Whew! Who knew that when baby hits 1 year old life suddenly drastically changes all over again?

I guess I should have known because the past year has been nothing but change every few weeks/months. The first year of a baby’s life eating and sleeping patterns are constantly changing.

But I’ve notice a HUGE change at 1 year old:

Eating:

Little Bug is now eating about 80% table food and 20% pureed baby food! If you follow my blog you know this is a huge accomplishment for Little Bug.

Two therapy sessions and Little Bug became an eating champ. We first started giving her chunks of banana and she learned to “chew, chew, chew”. (I probably say that a million times every time she eats.) From there we started giving her little bites of anything … peas, carrots, sweet potatoes, any kind of fruit, cheerios, green beans, pasta, cottage cheese, yogurt. She loves it all. She makes a funny face when introduced to a new texture but once she has a bite or two of it, she’s fine.

I do still give her some pureed veggies just to make sure she is getting enough servings of veggies. I am going to stock up on frozen veggies soon because Little Bug is starting to turn her nose to pureed food. (I thought I’d NEVER see the day!)

The only food she still gags on is meats. Hopefully, one day we’ll get over that hump too.

Bottle:

Little Bug had her 12 month check up yesterday.

She is 19lbs. 7 ounces and 29 1/4 inches long!

The pedi told me it is time to wean her from the bottle. I am serious when I say my eyes welled up with tears. I love holding and cuddling my baby girl four times a day when she drinks her bottles.

The pedi recommended dropping the bottles cold turkey. She said in her 15 years of practice she has seen this method work extremely effectively right around baby’s first birthday.

So, in the next few days I am planning on weaning Little Bug from the bottle. It’s another situation in which I have to do what is best for my child and realize my baby is growing up and I can’t feed her bottles until she is 10, so I might as well wean her when it is easiest. :) Plus, there are other times when we can cuddle and share that special time together!

A friend suggested getting a Nuby sippy to help her transition. I am planning to use that. We will see how that goes.

I think I am going to shoot for Monday or Tuesday of next week to be “no more bottles day”.

Switching from formula to whole milk:

It is also time to wean off formula. My pedi told me that between 12-24 months children need the fat from whole milk. She recommends organic whole milk. She said children can get the diary servings they need from other sources as well (such as yogurt and cheese).

Starting today, Little Bug got 1 ounce of organic whole milk and 5 ounces of formula. I will gradually increase the ounces of milk and decrease the ounces of formula.

I want to switch to the sippy before she is getting 100% whole milk. Something tells me maybe having formula in the sippy will help her mind in transitioning from bottle to sippy.

Sleep:

Since Little Bug’s birthday her naps have been totally out of whack. I let her skip her morning nap on her actual birthday because we took her to the zoo. I was hoping she would cat nap on the zoo train, but, of course, there was too much to see and she wouldn’t fall asleep. She finally did fall asleep in the car on the way to eat lunch after leaving the zoo.

Then the next day I had scheduled her 1 year professional photo shoot and she again missed her morning nap.

So I thought being out of her normal napping routine had gotten her all out of whack. I knew just being consistent for a couple of days would get her back on track.

Well, one night she did something weird and totally uncharacteristic for her at bedtime. She cried when I laid her down, quieted down for about 30 minutes and then was crying again.

We gave her Motrin thinking her teeth were bothering her. Within 10 minutes she was out.

The next day she continued with the weird napping. Crying when laid down, taking 15-30 minutes to go to sleep and then waking up after only 40-45 minutes of sleeping. So I assumed it was her teeth again and gave her Motrin (off-brand kind!).

Naps were normal for one day with Motrin given 30 minutes before each nap and before bedtime.

Then, yesterday and today, it’s been back to crying when laid down, taking a while to go to sleep and napping for only 45 minutes (and I’ve still been giving her Motrin). Hmmm…….

So, I’m having to do some major nap troubleshooting.

I’ve continued to give her Motrin before naps, so she can’t be in pain. (She does have her 12 month molars coming in. I can feel/see them.)

I am beginning to wonder if this short napping is due to a wake time issue.

Maybe she is ready to stay up longer before the morning nap and stay up longer between the morning and afternoon nap?

So, tomorrow I will try that.

I’ll lay her down at 10:30 (instead of 10) and at 2:30 or 3 (instead of 2).

Sometimes it all boils down to a good ‘ol game of trial and error.

If extending wake time doesn’t do the trick, I will assume she has hit another wonder week. Apparently babies have one around 53 weeks. Sleep patterns can be disrupted during a wonder week and once the wonder week is over, things (thankfully) return to normal.

Acting like a big girl:

Seriously, it was like on May 27th Little Bug turned into a big girl. It is simply amazing at what she comprehends when we are talking to her. She is a little wobbly still but the weekend before her birthday, Little Bug decided walking is her preferred method of transportation.

My baby is officially no longer a baby, but in some ways, she will always remain my baby girl.

- Elaine