12 months - drinking habits

Hi


This is a strange question.


Background:

Baby was 100% breast fed for 12 months, maybe only 10 bottles of expressed milk the entire year.

He was fed to a schedule, and never showed any desire to 'snack' or comfort suck.

He was never a big drinker - meals were 5-10 minutes.


We started giving him breast milk or water from a glass and sippy cup at about 10 months with meals, but after 2-3 sips he would not want any more. We tried different cups, different drinks - but the result was always the same. The only thing he seemed to enjoy was drinking water from MY glass, which I would always give him if he asked - but still only 2-3 sips.


At 12 months we started to give a cup with a straw. He picked it up fast and could easily drink. But again, only 2-3 sips and then he was done.


He is a good eater, and eats 4 meals a day. Each meal has yogurt and one has cheese.


Now he is 13 months, and I have just stopped breast feeding.


First we stopped the 6:30 pm feed and replaced with straw cup. Again, he only would have a few sips, we would give him 30 minutes of cuddles and book reading ad walking around his room, and he would maybe take a sip, then 10 minutes later another sip. Then go to bed at 7pm until 6:30 am.


Last week we stopped the 6:30 am feed and replaced with a straw cup. He used to breast feed for 20 minutes at this time. Now he takes 2-3 sips from the cup, and doesn't want any more! Then he has his breakfast around 7:15 or so.


But we do find though, that throughout the day we have the cup available, and he will take a sip every now and again. On Sunday in the afternoon he had almost a whole cup which was amazing - but it was over a 3 hour period.


He does tend to drink more in the afternoon, but never in 'one go' always a sip now and a sip later, etc...


He has wet nappies, and he poos, and his wee is not yellow or smelly. The doctor says he is fine and will drink when he is hungry/thirsty. Also his food has a lot of fruit, vegetable is 'wet' so he gets liquid that way too.


He eats lots and lots of yogurt and cheese, so he is gettig his calcium and protien (plus tofu, egg and some meat)


I know that bottle fed babies do drink more than breast fed babies.


SUMMARY


The cup is filled with whole milk and water - as pure milk is just too strong for him so we mix with some water, and it is a nice warm temperature.

He does not drink in the morning, during meals or in evenings - only a few sips.

But he does drink half a cup when he goes to the park in the morning, and sometimes 3/4 or a whole cup in the afternoon - but only sip by sip by sip so it takes 2-3 hours to finish.


QUESTION


Has anyone else had a similar experience, where one year old toddler and up only likes a few sips and does not like to have a whole cup at a time?


If so, how did the morning and evening 'feed' work? Did they eventually drink more, or did they just not require it later, or did it just stay at a few sips only?


If so, does it last through the toddler years like this, or does it eventually change to having a glass of milk (or water) with a meal/snack?


Any other comments?

After 2 weeks, he now seems to have the hang of drinking from the cup, and can do it really well - sometimes even finishing a cup of whole fat milk in a short period of time!


6:30 am - almost takes nothing or just 1-2 sips, then eats breakfast at 7:00.

10:30 am - only 1-2 sips with his meal

11:30 am - he goes to the playground, and will sometimes finish his whole cup or half.

2:30 pm - when he wakes up from his nap, he might have 2-3 sips with his meal

3:30 pm - he goes to the playground and almost always has close to a full cup

6:30 pm - before bed, he varies from a few sips to half a cup.


Every now and then he will have more at other times.


The big change for us was last weekend, he started walking to the cup, and just drinking from it on his own (we always leave it low so he can access it) - he drank 3 full cups on Sunday and we were so happy! But he doesn't do this every day.


We still find it strange that in the morning he does not seem thirsty, as before that was his longest breast feed...


QUESTION

Do most 12-18 month olds drink a full cup/bottle first thing in the morning?


Do most 12-18 month olds drink a full cup/bottle right before bed?

I'm following this one with interest since my second is a bit different from my first.


#2 drinks, upon waking up, a 200 mls of whole milk, from a cup with a straw. And she loves it.


She has a similar one at 2:30, and usually finishes it all. (400 ml total.)


I dont' offer her milk at lunch, and instead she can usually take down around 150-200mls of barley tea... and then the same at dinner.


i'm not giving her anything before bed - whatever she finishes at her meal is what she gest - and she still has no trouble sleeping through the night. I want to keep bfeeding her, but had to stop when I went to the US suddenly and then she seemed to wean herself.

We turn one next month!


We are off the bottle for the morning but he doesn't drink very much from the straw cup - 90mls followed by 90ml in his breakfast oats.


For the rest of the day, it's just water - little sips throughout and the day and about 90ml during lunch and another 90ml again for dinner. He could probably take more water during meals if he controls the straw cup but that makes him super bloated and he actually threw up some dinner after too much water once :P


For bedtime, we are still on the bottle - 240ml. Overall he takes 420ml of milk daily and Gina Ford says by 1, they should take a min. of 350ml and not more than 600ml. Pigs might fly if he ever drinks 240ml from a straw so in the next few weeks, I plan to give split the bedtime milk - give some during dinner and some just before bed. Only if that works then we'll move on the whole cow's milk at one - 1 step at a time!


He eats well, 3 meals a day with fruits, little nibbles at 2.30pm and he likes to snack off my afternoon snack when we are out - usually bagel and cream cheese. So i reckon at this stage, the bedtime feed is more of a comfort thing. I think he should be able to sleep fine without milk but I'll still want to give him some before bed - it's just a good thing to end the day with, no?

Can't really help with the Q's but my LO just turned 1 and this is what she now does:


7:30am 180ml full fat cows milk from a bottle - must be before breakfast - if during or after she won't drink it all.


During the morning she drinks about 50-100ml water from an Avent sippy cup but she can't seem to get the hang of it - we have to hold it and tilt her head - I think she's lazy!


Lunch 11:30 then 180ml cows milk form a bottle


Afternoon - about 100ml from a cup with a straw - she seems to find this v easy as she doesn't need to tip her head.


7pm bedtime milk - 180 formula (we're vegetarians so I give formula to keep iron levels up)


So all in all, 540ml milk per day and about 100-150 water.


She will drink milk from the straw cup so I need to find another one to try and cut down the bottle feeds.