So Avery turned a year, and everything you read says they need to be off the bottle at about a year. I always get stressed out when things change. I guess I like things to stay the way they are because I start to feel like I kind of have it figured out. When it changes, I'm back to being a rookie.
After all, I had been feeding her a bottle since she was born. I couldn't really imagine not giving her one. Would she starve??
I was going to try to wean her after her birthday party (I know I know I'm late on that post. It's coming soon! I'm waiting for Rustin to upload the pictures he took from his camera.) but she was so unhappy that I didn't want put her through any major changes.
Well since she's been drinking the rice milk and doing much better, I decided to try. She drinks water out of sippys with a hard spout, but wouldn't drink milk out of them, so I bought another kind - Nuby - with a soft spout and she LOVES them! The other day she was in her high chair and saw me get one out of the dishwasher and she started fussing because she wanted it.
I used to give her a bottle when she wakes up in the morning, before naps, and before bed. So I have kept giving her the sippy at those times. I really thought she would put up a fight, but she has been fine. I haven't given her a bottle in 3 days now.
The next thing I am trying to wean her from is her paci. She loves her paci! And it's not that I necessarily mind her having one for a little longer, the problem is the only paci she will take is the Wubbanub (the one with the animal attached) and it's only for babies up to 6 months. I haven't been too worried since she had no teeth, but now that she's getting teeth, I don't want to mess them up! I bought orthodontic pacis in the same brand as her others and she just spits them out.
So I decided to only give her the paci in her room. She usually crawls around with it in her mouth while playing, so I wasn't sure how this would go, but she did fine. We even went to the grocery store without it (I kept it in my purse in case of emergency) and she did great.
The next step is weaning her off of it at night. I have a feeling that will not be easy. She has been waking up at night the last few days (something she hasn't done in 8 months). I am guessing because of teething, so I don't want to take it away while she's going through that.
Anyway I just wanted to write about what I ended up doing with her since I asked many of my friends what they did. I feel like it always helps to hear other stories of what worked and what didn't.
I'll close with a recent picture. She looked so cute for church on Sunday, we just had to take some pictures! Dena got her that cute dress for her birthday. Since it's just us 3, Rustin and I had to take turns being photographer.
I can't believe she turned a year old! This may sound silly but I felt a sense of accomplishment - I mean I raised her a whole year and she's still alive and so am I!
I took a few pictures of her on her birthday. Of course, I had to finish up our monthly pictures with her 12 month sticker.
I also wanted to take a picture of her in her birthday dress from my Aunt Holly.
I ran out of formula about a week before she turned one. I know you're not supposed to start cow's milk until a year, but I figured 5 days didn't matter that much. And I didn't want to get a whole new can of formula.
She seemed to like it but about 3 days later, she started acting incredibly fussy. I felt like it was a flashback to her first few months of life. She was constantly crying. I couldn't do anything because she was only happy if I was walking around holding her. Her naps went back down to 45 minutes and she was waking up at 5:30am. I really thought I was about to go insane. Sorry TMI but she also had diarrhea for several days. It was so bad that there were several times when there was nothing I could do to get her to stop crying so I ended up crying with her.
My mom said all of those things could be symptoms of teething - and she was getting her first tooth in on the bottom so that made sense. But I was still worried because she was so incredibly unhappy. Even for her birthday she was so upset. There were moments she was ok, and I think all the people being at the house helped distract her. But I'll do a separate post about her birthday.
So anyway she had her 1 year check up at the doctor scheduled for Monday. If she hadn't I was going to call them anyway because I was so worried about her.
I was really wondering if the milk was the culprit and not teething. I had her on Similac Alimentum formula because I felt like she was very fussy on soy or anything milk based. I thought maybe I was being too cautious since I never knew for sure if she had a milk allergy, so that's why I decided to just go for whole milk.
Anyway at the check up, the doctor said she looked great. He said those symptoms could be teething, but if it was, it was some bad teething! I asked him if starting her on the milk might have done something and he told me the only way to find out was just to try something different. He said I could try soy or rice milk, but since I had tried soy formula before and it didn't seem to make it better, I thought I would try rice milk.
Hallelujah! I feel like I finally have the baby back that I know and love. She is smiling again and crawling around and playing - none of which she had done in a week. And she is sleeping normally again (which means mommy is sleeping!!).
The doctor said that if she has a milk allergy (which apparently she does), most babies grow out of it. I hope she does because if she's like her mom and grandpa, she's going to like drinking milk!
She now weighs 19 lbs. 6 oz. and is 30 1/4" long. He said she's in the 30th percentile for weight, but 80th for height. So as expected since she was born, she'll probably be tall. Not sure where she gets it.
Her favorite thing to do is run errands with her mommy - especially the grocery store. She loves seeing all the people and making noises at them. The other day we kept passing this older man in the aisles several times and she would smile and squeal at him each time. When she gets fussy in the store, I give her a wagon wheel and she laughs and looks around like she wants everyone to see what she just got and is very proud of herself.
I'm trying to get her used to other people taking care of her. I have been going to a women's Bible study at my church on Tuesday mornings and taking her to the nursery. It's still a little hard for her. I guess she's like me - I didn't like my mom leaving me either. But hopefully she gets better.
I'll close with a few pictures of her this month.
This is her at BJ's Pizza celebrating Uncle Casey's birthday -
And this is her with her first birthday present (I gave it to her a little early. I couldn't wait!) from her mom and dad. I think she liked it.
I am so thankful for the gift of being her mommy a whole year and look forward to many more with that sweet girl!
.JPG)
