Formula after 12 months?

[PatricenPete]

Also, at 10 months, my son is eating TONS of "real" food - chicken nuggets, pancakes, grilled cheese, rice, pasta, soft fruits - and pretty much NO baby food and he only had 2 teeth.

 

[justhat]

We took Madison to Disney at 13 months and did not use any jarred baby food on the trip. She stopped eating the jarred stuff (or any non-jarred mashed foods) around 11-12 months. She just did not like anything that mommy and daddy weren't eating. So we did all table foods in Disney and never had a problem. Like Patrice's son, Madison only had 2 teeth at the time (she only had 2 teeth till she was 16 months actually) but had no problems mashing foods with her gums. In the beginning I was very nervous, but she stopped chocking pretty quickly, and eventually learned that if she has too much in her mouth to take it out rather than choke trying to swallow it all. Oh, at 9 months we did do the jarred foods, a mix of glass and plastic, and Disney didn't care.

About the formula, here's my opinion. We didn't use formula since Madison was about 3 weeks old and only breastfed after that, but I didn't stop at a year. She's 18 months now and still nurses once every morning. I never planned to nurse her x amount of time, but since I knew we were going to Disney when she was 13 months I knew I wanted to keep nursing through the trip. She was never a big eater, and worse on vacation or away from home because she'd get so interested in looking around that she wouldn't eat anything. At the time of the trip she was 19 lbs., in the 25th percentile for weight, but 75th in height so I didn't want to risk her dropping more in weight by not eating so I continued nursing her. She started drinking milk at 1 too, so we'd get her a cup of milk at restaurants and then I'd nurse her when she went to bed and woke up. At home we do only organic milk, yogurt, and whatever else we can get, but when we're out she gets whatever milk the restaurant has.

My cousins took their daughter to Disney a couple of weeks after us (she turned 1 the day they came home from the trip) and they continued giving her formula till after the trip for the same reasons. She's a little heavier than my daughter, but still on the thin side so they worried about her nutrition on the trip. She's 15 months now and they still give her formula occasionally if she didn't eat much that day.

 

[mikkiwikki]

NO slamming - totally in agreement.

The Milk our parents grew up on has dramatically changed. Hormones, etc.,
all I know is when my first born (son) turned 1 - on our pediatricians advice was to switch to whole milk. We did - and from that point on it was ear infection after ear infection. up until he was 18 months old and we had to put ear tubes in. He LOVED his milk - and drank a lot of it. I didnt make the correlation at the time. Maybe there was no correlation. However - shortly thereafter, I became educated the state of milk production (shortly after my sons surgery)...as a result my SECOND child got 'ORGANIC milk' at ONE year, and we never had a problem.

I agree with the 'go organic' stance. The increased cost pays off in peace of mind. I also agree - dont take my advice - do you own research. The literature is out there, kids that drink a ton of standar whole milk at 1 year are more prone to ear infections, colds, etc.,

Okay, what to do now...
I agree with the poster who said not to do anything different to your childs diet prior to your vacation. This could spell disaster. You may want to consider packing some of the liquid formula because, florida water is nasty. I used the powder but, was thinking "ick" the whole time.

My experience and things to consider carefully in the near future...
I breastfed my first until 9 months then switched to formula and kept my son on the formula for a bit over 12 months. The we did ORGANIC milk for our first guy. Look into this, "conventional" milk is filled with pus, hormones, antibiotics and is not as nutritious. I'll get slammed for this but, I don't care, what I say is a fact. When 9 year old girls have breasts the first thing the doc does is cut the "leaded" milk.

My second child turned out to be milk protein intolearnt so, I nursed him for 1-1/2 years then put him on organic soy toddler formula (the "conventional" soy formulas contain 1000 times the aluminum found in breast milk or cow based formula...you can imagine the conciquences for an infant with a thin blood-brain barrier). Anyway, I loved Natures One Organic Soy Toddler formula, gave this to him unitl he was over 2 then switched to Silk Organic Soy Milk.

And finally...
My advice would be to read, read, read, before making any decisions...and dig deeper don't just trust the gov. at first glance...they are run by Monsanto (Clarence Thomas is an old Monsanto executive, this freaks me out). Don't take advice that you get here either without checking and re-checking with several sources. Ask your pediatrition the same question but, in different ways or have a friend ask their pediatrition (spelling, I am terrible, I know) the same question. It is amazing how different the answers can be. I implore you to look into organic foods for your baby, the prices are really coming down and we need to support organic farmers and companies! Going organic is a wise investment and a wonderful gift.

I think bringing glass babyfood jars in will be fine. Its better than the plastic anyway because, when the food gets warm or cold chemicals leech out of the plastic into your baby's food. Ick!

Go ahead and slam away folks...I can take it!

 

[PLUTO2]

What is the main difference between organic milk and regular milk? Since I have never looked for it do they sell it at the grocery store or do you have to buy it somewhere special? I do appreciate the fact that grocery stores sell more organic, vegetarian, soy products etc... than they used to.

 

[Amyality]

What is the main difference between organic milk and regular milk? Since I have never looked for it do they sell it at the grocery store or do you have to buy it somewhere special? I do appreciate the fact that grocery stores sell more organic, vegetarian, soy products etc... than they used to.

Organic milk is not perfect but, the cows are fed organic feed (no pesticide exposure). They are not given growth hormones or antibiotics. Should they require anitbiotics the milk is not used. Organic cows typically are allowed some grazing time (watch your brand, not all may be getting this and the companies who want to capitalize on organic labeling are pusing the rules...hard). Vermont cow milk was tested and shown to have 500 times the lenolic (spelling?!?!) acid of the regular milk.
"Conventional" milk contains bovine growth hormone (europe, canada and many other countries refuse to use it dispite US pressure! The foreign research shows that it enters the blood stream. US research does not - isnt that strange?!?! Not really - eyeroll.
Safeway has its own brand of Organic milk, Horizon is another brand - they also offer cheese, yogurt and some other products.
Do an internet search on the benefits of organic milk. You will get alot of info. Also free range eggs are significantly more nutritious than "regular". We belong to a veggie co-op and get our eggs from our co-op lady. Once you start making an effort to find the local produce and organic lables they pop out at you. It does take extra work and for many coupon cutting but, it is soooo worth it. I've got to run, I'm the Wolf Scout leader and our meeting is in 25 min.!!!! Ahhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Amyality]

I forgot to mention. The standard milk is also ickey because, the growth hormones give the cows mastitis which puts puss into the milk. That is why the get the antibotics. Ick!!! Also, the antibiotcs are passed to us in meat and milk. We get trace amounts and breed super bugs!

 

[PLUTO2]

Thanks Amy and everyone who has responded to my post your advice has been great.

 

[justhat]

We get our organic milk (Organic Valley or Horizon brands) at any of our local grocery stores. On vacations, we've found organic milk in other stores, including Walmart. It's pretty readily available and really not much higher than regular milk.

 

[newtowdw1]

You need to decide the formula/milk issue, but I have one suggestion. If your son is not already using a cup, we successfully introduced the cup and the milk together... you're a big boy now! Here's a cup for your big boy milk! Then there was no fussing about bottles because bottles and formula went together. But you may have done away with bottles already!

And I want to thank everyone for the info about organic milk. I am 'casually' interested in nutrition. I'm going to have to do some hard research on organic milk. I have a DD8 who is off the percentile charts and I don't need her hitting puberty yet!

 

[DisneyPhD]

I nursed DD #1 until she was 27 months old, so GEM you have me beat!!!!! (she stopped on her own at that time, I ran out of milk)

She didn't start any formula until she was 9 or 10 months old so we continued past one year (about 15 months I think.) She never really liked regualr milk until she stopped nursing.

Now with DD#1 milk is the enemy. She is allgeric to it (milk proteins and eggs whites too.) and it really is hell for us. Right now all mlik has to get out of the house. None for big sister too. She got a rash from drinking water out of a very clean yogurt container at my mom's house. I can't have or any form because she is breast feeding so Amyality I am going to PM you! She is (was) excuslily breast feed too. She does drink soy milk, likes Silk the best.

9 months is really young, don't do it. That is the 1st time I have ever heard of a Dr. recomending it before 12 months. I wish she had never had any at 9 months (in the form of babyfood orgainc yogurt.) We might not be dealing with this mess now.

 

[Amyality]

So glad this subject came up...and to come across so many open minds - I fully expected to be slammed for such "radical" ideas. Alot of people just don't want to think about where their food comes from - it is pretty crazy. It is exciting to think that some people who read this thread will be inspired to dig a little deeper. Being a mom sure makes you grow in unexpected ways.

Good idea with the cup/milk switch together. The doc. will want the kids off bottles asap as they are associated with ear infections and orthodontic issues. Never really had issues with bottles to cups myself as DS#1 was easy every step of the way and DS#2 has been a pain in the butt the whole way(bless him) but went from breast to top-cup. Now if we could just get rid of the top cups!!!!

 

[Amyality]

I have a link here for the organic toddler formula, Natures One, for those who are interested. Not sure if this place offers it but, I used to get free shipping if I ordered a case from whoever I was getting it from at the time. The ingredient list on this stuff is wonderful. The benefit of the soy stuff is that the soy is fermented (like tofu) not chemically leeched as in standard soy formula (that is where the heavy metals come in). It also comes in a dairy based one.

http://www.naturesone.com/index.htm

 

[mikkiwikki]

We used natures one as well. AAP advises that you make sure the choice is sufficient in iron and calcium. You have to be careful because some soy formulas can be low. Nature's one is on target. We did the organic dairy based formula - not the soy.

Here is another good site that shows the comparison of nutrients of differing http://www.naturesone.com/documents/chart.pdf
http://www.saanendoah.com/compare.html

Believe me its important...and I wish i knew this info before we went through 10 months of ear infections (and virtually no sleep to anyone in the house) with my son. good for you for not trusting your ped! So many parents I know just blindly accept everything their Pediatrician tells them. I think its good to be an informed advocate for your child. Your Ped isnt going to be there are 2am holding your childs hand....so ultimately its your choice.

Monica.

I have a link here for the organic toddler formula, Natures One, for those who are interested. Not sure if this place offers it but, I used to get free shipping if I ordered a case from whoever I was getting it from at the time. The ingredient list on this stuff is wonderful. The benefit of the soy stuff is that the soy is fermented (like tofu) not chemically leeched as in standard soy formula (that is where the heavy metals come in). It also comes in a dairy based one.

http://www.naturesone.com/index.htm

 

[Kermit]

I agree that delaying the introduction of milk is a good idea, especially for a toddler who is getting a good percentage of daily calories from milk/formula. I think Dr. Sears recommends all babies staying on formula until they're at least 18 months.

I breastfeed and therefore don't use any formula, but we choose to do limited amounts of organic dairy products starting at around a year, but we don't do straight milk in a cup for many more months. In fact, my 2.5 year old rarely drinks any milk. He does eat yogurt and cheese each day, though. When we do have milk, it's usually cooked in something, and it's whole, organic, non-homogenized, lightly pasteurized milk. I'd rather have raw milk, but I can't find a farmer willing to sell it to me close enough to me.

Children show interest in solids at all different ages. My 13 month old likes to eat, but he only gets a tiny percentage of his daily calories from food. Almost all of it comes from my milk. I'd be okay with it if he wanted to eat more foods, but I choose to follow his cues. We already know that he's allergic to a lot of things (chlorine, eggs, and polyester stand out the most), so it's good to keep him away from food until his system is really ready for it.