Feeding a one year old at the parks

[DisneyMama629]

My son will have just turned one year old two weeks before our Disney trip this summer. I was originally thinking that he would be weaned from formula and his bottle before the trip and would mostly eat baby food or off of our plates.

Now I'm wondering if I should let him continue drinking his bottle until after our trip. Is taking a baby off the bottle a traumatic thing for them? I have been giving him a sippy cup for a few weeks, which he doesn't drink out of much, but I keep having him practice.

Anybody with experience taking a just turned one year old to the parks that has any advice?

 

[Jdougherty]

DD was 9m when we went the frist time we had started her on a sippy at 6 months. She wanted NOTHING to do with the bottle except for bed time after 2 days in the park. I brought 2 or 3 bottles and 2 sippy cups. Let your child decide for you. It wasn't hard to switch DD over to a sippy, and it wasn't tramtic at all. I kept her on the go and grow formula till she was 18m she got it at night at bed time, in a bottle till 14m and after in a transition/sippy cup.

If he's having a hard time with the traditional sippies try the born free transition/sippy cups. DS turns 6m on monday we will be starting him on a sippy this weekend.

as always good luck! each child is different.

 

[barnaby1]

Certainly the longer you leave the transition off bottles the harder it is. Before 12 months is a good time to do it from the perspectives of ease, speech and teeth development. By then he can be on regular milk as well. There is always plenty for a 1 yo to eat off your plate. Think of the hassle you will save not having to faff about with bottles and cleaning while on holiday.

 

[MSSANDRA]

I would wait till after the trip to wean him. Having his bottle in a strange place might make things (including bedtime) much easier. Contine to offer the sippy cup but do not try too hard to get him off the bottle till you come back!'

He will be able to eat many things off your plate as long as you choose your meals with him in mind. I would not introduce ANY new foods at WDW that he has not had at home and try to avoid too many junk or sweet foods to keep his tummy happy. Gerber Graduates has some really nice toddler foods that could be great if you need a back up!

Have fun, such a cute age.

 

[tjlovespooh]

Both of my kids came off the bottle before 12mo. Neither had any issue with it either (thank goodness). I just introduced the sippy cup increasingly more often as the weeks drew closer to that first b-day (to be more specific, over a couple weeks I gradually substituted the sippy for a bottle feeding - starting with the morning bottle until all the feedings were being provided via sippy.). ITA that the longer you wait to transition, the harder it will be.
Best of luck! Enjoy your trip

 

[DisneyAndRedSox]

Here is how we did the transition (no problems at all.) Two weeks before DD turned one, we started putting some milk in her formula bottle. By her b-day she was drinking only milk in a bottle. Then I started getting her away from the bottle. I would keep it consistent- for example always a sippy at the breakfast table. But if you can do it before you go away- GREAT! Now that I look back DD always adapted to change well, we probably could have done the sippy sooner.

DD also used a binky, it took her only 2 hours of going cold-turkey to get over it. We did it on a day DH was home for moral support (4th of July, Independence Day-LOL) We got up and checked the entire house for binkys so she wouldn't find any. When she got up, the only one near by had the tip cut off, so no suction. She would take it out of her mouth, look at it, cry a little, but in 2 hours she was DONE!

Some kids actually will make changes/take on new habits on vacation and never look back when they get home, I would bring some sippys just to try if he is still on a bottle. DD always used a little potty, we went away so "new place, new potty" and she was using the big person potty by the time we got back (I did have a little baby bjorn potty and big potty seat insert with me just incase.)

 

[bookworm75]

We took our DD5 three weeks after her first birthday. Like the PP, she adapted to change fairly well. We had already switched her over to milk, and she got that in a sippy cup. We were weaning her off of the bottle for a couple weeks (take one away every couple days) and by the time we left for Disney she was down to a bedtime bottle. I decided not to even take a bottle with us and it worked just fine.

The sippy cup we started out with was a Nuby with a soft lid, no valve. It actually was very similar to her bottle, so it made the transition much easier.

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

My son will have just turned one year old two weeks before our Disney trip this summer. I was originally thinking that he would be weaned from formula and his bottle before the trip and would mostly eat baby food or off of our plates.

Now I'm wondering if I should let him continue drinking his bottle until after our trip. Is taking a baby off the bottle a traumatic thing for them? I have been giving him a sippy cup for a few weeks, which he doesn't drink out of much, but I keep having him practice.

So, while I don't have personal experience with taking a just-turned 1 year old in the park, I've had a couple of just-turned 1 year olds and faced the dreaded "transition" in the past 2 years.

You've got a couple of options.
1) stick with the sippy cup training. Try a couple of different types of cups. DS was hard to turn onto the cups, but once he figured out that the liquid came out faster than a bottle he was hooked. DD took a little longer. She hated the harder sipper parts and wouldn't use the cups so we tried some with the soft sipper and those didn't fly either. Then we tried the ones with the soft straw (think it was a Nuby that I got at Walmart for < $2) and it was game on. The bottles were gone within a week.

2) going over 12 months on regular formula isn't necessarily recommended. If you still want your LO to get the formula-type stuff for the sake of your trip, maybe consider the Enfamil Next Step powder to take with you. If you receive their promotional mail they should send you some free samples come around 10-12 months old. If you don't, go to their website and sign up yourself and a family member or two (separate mailing addresses, you'll both get the promo stuff and you can save it for your trip) I used it with DD until she was around 13 months and gave her at least 1 cup of whole milk a day, increasing the milk as she got older and lessened the Next Step.

3) Mix up the usage of the cups and the bottles for a bit. You may be able to transition to sippy cups before you go. Then you'd be able to buy some of the disposable sippy cups that you can toss as you go so you don't have to worry about toting dirty cups all day. I recommend the same for bibs and spoons/forks too. Get the disposable kind and don't hassle with stuff, you'll have enough on your mind.

Good luck!

 

[DisneyMama629]

I have been giving him a sippy cup with water for awhile now. Should I try putting his formula in a sippy cup? Can you tell I'm a first time mom?!

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

I have been giving him a sippy cup with water for awhile now. Should I try putting his formula in a sippy cup? Can you tell I'm a first time mom?!

Yes! Yes! Yes! To question #1. It may help you transition from bottle to cup, then you can start to sneak milk in instead. Make sure to start with whole milk (vitamin D).

Also, I forgot to address one of your previous questions... by 12 months your LO will probably be wanting some of your food as well. Our DD was wanting table food by 10 months, so we would cut up fruit, veggies, bread really small and let her have it. We would pack the fruit cups in our diaper bag for when she needed a snack. It worked out great (we also took them with us to WDW - just drained the juice and DS would eat out of the cup.

 

[MontyMontyMOnty]

I know you can find single packets of formula for travel, so you can mix on the run and not have to worry about spoiling or mess--that would help whether you use a bottle or sippy cup

 

[Mom2JPL]

Our first trip to the world was one day after our dd turned 1! I had her off the bottle a few days before her birthday and she had been eating solid food for a few months prior to that. He's already using a sippy cup so a full transition to only a sippy cup shouldn't be that hard. Good luck and have a great trip...and be happy you won't be washing bottles on vacation!

 

[DisneyMama629]

Thanks for the tips! He is eating some food off of our plates, but is also still having several bottles a day. He just won't eat enough solid food to keep from being hungry. Right now at 9 months he will only eat about a half a jar of baby food before refusing to open his mouth to eat more. There has been one time where he ate a whole jar. This makes me nervous about taking his forumla away because I'm worried he won't get the nourishment he needs! Maybe if I stop giving him his bottles, he will eat more of the food.

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

Thanks for the tips! He is eating some food off of our plates, but is also still having several bottles a day. He just won't eat enough solid food to keep from being hungry. Right now at 9 months he will only eat about a half a jar of baby food before refusing to open his mouth to eat more. There has been one time where he ate a whole jar. This makes me nervous about taking his forumla away because I'm worried he won't get the nourishment he needs! Maybe if I stop giving him his bottles, he will eat more of the food.

Oh, and I don't know if will help you at all or not... but here goes:
One of the things that we also did was actually mixed baby cereal in with the baby food. Kept making it thicker as both kids got used to it - that way when they got on to table food they were used to chewing up what they were given. They may help get him going on solids too.

 

[SnowWhite12]

Thanks for the tips! He is eating some food off of our plates, but is also still having several bottles a day. He just won't eat enough solid food to keep from being hungry. Right now at 9 months he will only eat about a half a jar of baby food before refusing to open his mouth to eat more. There has been one time where he ate a whole jar. This makes me nervous about taking his forumla away because I'm worried he won't get the nourishment he needs! Maybe if I stop giving him his bottles, he will eat more of the food.

Our DS is same age. I recently asked pediatrician if I should give less breastmilk/formula b/c he wasn't eating much, and when we tried less bottle he would eat it all. Our doctor said absolutely not--that the food is not their main source of nutrition until 12 months---that it is essential they get enough breastmilk or formula until then. His opinion is there is plenty of time for real food later, but it's vital for his health and development that he has the liquid nutrition. Our son eats oatmeal for breakfast with bottle, then half jar of stage 3 food with bottle at lunch, and the other half of jar with bottle at supper, then a bedtime bottle. And he is in the 85th percentile in size. We go to WDW in another week and half, and we're carrying all baby food jars and formula for the bottles.

 

[AudreysMom]

My daughter will be turning one during our trip next week. I asked a similar question a few months ago and most everyone said stick with what is familiar until you're back home. I tried to transition her anyway, but she just wasnt ready. She's down to bottles at mealtimes and bedtimes and drinks water from a sippy. I'm taking the formula single packs to make that easier. We'll make changes once we get back. I'll try to link to my thread so you can see those comments.

We have a full kitchen at OKW, so I'll make sure DD gets a good breakfast. We have several buffet meals scheduled so I can get her a plate there. Otherwise, I'll order something I think she'll eat as well. I'm putting some Gerber peas or green beans and an applesauce cup in the diaper bag to supplement if she doesn't eat well. I've looked over the menus and think she'll eat fine at most places, but if necessary, I can always get her a kids meal from counter service.

Good luck and enjoy your trip!

 

[AudreysMom]

Here's a link to my thread with a similar question.
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2388471

 

[DisneyMama629]

We also are staying at OKW so we will have a full kitchen. I'll be looking forward to hearing your report about it goes for you when you get back.

Thanks for all the advice everyone!