Bottle/formula and food question

Pokedot · October 2013

DS loves him some bottle and I'm fine with that. We've been giving him one when he wakes up in the morning but with 2oz of formula and the rest WCM. Same for before nap and then before bed. We've kept the formula in it because he hasn't been eating much lately. He'll pick a bit that's about it. He gets water in a sippy (straw) cup for all meals along with in between for snacks too. I likes the straw cups much better than a sippy. So question for you STM's or anyone with insight really. Is it ok that he still gets formula in the bottle to kind of supplement for the lack of food intake? Also are straw cups ok vs a sippy for him if he prefers them? I'm not worried about weaning off the bottle yet. It's a comfort for him and to be honest I love "feeding" it to him in the morning and before bed at night. But any insight is greatly appreciated!

Stasi · October 2013

I'm not a STM, but we went straight to straw cups and skipped "sippy" style ones all together because DD doesn't like them. We're still on bottles too before naps and bedtime...I like giving her the bottle and it's our snuggle time

She gets straw cups of WCM at b/l/d and water here and there throughout the day...

(I don't have any advise about the food...my uneducated guess would be, if you are offering 3 meals a day and he is still staying steady on the growth chart I would worry about it. I never give DD too much milk before or at the beginning of meals so she doesn't fill up on it...)

1fish2fish · October 2013

I'm just glad to hear someone else is using bottles. We're transitioning from 4 to 3 (the afternoon one that he wasn't fully drinking anyway). We use straw sippies because he hates the other kind. We offer a yogurt smoothie in a sippy in lieu of the 2nd afternoon bottle.

Tried to offer a sippy when he woke up the other day and he just hysterically cried until I made the bottle. I guess he's not ready? I don't freaking know.

He's also still getting formula because we suspect he might have a milk allergy/sensitivity. So we need to meet with an allergist to rule that out. We made the switch from Alimentum to Gentlease (the Toddler Transition kind) to save some money in the meantime. I just wasn't ready to switch to Almond milk or another alternative because I'm worried about him getting enough fat. He's not a great eater, but he's getting better now that 3 teeth popped through.

Sorry, tl;dr.

Pokedot · October 2013

Thanks ladies! Just glad to know I'm not the only one using straw cups and bottles. I know DS isn't ready for straight cups yet without the bottle and I'm totally ok with that. I think once we're done with the formula we have we'll cut it out completely but keep the bottle. I'm a bit selfish in that I like the bottle because it's kind of our cuddle time. It's the 20 minutes a day he actually sits and cuddles! Not ready to give that up!

watercolor5 · October 2013

I think our pedi recommended weaning off the bottle by 15 months, though I think that recommendation is for healthy teeth/ palate development, not anything having to do with nutrition. That said, trying to get DD to take her WCM in a sippy instead of a bottle was a nightmare, even though she drinks water from a sippy all throughout the day and at mealtimes. We ended up transitioning her from her tommee tippee bottles to avent sippy cups, that are really very bottle like- the sippy spout is still soft silicon, but the shape is less nipple-like and it has a slit instead of a hole so the milk comes out faster. I still feed her the sippy as if it were a bottle, 3x a day before nap/bedtime.

She won't drink enough milk if we offer it with her meal, and like @stasi, I feel like she gets more milk AND solids if we offer them at separate times. I'd pay attention to how much milk/formula your baby is getting and try to not let it exceed 24oz per day, so you know he gets hungry enough for solids. There's nothing wrong with continuing formula or using a straw cup instead of a traditional sippy. I also will offer yogurt or a smoothie if DD has already had a lot of milk but won't eat solids.

If you're really worried about your son not getting enough solid food, I'd ask his pedi what they recommend as far as supplementing- whether formula is the best or pediasure or what.

1fish2fish · October 2013

watercolor5 said:

I think our pedi recommended weaning off the bottle by 15 months, though I think that recommendation is for healthy teeth/ palate development, not anything having to do with nutrition. That said, trying to get DD to take her WCM in a sippy instead of a bottle was a nightmare, even though she drinks water from a sippy all throughout the day and at mealtimes. We ended up transitioning her from her tommee tippee bottles to avent sippy cups, that are really very bottle like- the sippy spout is still soft silicon, but the shape is less nipple-like and it has a slit instead of a hole so the milk comes out faster. I still feed her the sippy as if it were a bottle, 3x a day before nap/bedtime.

I'm gonna try this, thanks!!! I suspect that DS really enjoys the snuggling with the bottle, so if I could hold him while he drinks it...or even hold it for him, since he's never really been interested in holding his own bottle at home- but will sometimes at DC...then he might be more game.

While I enjoy the snuggling myself, I don't want to hold him back from developing appropriately. I find it really difficult sometimes to interpret his needs, my needs and maintaining the balance between encouraging growth and meeting DS where is he instead of where I want him to be.

Again, sorry, tl:dr, I know.

watercolor5 · October 2013

I'm gonna try this, thanks!!! I suspect that DS really enjoys the snuggling with the bottle, so if I could hold him while he drinks it...or even hold it for him, since he's never really been interested in holding his own bottle at home- but will sometimes at DC...then he might be more game.
While I enjoy the snuggling myself, I don't want to hold him back from developing appropriately. I find it really difficult sometimes to interpret his needs, my needs and maintaining the balance between encouraging growth and meeting DS where is he instead of where I want him to be.
Again, sorry, tl:dr, I know.

I think any one of us could have written this! DD was definitely taking longer to drink her sippy than she needed to because she was enjoying the snuggles/ singing we do at bedtime. We're just trying to let her know she can still have the snuggles and songs for a little while after she's done eating.

I realize we still have some transitions to go through before she's on a more age appropriate cup and taking milk with food, but just getting her onto some kind of a sippy saved me so much needless stress.

Oh, and everything I write is tl;dr... don't sweat it.

LyndseylovesHugh · October 2013

We use both straw sippy cups and regular. We do straw ones with her milk for meals and snacks and the regular ones for water which I just always have out during the day. I want her to be able to know how to use both. We still give her 6oz of formula before bed in a sippy, but that is just because I have a canister left so I will do that until it is gone. I like having that buffer while we are figuring out this 3 solid meals thing, but we are a few weeks in and she is doing great so I will have no problem not giving her the formula once we run out of this canister.

ETA: She sits in my lap during that sippy of formula, so while I am not feeding it to her I still get some cuddle time!

plus12012 · October 2013

We still give M&M a bottle before bed at night. We have both sippy and straw cups that she uses for WCM and water during the day. I know we really should wean her off the bottle all the way but, it kind of works as a signal for her to know that it's time to calm down and start thinking about bedtime.

MommaP12 · October 2013

Pedi said DD needs to gain weight so her bottles are 2/3 pediasure and 1/3 WCM. I got DS off the bottle at about 14-15 months but since DD needs to gain weight, I'm probably not going to try to take her off until 15-17 months depending on her weight at her 15 month appointment. No worries about still giving the bottle with formula for the added nutrients!

I love the snuggle time too.

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