03:36
Nov 13, 2021
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'You mentioned that you have a 13 month old baby girl who\'s not really interested in eating and she just wants to nurse, and you have some concerns about this, and rightfully so. At a year of age, if a baby is still nursing, that\'s fantastic. But the composition of breast milk changes as a baby gets older, and it\'s just designed to compliment a nutritious diet full of solid foods as well. So if a baby is only drinking breast milk, then it\'s probably not going to fulfill all of the baby\'s nutritional needs. Around a year of age, most babies are eating solids for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and for two snacks - one in the morning and one in the afternoon. With that said, many parents notice that their children stop eating well after their 1st birthday. And this is mostly because their needs are slowing down. During the first year, a baby is growing so rapidly and they need a ton of food, and then after a year of age, it plateaus and starts to decline a little bit. A toddler, after their 1st birthday, only needs about 1000 calories a day. So think of that in relation to how much we eat, and it\'s not that much food, and it\'s spread out over 3 meals and 2 snacks. And so if you just feel like your daughter is grazing a little bit when you put food in front of her, she may still be getting what she needs. Your job as a parent is to introduce healthy food options at each meal and for snacks, and then she\'s going to decide what she\'ll eat and how much of it she\'s going to eat. In the end, the most important thing is that she\'s happy, healthy, and gaining the appropriate amount of weight as determined by the pediatrician, that she\'s staying well hydrated. So talk with your doctor about it, and based on their knowledge of her history and circumstances, they\'ll be able to give you the best advice. Now you also had some concerns about her waking up at night to eat, and the pediatrician can talk to you about this as well. Once she starts eating better during the day, then hopefully she won\'t want to eat at night. And as long as your pediatrician says that nighttime feedings aren\'t necessary, then you could actually teach her how to self-soothe, or to go back to sleep without help from you or without a nursing session. You can do this one of two ways after you\'ve gotten the green light from your doctor. The first is just letting her cry it out. When she wakes up at night and wants you for comfort, you just let her cry. And you can let her cry for as long as you\'re comfortable with it. And rest assured that it\'s not going to emotionally scar her, she\'s not going to change the way she loves you, but it is going to teach her that when she cries, she doesn\'t get what she wants most, which is you. And then the crying will stop, and she\'ll go back to sleep on her own. That doesn\'t mean that she won\'t wake up, but it does mean that she\'ll go back to sleep without help from you. If this seems a little harsh, then you can actually try a more graduated approach where you go in and check on her after 5 to 10 minutes of crying, and gently touch her, but resist any and all urges to turn on the light, pick her up, talk to her, or interact with her. Just touch her tummy and reassure her that you\'re there, turn around and walk right back out of the room. And if she continues to cry, you just slowly increase the amount of time you wait before you go check on her again. So the first time is 5 to 10 minutes, the second time is 10 to 20, the third time may be 30 to 40. And if you\'re persistent and consistent about this for a week, then she should learn to go back to sleep without help from you or a nursing session. You may also find it helpful to offer her a new favorite blanket or a small stuffed animal, which is safe to have in the crib after a child\'s first birthday. This may help to offer her comfort when you\'re not there. If you have any other questions for me in the future, feel free to ask them on our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/IntermountainMoms, and recommend us to your friends and family too.'See also:
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