This morning she ate 4oz and then only 3oz in her next bottle. She had some bananas cut up and Cheerios in between. Took like 4 little pieces of a scrambled egg too.
Should I be concerned? Or is this normal at this age. Also, the kid won't hold her own bottle. It's terrible!

Should I be worried? 12 month feeding issues

Stop holding her bottle. She can hold it she won't. My DS was the same way.

My DS also wasn't eating much when we switched to table food. I just kept at it. Now he eats everything.

Re: Should I be worried? 12 month feeding issues

My son is 13 months and only has about 2- 8 ounce sippy cups of milk.

at this point she doesn't need 5 bottles a day. 3 maybe at most.

I say cut those down and then her food intake will increase. If she's filling up on formula, of course she won't want to eat much since her belly is so full already.

I believe at 12 months, she should only be having 20 ounces of milk a day. You're giving her 35 ounces of formula. Way too much.

Message edited 3/17/2013 3:56:10 PM.

Re: Should I be worried? 12 month feeding issues

My DS never held his own bottle and had 32 oz of formula until we switched to milk.

Since it's a recent change with the bottles, could she be teething? I wouldn't worry too much at this point. Maybe cut back her formula a bit and keep offering the food. She'll get it eventually.

Should I be worried? 12 month feeding issues

I agree about the milk. My twins are 16 Months....no more then 24 oz per day. They need to start eating food

Should I be worried? 12 month feeding issues

Less milk and a lot more finger foods, try to cut up everything you can into a safe size and she will get some of into her mouth!

Should I be worried? 12 month feeding issues

I would cut out 2 babas. Replace with water sippies. Start 3 meals with snacks in between. Can she pick up and feed herself? Does she like other fruits, veggies, meats, pasta? How about yogurt?

Re: Should I be worried? 12 month feeding issues

Neither of my children held their own bottles ever, so don't even worry about that.

Like some other people have said, 5 bottles/35oz at 12 months is way too much milk. She should be eating more food than drinking milk at this point. If she likes bananas cut up, try other fruits cut up (strawberries, grapes, blueberries, etc.) Also try a lot of finger foods. She'll probably be more inclined to eat more once you reduce the amount of milk she is getting. She might just be too full from all the milk to be interested in her food right now.

Re: Should I be worried? 12 month feeding issues

From what you describe, I think she is getting enough food and is taking the appropriate amount of milk. 32oz at that age is waaaaaay too much. My DS will be 7 months this week and we started solids and he doesn't even take that much milk throughout the day. He eats solids for breakfast and dinner and takes 3-6oz bottles and I nurse him in the morning and at night.

Re: Should I be worried? 12 month feeding issues

DS was like that. I told my ped at his 12month check up. He said he should only be getting about 24oz of formula/milk a day. If he didn't eat at breakfast he didn't get anything until his next feeding because all he was eating were puffs and cheerios and then wasn't eating his food. We would feed him and if he did not eat he wouldn't get puffs or cheerios. If he did eat his meal then he could have some of them. I would give him a bottle around nap/bedtime but not an extra one if he didn't eat. They will eat when their hungry. DS now has gotten a lot better at eating. We give him pancakes, oatmeal (regular oatmeal not baby), eggs etc for breakfast. chicken, soup, mac and cheese, toast, jar of baby food or pouches for lunch and chicken, pasta, potato, etc for dinner. He's definitely eating more now. We let him feed himself more as well. Ped said if I felt he was losing weight that I could bring him in and he would weight him every week to see, but he doesn't seem to be losing weight. I think its the age. It will get better, just don't force too much formula on your DD and she may start to eat better!

Re: Should I be worried? 12 month feeding issues

I would also not worry about holding her own bottle. Both of my daughters were able to, but if I was anywhere in sight they prefered for me to hold them and feed them, and to be honest, they grow up so quickly. I'm a sucker for some mandatory cuddle time!

As far as food I would also recommend cutting down to about 2 bottles a day and you really need to try a larger variety of foods. I am sure you've done this already but unless you are consistently presenting variety to her you are not going to find out what she likes RIGHT now. I know there are plenty of htings that I offered my own DD who is one tomorrow at a year old but if she wasn't a fan I didn't really try again, and now I am trying to reintroduce foods so that she's more of a FOOD eater and less of a FORMULA/Milk drinker.

If she likes bananas how about..
avacado
berries
sweet potato
ripe fresh pears

Things like chicken and turkey burgers, meatballs, shredded chicken and pork cooked in broth or apple juice...

Flaked fish such as salmon, tilapia, cod?

small pieces of spiral pasta, cut up
brown rice
israeli cous cous
barley

Quesedillas/Grilled Cheese
Carrot/zucchini/oatmeal muffins

Just some ideas!

Re: Should I be worried? 12 month feeding issues

Posted by aliwnec10

I say cut those down and then her food intake will increase. If she's filling up on formula, of course she won't want to eat much since her belly is so full already.

I believe at 12 months, she should only be having 20 ounces of milk a day. You're giving her 35 ounces of formula. Way too much.