I chose that title because Strawberry thinks “Hoover” has negative connotations when applied to our son.
At dinner tonight, we got a tiny glimpse into Curly’s teenage years of eating us out of house and home. He ate a turkey meatball, noodles, green beans, puffs, and 2 ounces of whole milk in the span of 10 minutes. Half an hour later, after his bath, he downed a full 6 ounces of formula. It’s right on time, too. As we approach the one year mark, we have begun to think on weaning him off of bottles and formula and transitioning him to getting most of his calories and nutrition from a solid diet, supplemented by whole milk. We are lucky in that at this point he’s pretty much eaten whatever we put in front of him. The 3 small meals we send to daycare each day are devoured, according to his care provider.
Starting next week we’ll be increasing the portion sizes and asking her to make his bottles smaller. We sent a sippy cup for water to be offered along with meals a few weeks ago, but he’s not great with it. At home, he much prefers to drink either water or milk from a straw in an open cup held by one of us. He’s used the straw sippy before, but doesn’t love it. We’ll keep trying and he’ll get it soon, especially when bottles are no longer in the picture. The plan is for the day care bottles to go first. They’re pros, let them deal with the resulting tantrums. Then the evening bottle will go, replaced with more food and milk at the evening meal and perhaps a sippy with the pre-bedtime cuddle. The morning bottle will be the last to go, but we hope to be bottle free by 14 months. If anyone has advice to offer on this plan, feel free.
What? Do I have something on my face?
1 In Vermillion 
Way to go, good eater! Both my boys were eating table food by 10 exclusively by months (along with breast milk) and we’ve never done bottles but sounds like you have a good plan. Neither of them will drink cow’s milk either, but I suspect they just don’t like the taste.
It’s going to he hardest to wean holland off of his bedtime bottle. I think the other 2 will be easier. I have tried giving him formula in countless sippies but he freaks out! He gets water each day from his 2 favorite sippies without a problem though! Good luck! I can’t wait to stop washing bottlees!
cute expression on his face! our 13 month old is a bottomless pit too. it’s soo friggin adorable, when we walk through publix she signs and says eat, eat, eat the entire time. anybody who passes us in the isles totally crack up. we haven’t weaned bottles yet and our oldest went from the breast to the cup so no experience doing it yet. good luck to you guys!!
i’m interested to know what kind of things he will eat. my daughter has always been a grazer of sorts, even when BF. i’m not sure if it’s what we are feeding her that she just isn’t that into or if she just eats at her own little speed.
please share!
I think we got lucky with Erik. We switched to sippy cups and whole milk from bottles and formula in a day when he turned a year old and he didn’t bat an eye. (We had given him some whole milk before that so he’d get used to the taste.) We kept the bedtime bottle for a while and when it was time for that to go, he again didn’t bat an eye. Apparently he wasn’t as attached to it as we thought he was. It sounds like you have a good plan.
It’s great that he’s such a good eater. And that picture is way too cute.
Aww, what a cutie! I know nothing about bottle weaning, but I wish you guys the best of luck. I’m happy for you that you’ve got such a good eater. Picky eaters are no fun!
That sounds like a good plan, but what do I know? 🙂 Good luck!
It’s fantastic that he’s such a great eater!
oh my goodness, that is a cute picture!!
Thanks everyone!
Giggle, I’ll give you a little sample, but as I said, he’s pretty much eaten everything we’ve put in front of him. Once he got good at feeding himself small bits he rejected purees. We can occasionally get him to eat yogurt from a spoon if we sneak it in between bites of finger food. He eats: apple, pear, peach, plum, strawberry, potato, sweet potato, banana, broccoli, green beans, pickles, chicken breast, turkey breast, turkey meatballs, beef, fish, baked tofu, cheerios, goldfish, crackers, puffs, ww pita, ww bread, homemade banana or apple muffins, noodles, mozzarella cheese, laughing cow cheese, whole milk yogurt.
I steam or microwave hard veggies and fruits in bit size pieces. Meats are usually baked and then cut up. Bread/ crackers are given to him in larger pieces that he can hold in his hand and then take bites of. I use seasonings too. Cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, garlic, onion, cumin, sage, thyme, roesmary, low sodium soy sauce, lemon or lime juice, tomato sauce and paste.
I love that bib– it reminds me of Keith Haring!
When our cats eat without pausing we call it “horking.” But I’m pretty sure the connotation there is no less negative than “hoovering.” I absolutely love that picture!
I love a good eater! No advice on the plan but I think it will probably go better than you expect.
Could he be any cuter??? I’m still in love with those big eyes.
yup—food. near and dear to a young boy’s heart. don’t sweat the no-sippy cup thing yet. Theo really didn’t get the hang of it until somewhat recently. he’ll get there!! yay for eating!
he is so freaking cute with the food all over his face. lol. what can you say little man likes to grub! 😀
So cute!
And your kitchen looks really adorable, by the way. I love the colors.
Good luck with the bottle weaning!
What a cute picture! Found your blog through A Little Turtle. He is adorable… I’m not there with the solid foods yet, just starting to introduce a few solids. It’s fun though isn’t it?
Wow, that’s great that he’s such a good eater! I can’t believe its been almost a year already–its gone by so quickly!!
May I have the password for the protected post?
He’s just too cute. You’re so lucky to have such a good eater. Though it sounds like his teenage years are going to be tough on you- good luck keeping up with that appetite!
Oh Miles, I look at you and think Ziya could never be that big and eat in a high chair. It cracks me the denial bubble I live in.
Miles you are just too cute.