A little help?

Overall, we have a pretty good schedule going. It is managable and the babies seem to be on board. But now as they are getting a bit older (16 months, 12 1/2 adjusted) I have a few problems with it. Here is our current schedule:

6:30-7 wake
7-7:15 out of cribs (they play and get silly with each other until i get them)
7:30 8 oz bottle (milk/formula- we are transitioning now)
8 breakfast (they don't eat much, just a 1/2 waffle or toast)
9-10:30 nap
11:00 lunch
1:00 8 oz bottle
1:30 -3/3:20 nap
4:30 dinner
6:15 5 oz bottle
6:30 bath
7 bed

So, i am trying to figure out what most of you do regarding the bottles. Once they go to milk, do you still offer the bottle? And when? They have just started getting good with the sippies but have only been doing water during meals and they can have some during play (i leave them out and available). Lunch at 11 and bottle at 1 seem to be where my problem is. But they seem hungry at 11 and won't take the bottle if its too close to the meal. They don't eat a lot so i think they still need that nutrition. So i give it to them before nap.
Dinner is early b/c lunch is early and if i give them dinner after 5 then they don't want bottle before bed... which again, i think they need, maybe they don't?
I guess i am just trying to figure out how to reschedule a bit so that we don't have the bottles in the middle b/t naps and meals.... Kinda makes it hard to leave the house!!!
At this age, were yours still doing bottles at all? Are we really behind here? Do you keep bottle in am and pm but make the others sippies? Or do sippes of milk/formula with meals and a bottle just in am and before bed? Just not sure....

Help!

 

We still have a bottle first thing in the am and before bed. next week we will be dropping one of those as well.

I replaced a sippy of milk for the bottles but I gave them during actual meals. Then before nap time I'd make them available again in case they needed to drink some more!

I think your schedule looks great!

 

At a year old, we dropped the bottles completely. We gave them their milk with each meal. If you wanted to switch your schedule, I would give a snack around 4 and dinner at 6. Good luck!

 

I dropped all bottles and formula (well they still got a bedtime bottle at 7:30pm until 15 months) at 12 months. At 16.5 months this was our schedule:

7:30-wake
8:00-breakfast with milk sippy
9:30-11:30-nap
11:45-lunch with milk sippy
1:30-3:15-nap (we leave at 3:20 to get their big sister from school)
3:45-snack
5:30-dinner with milk sippy
7:15-milk sippy
7:30-bed


At 17 months we went to one nap and this has been our schedule ever since:

7:30-8 wake
8-8:15-breakfast and milk
9:30-snack and juice
11:30-lunch and milk
12:00-upstairs for quiet play and books
12:15-3:15-nap (3:20 we still leave to get their big sister from school)
3:30-snack and juice
5:30-dinner and milk
7:15-small snack and milk
7:30-bed


They do get more drinks throughout the day besides snack time. They pretty much have it out all morning and then after nap again.

 

Mine still have a morning bottle, but that's it. Here is our schedule at 16 months:

7:30 wake up, play in cribs
8:00 breakfast (scrambled eggs, fruit, bit of waffle)
11:30 - 1:00ish nap
1:30 lunch (lentils, rice bread, fruit, peas, turkery burger or whatever I can get in them)
3:30 if I am lucky, nap if not, they get an 8 oz sippy of Almond milk
6:00-6:30 dinner (whatever I can get in them, similar to lunch)
6:30-7:15ish play, bath, story
7:30 bed

I would try offering them a sippy of milk with their lunch, or, for an afternoon snack you can offer a sippy of milk and cheerios, fruit, or some other snack. Then try pushing dinner to 6ish. The afternoon snack and milk should help them make it to dinner at a later hour, and perhaps they can drop that last bottle. I think a good way to guage if they really need that last bottle is to see how they are when they wake the next day. If you start dropping that last bottle and they wake earlier and hungry, then you know you need to try to get some more calories in them before bed. It's so hit-and-miss still for us, too, I just try to remain flexible and if they seem hungry (I can tell, they get super cranky), I offer almond milk and a light snack. It doesn't seem to impace their appetite at lunch or dinner. Good luck!!!

 

Hi there. If you go by your babies' adjusted age, then our children are about the same age. I bumped up my boys' intake of real food by reducing their bottles by 2 oz. Here's a typical day for us:

7:00 up
7:15 6 oz. bottle (4 oz. whole milk, 2 oz. formula - we're transitioning too)
8:00 breakfast - share: muffin or waffle or pita with cream cheese PLUS bits of fruit (grapes, banana, blue berries, etc.) and some oatmeal with apple sauce or peaches or prunes mixed in
9:15 nap
10:30 up, play
11:30 lunch - share: grilled cheese pita OR veggie soup with rice and pita OR home-made mac & cheese PLUS some fruit and sippies of milk (don't drink too much from sippies, maybe 2 oz.)
1:45 6 oz. bottle of milk & formula
2:15 nap
3:30-4:00 snack - Goldfish crackers and yogurt with fruit, maybe some pieces of banana
5:30 dinner - some of whatever we're having or chicken, rice, veggies, etc.
6:15 baths, pajamas
6:45 6 oz. bottle of milk and formula, stories, snuggle
7:00-7:00 bed

They don't drink their last bottle of the day well so I'm experimenting with giving it to them while they lay on our bed having their stories before they go down for the night. They don't hold their own bottles so it's a bit tricky, but it works when my husband is home. They tend to finish the bottle this way.

My doctor suggested being done with bottles by 12 months but they don't take enough milk with meals in their sippies. I'm going to stick with 3 bottles for the time being, get rid of one when they go down to 1 nap/day (within the next 2 months I think) and then phase out the before-bed and morning bottles just after that. I don't mind if they have a before-bed bottle for quite a while, actually. I think it's a nice before-bed ritual.

 

Mine were off bottles at 12.5 months actual, they got sippies of milk with each meal and snack for a total of 16-20 ounces/day.

Our two nap schedule:

7am wakeup
7:30am breakfast (with 5-7 ounces of milk in a sippy)
9:00am snack (with just a little milk in a sippy)
9:30am nap
12:00 lunch (with 5-6 ounces of milk in a sippy)
1:00 nap
4:00 snack (with just a little milk in a sippy)
6:15pm dinner (with 5-7 ounces of milk in a sippy)
7:30pm bed

They went to 1 nap around 15 months actual:

7am wakeup
7:30am breakfast
9:30am small snack
11:30am lunch
12:15pm nap
3:30pm small snack
6:15pm dinner
7:30pm bed

I now just give milk with meals, water or water/juice mixed with snacks. Mine take in enough milk with meals.

I don't think you are behind on getting rid of bottles, yours were born very early and small, so I would definitely do things on their adjusted age. So you are right on target to start thinking about getting rid of bottles.

I will say that my pedi recommended 16-20 ounces of milk/day. More than that keeps them from eating enough solid food. I'd ask your pedi about this though, given your DC's gestation at birth. Do they have any weight gain difficulties?

 

We're transitioning now. They have also been placed in the toddler 1 class at daycare so they've dropped to one nap.

Here's the schedule now:

5:30 wake up/6 oz bottle formula
6:00 breakfast
8:00ish snack with sippy of water
11:00ish lunch with sippy of milk (they get their sippy while lunch is prepared)
12:15 nap
2:00ish snack with sippy of water or diluted juice
5:45 sippy of milk
6:30 dinner (if they haven't finished their milk they get that with dinner; if they have
then they get a sippy of water)
7:30 bedtime

I tried offering whole milk in the bottle and they would have nothing to do with it. I think because they liked their bottles warm, and I give milk cold (don't want to have them used to warmed milk...warmed bottles/bm have been a pain for me). They're not great at drinking from sippies but they're getting better. We haven't dropped the morning bottle of formula, and I won't until they are drinking well from the sippy cup. I don't like their nap time but that's when daycare does it so that's when we do it...but right smack in the middle of day is hard on trying to go out and do things. Oh well...we have a decent chunk from 2 until about 6 that we can run errands and if need be I can carry small snacks and don't feel chained to the house.

ETA: we have some weight gain issues so I have to balance out the milk (want them to drink about 5-6 oz three times a day but not too much) with food. They are tending to eat more though. We're watching their weight gain between now and 15 months to make sure they don't plateau as most babies who switch to milk do.