Breastfed past age 1, water or milk with meals?

[FAB mama]

My son is 12 months and I still breastfeed him at least once or twice at night and usually a few times during the day. However I want him to be used to cow's milk incase I need to be away. He will drink a little of it, but so far not much. Does anyone else BF most of the time and offer cow's milk too? How much of it? Should I offer milk or water with meals? He's not a fan of juice either and I don't want to give much anyway.

I should also say, he's always been very skinny so I'm afraid maybe his diet is too lean. He's a healthy weight, but has never had any bit of chubbiness. I just don't want to fill him up on cow's milk and not eat normal food.

 

[korndogger123]

my lo is mostly bf unless i am not around then she gets milk. she will drink it if she has to but if i am around she wants boob. with meals i give water because she wont drink milk with it. (she likes to nurse after her meal sometimes though) at daycare thet give milk with her meal and she drinks it.

 

[deafgal]

They will ask for it anyway . My 18 months old is determine to try everything I eat or drink. She is breastfeeding a lot too...but Will drink 1/4 cup organic milk with meals. But sometimes I give her water too.

 

[susannah14]

I give water with meals because I don't want him to fill up on milk. I feed him 3-4 times a day.

 

[cat_reversing]

I give water or watered down juice with meals and any other time she may be thirsty. We bf on morning waking, before nap, in afternoon and before bed, night weaned.
Lo should be eating wide variety of foods including fats - whole fat milk, cheese, butter - they need comparatively more fats than adults.

 

[Brieanna]

DD only gets water and has only ever had water to drink (other than breastmilk). If you are still nursing on demand, breastmilk is a lot better than cows milk as long as he eats food with calcium, like cheese, spinach, black eyed peas, yogurt etc. Like you said, juice just fills babies up with sugar and some are less likely to eat good food afterwords.

I agree with another poster that they need a lot more fats than adults. All the things I have for dd, like yogurt and cheese for example, are full fat instead of low fat like what I eat. You can add cottage cheese, full fat sour cream, full fat milk etc. to things like scrambled eggs for added calories. Avocado is full of good fat and calories, and if your lo likes pasta, maybe sprinkle a bit of good quality olive oil over it. I also started giving dd nut butters (organic with no sugar) which is nutritious but I think they don't recommend them until after 2.5, so probably not for your lo.

Good luck.

 

[FAB mama]

Thanks everyone. So far he doesn't like cheese and has always refused to be spoon-fed so I haven't had an opportunity to give him yogurt yet. He eats "yogurt melts" - a baby snack food in the US. He loves those. I don't think he's getting much calcium though. I haven't given him spinach or beans, but I suppose I should. When I have offered milk with meals he only drinks a little, so I will look into increasing his calcium intake. I guess it's a good thing that he's still nursing through the night. Mostly he just likes toast, crackers, cereal and fruit, sometimes meat or veggies. I have given him pasta with olive oil though and he likes that ok. Oh and he's had peanut butter, but isn't a big fan of it. Sometimes I put it on toast.

 

[lightweight]

Fab mama - I could have almost written your opening post!

My ds is one this week, and about to introduce some cows milk, but if I'm around he wants boob!

With my daughter she'd dropped to first nthing and last thing only for milk, by 11 months,so its completely different this time round.

Ds went from 75th centile at birth to 9th and is still wearing some 3-6 month trousers as he is so skinny.

He does have yoghurt with a spoon now (he doesn't do spoon feeding either) and I find potato and pasta other ways ofmgeting fatty food into him

 

[Rachel_C]

My 2 year old doesn't drink cow's milk at all really. Milk isn't a natural part of the human diet so there's no need for them to be drinking it; you don't need to worry if he doesn't want it. If you BF on demand, that's enough milk... just offer a varied diet for solids. I wouldn't ever offer milk during a meal because milk IS a meal for a younger baby. Cow's milk isn't a perfect meal for a human but it's still along the same lines so I don't think it has a place during a meal unless you want some of the food replacing with it. It's healthier if you can get LO used to drinking water - that's a good habit for life.

A 12 month old is probably capable of feeding himself yoghurt from a spoon, or at least dipping fingers in and licking the yoghurt off. Both of my kids had yoghurt (BLW so no spoon feeding and we don't do pre-loaded spoons either) from 6 months. By 8 months both could eat it well enough from a spoon, so even if it takes a little time your LO can probably do it now.

Unless you're planning to be away for more than a day, I wouldn't bother trying to replace breastmilk with cow's milk unless LO particularly likes it. If you're away several hours, LO will probably just wait for you to get back. If he's hungry or thirsty, food and water will be fine.

 

[deafgal]

I used to not give her milk at 12 months but as she got older, she started stealing my son's drinks. Which he fix milk for himself most of the time for breakfast or when he eat sweets (he is almost 13 years old so he will do this even when I am not looking ) so now I don't think it is a big deal....except I have noticed she getting eczema since she started drinking it but the air is super dry so it could just be winter.

 

[FAB mama]

A 12 month old is probably capable of feeding himself yoghurt from a spoon, or at least dipping fingers in and licking the yoghurt off. Both of my kids had yoghurt (BLW so no spoon feeding and we don't do pre-loaded spoons either) from 6 months. By 8 months both could eat it well enough from a spoon, so even if it takes a little time your LO can probably do it now.

Yeah I have a feeling he's very capable of spoon-feeding himself, but he tends to immediately dump out anything I give him in a container/bowl/plate/placemat. So I'll give it ago and just deal with the mess. If I give him something goopy like dip on crackers all he wants to do is poke at it.

 

[Brieanna]

A 12 month old is probably capable of feeding himself yoghurt from a spoon, or at least dipping fingers in and licking the yoghurt off. Both of my kids had yoghurt (BLW so no spoon feeding and we don't do pre-loaded spoons either) from 6 months. By 8 months both could eat it well enough from a spoon, so even if it takes a little time your LO can probably do it now.

Yeah I have a feeling he's very capable of spoon-feeding himself, but he tends to immediately dump out anything I give him in a container/bowl/plate/placemat. So I'll give it ago and just deal with the mess. If I give him something goopy like dip on crackers all he wants to do is poke at it.

maybe try something like this? https://www.amazon.com/Boon-Catch-Bowl-Toddler-Catcher/dp/B002KCNLEI/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top
If the link doesn't work, it is a bowl with a suction cup so he can't knock it over. It also has a spill lip.

When dd first started eating with a spoon/fork it was a HUGE mess! She still does make a mess with soup (which, of course, is one of her favorite things to eat, lol) but she has learned how to use spoons fairly easyiily.

I know I have read about some moms on here that make smoothies for their kids and are able to add things that their child would normally not eat. I also have read about some moms adding things to spaghetti sauce.

When dd first started eating peanut butter I would make her peanut butter cracker sandwiches so it wasn't messy and with things like guacamole or bean dip I would put it on the bread or chips for her so there was less of an opportunity to make a mess.

 

[FAB mama]

A 12 month old is probably capable of feeding himself yoghurt from a spoon, or at least dipping fingers in and licking the yoghurt off. Both of my kids had yoghurt (BLW so no spoon feeding and we don't do pre-loaded spoons either) from 6 months. By 8 months both could eat it well enough from a spoon, so even if it takes a little time your LO can probably do it now.

Yeah I have a feeling he's very capable of spoon-feeding himself, but he tends to immediately dump out anything I give him in a container/bowl/plate/placemat. So I'll give it ago and just deal with the mess. If I give him something goopy like dip on crackers all he wants to do is poke at it.

maybe try something like this? https://www.amazon.com/Boon-Catch-Bowl-Toddler-Catcher/dp/B002KCNLEI/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top
If the link doesn't work, it is a bowl with a suction cup so he can't knock it over. It also has a spill lip.

When dd first started eating with a spoon/fork it was a HUGE mess! She still does make a mess with soup (which, of course, is one of her favorite things to eat, lol) but she has learned how to use spoons fairly easyiily.

I know I have read about some moms on here that make smoothies for their kids and are able to add things that their child would normally not eat. I also have read about some moms adding things to spaghetti sauce.

When dd first started eating peanut butter I would make her peanut butter cracker sandwiches so it wasn't messy and with things like guacamole or bean dip I would put it on the bread or chips for her so there was less of an opportunity to make a mess.

Haha, thanks for the idea but I got him a similar one with a suction cup and he was immediately determined to pull it off the tray. He did. He's quite strong. Thankfully it wasn't full of liquid! Oh well.

 

[Here_we_go]

I still breastfeed my daughter a couple times a day but she doesn't usually nurse for long. She likes to nurse before bed, once in the middle of the night and 2-3 times during the day. When she eats, I offer a water sippy and keep it out for her to be able to grab all day long. She's not much of a juice drinker either.

Haven't tried cow's milk yet but she's had plain full fat yogurt.

 

[Bevziibubble]

Holly is still breastfed but she doesn't like cow's milk at all. She drinks lots of water throughout the day.