Scheduling question

My girls are still tiny but staying on their curve (16 lbs 5.5 oz and 16 lbs 11 oz at 12 month appt) and we are keeping them on formula through the 15 month appt and maybe longer to help them out. It feels like I really need to start transitioning their schedule though. Right now we do the following (only showing the eating) and they take in about 20 oz a day on average:

6:30 a.m. - 6 oz bottle
7:30 a.m. - breakfast
10:00 a.m. - snack
11:00 a.m. - 6 oz bottle
12:30 p.m. - lunch
3:00 p.m. - 6 oz bottle
4:00 p.m. - snack
5:30 p.m. - dinner
7:00 p.m. - 6 oz bottle/bedtime

Can you share your schedule at 12/13 mos? Or, are those posted anywhere? I am working on nap changes too...ugh...and it seems I should maybe be down to 3 bottles that they would finish completely? My goal is to get to one bottle at bedtime by 15 months and then do the rest in straw cups or sippy cups. I could use some guidance...there is a lot going on here and the girls are little crankier...I just keep putting snacks and food in front of them constantly and they will always take bites, so I know I need to get a little tighter on this. Thoughts?

Thanks everyone.

 

At 12-13 months mine were on bottles still but they were on fully on milk by 13 months...here was our schedule
7:30 wake up, 8oz milk bottle
8-8:30 breakfast
9:30-11 nap
11:30-noon: lunch
2:00 8 oz milk bottle
2:30-4-nap
4:30 dinner
7:30 bedtime, 8oz milk bottle
*they had sippies of water throughout the day. Depending on how hungry they were we tried snacks between lunch and the 2:30 nap and between dinner and bedtime.
My two at 12 months were on the 5th percentile for weight, so we added Carnation Instant Breakfast to their milk for extra calories. Pediasure might be another option, my two did not like it though. You might want to try 3 8 oz bottles and see how that goes. How many naps are the girls taking a day? Mine were still on two and I let them take the lead when they were ready to go to one nap (that was around 15-16 months). When we made the transition from bottles to sippies, I did that around 15 months and took a bottle away a week to be replaced by a straw sippy...that worked well for us. Good luck!

 

I transitioned my guys off bottles (except for the bedtime bottle/nursing) right at 1 year, and gradually went from formula to milk over the course of a week or so. My boys weren't even on the chart until they were about 15 months old, so we used Carnation Instant Breakfast mix in their breakfast milk sippies, and fed them yogurt after every meal. We pretty much went cold turkey on the sippy transition; Jack took to them right away, but I had to tip them back for Nate for a few days and then he got it. We offer milk at every meal and snack in sippies, and give a sippy of warmed milk before bed during story time. Otherwise they get water or diluted juice between meals for thirst.

At 12/13 months my guys were on 2 naps a day. Our schedule was pretty much like this:

7:30 wake, breakfast and milk
9 snack and milk
9:30 nap
12 lunch and milk
2 snack and milk
3 nap
6 dinner and milk
7:30-8 milk and bed

I really found that my guys took off in weight when I stopped "force feeding" them and let them take the lead. I put lots of healthy food in front of them and let them eat what they want. They're now at the 10-25th %. :good: It might take your girls a month or so to get really used to the self-feeding, but I'm sure they'll do great!

Good luck, and I hope this helps!

 

Now I am wondering, did you move to milk and Carnation due to cost or was that a plan you lined up with pedi? Just curious about us staying on formula...and why we wouldn't do the same with whole milk and Carnation. Hmmm...

 

I always gave mine their bottles with their meal. We also made a very quick & successful transition to cups at 12 months. Our schedule looked something like this:

7:00-milk (sippy cup) & breakfast
9:00-nap
10:30-play
11:00-milk & lunch
1:30/2:00-nap
3:30/4:00-snack & water & play
5:30-milk & dinner
8:00-bedtime

Hope this helps.

 

It wasn't a cost thing; my ped is very old school and never recommended staying on formula. My guys were small, but like your LOs always followed their curve. The only thing he told me was to get rid of bottles at 1 year. I took that advice with a grain of salt and moved as quickly as I was comfortable, not based on his time frame. I really started to focus on solid foods vs. formula/milk after one year based on reading that I have done, but supplemented with the Carnation just to boost the calories of the milk.

I would ask your ped for his advice about staying on formula and do what you think is right for your LOs!

 

Sounds like you have gotten some great advice! Our schedule is just like Nancy's was and it worked well. We also transitioned off of bottles at 1 year.
Good luck!

 

I also agree with Valerie to go over the reason staying on formula with your pedi. My pedi wanted us to change to whole milk at the 1 year appointment and my BF, who dealt with low weight issues with her oldest DS, recommended Carnation to us, so we tried that for extra calories. We mentioned it to our pedi at the 15 month visit and she thought it was a good idea for our two.

 

We're at the 12/13 month mark as well, our schedule is like this:
9:30-10am ~ breakfast with sippy of milk. Sometimes they'll drink half a cup or more, sometimes they only take a few sips.
12-12:30 nap ~ up around 1:30-2
2pm ~ lunch with milk.
3:30-4pm ~ snack with milk
5pm nap ~ up around 6-6:30
7pm ~ supper with milk
9:30 ~ snack with milk.

We transitioned to cups shortly after they turned 1, and they drink between 16-20 oz of milk a day.