Do I Have a Toddler Now?
We are in some sort of weird baby stage.
I have no idea what’s going on.
It seems as though every week he changes one significant thing.
His feeding habits are changing. We forced him to give up his 3am bottle before Christmas (best thing we ever could have done considering our crazy Christmas and our adult need for sleep). Then, two weeks ago while he was sick he chose to give up his evening bottle and now will not have an evening bottle under any circumstances. I think he started to refuse the bottle because we had Baby Tylenol or Advil in it and he was actually refusing the medicine, but the end result is the same – no more bottles, under any circumstance. Straw cups are the only option – in fact, he will only use the munchkin click-lock weighted flexi-straw cup specifically. And, no straw cup right before bed in his room. I’ll admit, I miss the before bedtime snuggle that went along with the evening bottle.
And, for approximately a week now we are also going through a major sleep regression and nap refusal. We are so not used to this. Asides from a few short-lived hiccups here and there, Baby MPB always goes down every single morning at 9:30am for a 1.5 hour nap, like clockwork. Then, he has his afternoon 1.5 hour nap every single day at 2pm, also like clockwork. If we were to try to push his nap back 15 minutes, he’d just fall asleep wherever he is. This little guy lives for sleep. So, here we are now, with Baby MPB absolutely refusing his morning nap and he has switched his afternoon nap to 12:30pm. And now at bedtime he doesn’t really want to sleep. Instead, he cries and takes a long time to settle himself before falling asleep.
We’ve talked to our more experienced parent friends and they’ve all said it sounds like he’s just given up his morning nap. I thought this didn’t happen until about 16-18 months old?
Oh, and he took his first steps. Well, maybe I should say that he’s proven he can walk independently – he took a few steps with our nanny and then a few more for me moments later. He’s done 4-5 steps a few times now. (Funny enough, he refuses to walk for Mr. MPB). But he’s pretty much vehemently opposed to actually walking on any sort of regular basis. In fact, if we try to encourage him to walk he sits down immediately. Basically, I think he’s proven he can walk but he also has a little stubborn streak in him. I suspect we are another month or more away from him choosing to walk on a regular basis.
So, in the span of about 3 weeks he’s managed 3 significant developmental skills/milestones all on his own. All we know is that it feels like our little guy is suddenly growing up very quickly! Somehow, I feel like my little baby might be turning into a toddler before my eyes!
I’ll admit, there is some sadness in seeing him grow up so quickly, but 98% of the time I am just so excited to see what he’s going to do next. He never seizes to amaze me, and I’m just so thankful I get to be at his side for each of his new adventures.
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How old is baby mpb now? I know both of my boys gave up their morning nap relatively early. Levi is 22 months and only naps once a day for 1-2 hours.
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I work in day care and have for 15 years. In Michigan in almost all child care facilities at 12mths old children are transitioned to 1 nap, of about 1.5/2 hours. Typically it is at this same time that they stop with bottles. After 15 years in the field and 6 of my own children, 12 months seems to be the average.
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Aww. The developmental advances are bittersweet, aren’t they? Fun to see them growing but a little sad to know they’re not babies anymore.
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Yup, around 1 most kids drop their morning nap, some kids like G drop at 18 months. 🙂
Hope you have baby proofed the whole house esp the edges of the dining table, strapped the oven door and the fridge :))
Also pediatric dentists ask for no bottles or sippers after 12 months and transition to a straw cup or an open cup. So its good baby MPB is doing it himself, weaning off a botlte is hard work mom.
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Hooray for growth! It’s awesome that he’s doing all these things himself. Sounds like he’s one smart little guy! Sorry it takes some of your sweet cuddle time away though. C is already doing that to me…she rarely will fall asleep in my arms anymore, usually just in her swing or bassinet.
Hopefully your little continues to make fun new strides! (And he WILL walk eventually, just probably waiting for when nobody is looking!)
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Oh I’m right there with you!! Luke’s been on a good schedule for a while now but seems to be fighting his afternoon nap/bedtime. It’s so hard to know what to do and when to transition from 1-2 naps. Thankfully I think we are still a few months away from that but it does sound like baby MPB is going through the same thing. How did your bedtime routine change with no bottle? Any issues? We are about to do the same with Luke. And oh my gosh!! Luke has done the same thing with walking!! He’s taken 6 steps on his own but now if we encourage it he flops down and crawls. I guess we should be okay with that since I’ve heard a walking child is even harder to keep up with than a crawler.
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We never had a “real” bedtime routine – at 7pm we just went upstairs for a bottle, brushed his teeth and then he went straight to sleep. So i suspect the lack of a bottle may be wreaking havoc on his ability to just go to sleep like we are used to? I hope your bottle transition goes well!
And yay for first steps!!! I have no idea why, but I am so excited for him to be walking! I think it’s going to be so much fun even though everyone else keeps telling me it’s going to be way more work. 😊
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I can see where the lack of a bottle would throw him off since sucking is such a sleep cue. I’m hoping to get rid of it in the next two weeks and I expect some push back.
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I was hoping to he’d just take the straw cup before bed so we could just switch the delivery method, but he absolutly will not take it in his bedroom. So there isn’t much we can.
I hope your transition goes well!! If you find any useful tricks let me know. 😊
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Those kids can be so picky can’t they! I will definitely keep you updated! And hang in there with the changes!
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Could you maybe turn down the lights in a main room or your room to do a cuddle, story time and cup and then lay him down in his room?
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Charlotte dropped her morning nap at 1, but consolidated them so now it’s often a single 3 hour nap. Sleep disruption may be due to the walking. It’s common when they’re trying to master a new major skill!
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All so exciting and lovely but not without its challenges!
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Matthew gave up bottles when he was 4 months old, so we had to find an appropriate sippy cup. By 9-10 months, he was using a straw cup and our dentist was THRILLED. I’ve never had to take bottles away from my kids, and I’m so grateful for that. Friends who have had to ditch the bottles say that It’s a true fight.
Matthew was a solid napper, morning and afternoon, until 18 months. Bryson dropped his morning nap before he was 1. With your wanting to send him to daycare, this is a great development because he’ll probably be forced to only an afternoon nap once he’s 1. I bet he stays making his one daily nap nice and long!!!
I always get sad to see the baby-ness disappear. It’s so tough. Sending love!
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Oh my gosh he is growing so very fast! I can’t believe he is basically walking. That is crazy.
My nephew is I believe only a couple of weeks out of walking independently which is super scary because at the same time he is discovering his teeth and he is like the baby from ‘A series of unfortunate events’ he bites/chews on everything. I have grave concerns for my brothers furniture hahaha.
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Ooooh exciting and perhaps a bit terrifying (??!!) all at the same time that baby MPB is starting to toddle now!!
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cha cha cha cha changes! so many from now on. some awesome, some not. some easy, some a curve ball. how old is baby MPB again? changes in napping patterns always threw me off. the only one that i have loved is her finally dropping her morning nap on new year’s day 🙂
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I might have to send you a PM about bottle stuff I know our babies are close in age and you know all of our feeding issues…I’m not sure how much I should fight N with bottles now. We also have 2 naps a day at those exact same times and length! So exciting for all those milestones!
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It totally just depends on the kiddo on when they drop that nap. Is he sleeping a longer period of time now that he’s down to 1? I say they’re still officially babies until they are 1 and honestly, I refer to any of my daycare kids that are under 2 as babies, lol. Probably because that’s what they are counted as by licensing.
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My kiddo dropped the morning nap right around 11 months. She also refused all bottles at 10 months. One day she just decided she wanted cups lol. It’s cute when they decide on their own.
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My daughter goes through these stages of giving up her nap but then falls right back into her old pattern again in a few weeks It’s strange x
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My son goes through these stages when so many things happen at once . I agree that it is both a sad and an exciting experience
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