When I had been preparing for Emily's first birthday, I didn't really give much thought to the fact that she was turning 1 and becoming a toddler. I assumed the transition would be easy, just like all her other transitions were, and it would be just a matter of just giving her whole milk instead of formula and giving her more solids. But boy was I wrong. Emily turned 1 on a Monday, and she suddenly became a toddler monster.
On Tues after her birthday, we took her to the doctor for her 1 year check up. Our pediatrician advised us to stop giving her formula and switch to just whole milk. So when we came home, instead of giving her usual formula, we gave her cold whole milk. She took 1 sip, and then immediately rejected it. She started crying (with tears!) every time I tried to put it to her mouth. It was so shocking! I guess I had just assumed that Emily would transition fine. She always switched formula brands easily with no problems. She switched from breastmilk to formula easily as well. I had thought this would be no different. But I was so wrong. Even her food eating suddenly flipped. She used to eat solids so well! Never had any issues with the food we gave her. She pretty much loved everything we gave her as long as it wasn't too hard to chew. But all of a sudden, she was spitting everything out. She would either let it dribble out of her mouth or she would pull it out of her mouth. Furthermore, she would be crying hysterically (oh so many tears!) because she was just hating everything I gave her. She basically would only eat the foods she liked - banana and cheese. It was just the strangest thing. Even foods she ate just fine a day ago was now horrific to her. This became super worrisome to me. Here she was - refusing to drink milk, refusing to eat her food. I was freaking out that she was going to become a malnourished little girl who would soon die from withering away from lack of food and liquid. On top of this, I was afraid that I was creating a negative association with food with all the crying. What was I supposed to do? Sy and I argued each meal because we just didn't know what the right thing to do was. Do we force her to eat bc she needs the calories and sustenance? Do we just give her food she likes? Does that mean she'll become spoiled or a picky eater? We read that when kids don't like foods, you have them try it 10x. Did that mean 10x in a row? or 10x sporadically? What the heck were we supposed to do? Sy has always been more of a tough love kind of guy, and I have been more like if it doesn't kill you, why not? So we butted heads like crazy for 2 days as we fretted over Emily's sudden change of temperament.
After a few days of hysterical crying, I decided we just needed to feed her stuff she would like. I made Emily her first grilled cheese sandwich, and it was a huge success! She was all smiles and giggles during lunch, and happily feeding herself pieces and begging for more. We had to freeze the soup I had originally made her and just make a new pot of spaghetti for her. I had to sneak in some pureed squash into pieces of toast so she couldn't taste it.
As for her milk, I started over and gave her straight up formula again. After a day of giving her formula, I felt like I had regained her trust, and then began the weaning process. I gave her 4oz of formula and 1 oz of milk for 1 day. She drank it fine. The next day, I gave her 3 oz of formula and 1 oz of milk. She again did fine. Next day, she went 50/50, then 75/25, and then finally 100% all milk. She was totally fine with the milk transition and now she is fully on whole milk alone. It's pretty crazy to me that we no longer need to make formula bottles for her anymore. It seems like a huge step towards toddlerhood.
Eventually, I DID see Emily sprout a new tooth! So it turned out she was crabby bc of her tooth! She started growing her 5th tooth - a sharp little tooth next to her bottom teeth. Now it made sense why she had been so crazy for days.
The sad thing is that over the weekend, Sy got sick, and soon Emily got sick too. She began being fussy and crabby all over again and her poor sleep began again. Sigh. Dealing with a sick baby is SO hard. I was sad because she got sick RIGHT when I needed to go back to work. I have enough guilt about my in-laws watching Emily so many times a week. And now they had to deal with a sick Emily - who is so difficult to be with. She's extra clingy, extra whiny, not a great sleeper, not a good eater, and just not happy. Luckily, it wasn't a terrible cold - not like the last one. But a cold is still a cold.
I'll post again soon to talk about Emily's fun developments. In the meantime, I just wanted to record this crazy week of Emily turning 1. SMH.
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