transitions

So I'm starting to think about the transitions we're going to have soon and I'm wondering when you all did the following:
1. When did you drop from 4 bottles to 3? And what time of day do you give those bottles?
2. When did you start giving formula in a sippy cup rather than a bottle? Our boys do very well with the flip-up straw cups, so I know they can do it, but is it too soon? I'm wondering if I can use this as a way to get them down to 3 bottles rather than 4, by giving them formula with their solids (right now they get just water). They drink about half of an 8-oz cup of water with each meal.
3. When were your kids on all table food? Our boys are very adept at picking up puffs and putting them in their mouths, but we are struggling with other finger and table foods. It seems like things are too slippery for them - like I tried bananas and peaches, and they just can't pick them up - they slip and slide all around. Also, they are sensitive to all dairy AND soy, which cuts a lot of things out, like shredded cheese, eggs, pancakes (made with milk), etc.

Thanks!!

 

I haven't tried this yet - but on a site that I recently found - it suggests to coat slippery finger foods with cheerio "dust" or wheat germ. so, you can crush cheerios to make the dust - I thought that was a cool idea.

As far as your other questions, I'm wondering the same thing. My boys aren't even eating the puffs that well yet, we haven't tried a sippy cup yet, and aren't drinking water. I thought they weren't supposed to drink water yet?

 

Babies can have water after 6 months of age. Mine have been drinking water from a sippy since 6 months old.

I've starting trying formula/breast milk in a sippy just this week and it's a bit rough but that's to be expected. My suggestion is to try the first morning bottle feeding as the sippy trial. They are very hungry then and it just works better for us. If I try any other bottle, they aren't too interested.

Around 9 months they should have 18-25 oz of fluid so you can really spread it out however you want.

 

That's a great idea on coating the food....I will try that - just have to make sure whatever I use doesn't have soy in it! They can eat the bananas etc if I put them in their mouth - it's just the picking them up that is causing them trouble right now.

Our doc said they could have water, I think up to 8 oz, plus 4 oz. of juice. I'm just giving them water, no juice.

So are you doing any finger or table foods, or just purees? I feel kind of like we're behind the game as far as finger and table foods, but I have to be so careful with them with the dairy and soy, that I've been sticking to the simple purees mostly.

 

We just moved to 3# bottles and I give them at 8:30am, 12:30pm and 6pm, this is right before their nap and bed times. I still use bottles and have just started transitioning to sippys. Table food, we are still dabbling, they can pick everything up and put it in their mouthes, but I have a gagger so she is having trouble. We still do a ton of purees and yogurt. Also the Motts fruit sensation things, gives them a chance to practice chunkier textures.

 

1.) I can't remember exactly when we dropped down to three bottles, but I want to say around nine/ten months old. They were given upon wake up, before nap, and before bed.

2.) I never gave formula in a sippy cup. We just went cold turkey-bottle to sippy cup. And if they are doing fine with the straw cup-stick with it. They(speech therapists, etc) say it's better to use the straw vs the sippy based on tongue placement, etc. It's better for speech development.

3.) My boys were all on table food by nine months. Boy was that so much easier! Annabella was as well. She wasn't a huge baby food eater-so that was a pain. I still kept some on me until close to 12 months in case of emergency where we were out and needed to eat and there was nothing available immediately. There is no right/wrong answer-but you could certainly start working towards them eating what you eat. My kids ate everything we did-meats, pastas, veggies, fruits, etc-just makes life so much easier!

 

We never went down to 3 'bottles' a day... we bf'ed until we switched to sippies entirely, and even now they get them 4 times a day. Don't be afraid to challenge your kids with foods. I was always surprised at what my kids could handle, even though I was terrified give it to them sometimes. Pasta, toast, rice, kidney beans, diced/shredded meats, diced veggies, blueberries, quartered grapes, diced watermelon... my kids loved all these things. It does take a bit for them to get the hang of it, so I would often offer them a finger food on their tray while I fed them purees. It didn't take long until they were shoving the purees away in favour of wanting to feed themselves.

 

We went to 3 bottles at about 7.5 months. My girls are bigger than my son was but they just don't seem to be as hungry. I was struggling to get them to take 12-14oz/24 hours of formula when the min is around 20oz! When I moved to feeding them every 5 hours instead of every 4 they started taking more. I feed them at 7am, 12pm and 5pm right before their solids. I used the trasition to get them away from the before nap and bed bottles and it worked very well for us.

I have yet to find a sippy cup that they can figure out. I have tried a couple but they just don't seem to get it...the straw idea is a good one! I'll have to try it. I know my DS was good with the straw cups around 12 months but maybe it's when my DDs need since they seem to be doing NOTHING the same as their brother!

I also have gaggers so we're moving pretty slowly with the table food although I started giving them cheerios (cut n half since the whole ones still worry me) this week and I was very proud of them and myself for trying more people food! Coating the food is a great idea too...such great suggestions here!!!

 

eagleswings, how did you get your LOs to start using the straw? I am not having any luck with mine and we are trying different types of sippy cups but they seem to be struggling with all of them. They get one or two sips right and then all of a sudden it seems like they forgot what they just did and DS rather chew than suck or sip.

 

They took right to the straw cup - the one I have has suction sort of like a bottle, and I think that helped. Here is the cup we have:
http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3393934

We got them at both Target and Wal-mart.

Our guys also took to a sippy cup very fast - but we switched to the straw because they can hold it themselves and not have to hold it tilted up like a sippy cup. Also, I like being able to flip the tab over the straw so that the part the drink from is covered when we take the cups with us.

 

The trick I learned about, from TS, with straws-was give them a juice box. My boys were 18 months old before I gave them straw cups-they couldn't figure it out. Annabella grabbed a hold of their juice box once, before she was a year old, and I was shocked she could do it!

Try it. They will probably learn pretty quickly!

 

I haven't tried that kind of straw yet, so I don't know how they would do with it - the cup we are using has a no-spill straw (they can turn it upside down, throw it, whatever, and no mess).

I'm trying to hold off on the juice as long as possible because of the sugar and empty calories (our boys are 75th and 90th percentile and pedi said if they are happy with water, don't give them juice unless they are constipated). So I don't think I will try juice boxes anytime soon.

 

Mine took a while with bananas too...she does better if they're still a bit green (and therefore firmer). Just keep trying different foods and let them learn. Diced chicken is good. Sometimes a bigger piece of food that they can hang onto and then gum off a piece is easier--try it with melon or well-cooked carrot. Can you find some baby biscuits without dairy or soy? (try the organic section).

 

I tried diced pear today and they could eat it if I gave it to them, but couldn't pick it up still. I think I'm going to try chicken next, because that won't be so slippery. They don't do well with larger pieces - they tend to cram the whole thing in their mouth still and then start gagging, especially Gabriel. The only biscuits I was able to find that are both soy and dairy free are mum-mums. They do fine with them, but I'm hoping they can get the hang of feeding themselves more nutritious things and not just snacks, like the puffs and mum-mums.

 

I understand on holding off on the juice. Annabella never gets a juice box-but by her taking her brothers, she was able to learn how to use it. Does that make sense? I still haven't given her a juice box-unless of course she snags one her brothers had. It's just something you could try to see if they get the hang of it, kwim?

 

Yeah, that's true. They took so easily to the sippy cup, I have a feeling they would probably pick it up quickly. It seems like maybe most people give their kids this age juice, though. Every time I take them to the nursery at church, they ask if I have juice for them if they get thirsty. When I say no, and show them the water, they ALL act surprised that I give them that instead of juice.

Wonder what's up with my ticker? I can only see the very top of it - is it just me or does it look that way to you guys, too??

 

We dropped to 3 bottles a day around the 7-8 month mark. They started to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner with a snack in between and they did well with the transition to just 3 bottles.

I haven't started to do the formula in the sippy cups, but my kids like the flip up straw too so i'm sure it won't be a huge problem. But they still really like their bottles when going to bed/nap.

My duo have been on all table foods for the past month and a bit, so by 8.5 months they were on all finger foods. There are a few things that I have to feed to them with a spoon (like soup and such) but I do coat them in some cheerio dust to help it from slip sliding. Sometimes I don't do the dust because I want them to practice.