Chase turned one at the end of July and the fact that I’m typing up his 12 month update more than two weeks late should tell you how life has been around here lately… Action-packed, on-the-go, exciting and ever-changing.
If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it 1,000 times but it is truly mind blowing to me to think that Chase was born a year ago. HOW is my tiny 5 pound 10 ounce baby boy ONE year old!?
This year has, without a doubt, been the fastest year of my entire life and Chase has brought more joy into my days than I ever thought possible. I love him so completely and it’s the most consuming, vulnerable, heart-wrenchingly strong, protective, I’d-do-absolutely-anything-for-you kind of love I’ve ever known.
I have so much fun with Chase every day and now that he’s mobile, our playtime is definitely not sedentary. He will occasionally sit with books and toys once he’s expended a bunch of energy but absolutely prefers to crawl everywhere, pull himself up over everything, climb on top of anything and explore every inch of the space he’s in at the moment. (Not long after I shared Chase’s 11 month update, he finally abandoned his crazy push-up inchworm crawl for a super-speedy “normal” crawl. I guess he had it in him after all!)
Chase is a social little guy and flashes his goofy 6-tooth smile at everyone who passes by. He has a myriad of “baby tricks” in his arsenal and loves showing everyone how he can wave, clap, dance, do the “spider” in Itsy, Bitsy Spider, raise his hands above his head to show how he’s “so big!” (<— oddly comical to us since he’s still in the first percentile for weight), point at “dog,” “mama,” and “lights” and more. He’s been saying “mama” and “da” (meaning “dog” or “dada”) for months now and loves practicing a handful of other noises, tongue/mouth tricks and goofy baby babbling sounds. He is a little sponge who loves to imitate the random noises and motions we show him every day.
During Gymboree, one of the teachers often opens class with an icebreaker question for parents and caregivers to answer. One of the questions posed asked our group what surprised us most about having a baby. When I asked Ryan what his answer would’ve been later that night he said the way he feels inside when he makes Chase laugh.
There’s something about making a baby belly laugh and dissolve into giggles that makes you feel like everything is right in the world. I could be worrying about a laundry list of things or consumed by outside stressors, but the minute Chase breaks out into his contagious laughter, my perspective shifts and I’m filled with joy and an understanding that no matter what else may be going on in my life, if I can make Chase laugh, fill him with joy and offer him comfort and safety every day, I’m doing something right.
It’s so easy to second-guess every tiny detail as a mom but I think it’s important to remind myself of the basics when I start to get overwhelmed and doubt myself. Focusing on gratitude continues to be imperative for me as a mom. When I start to worry or stress out about something related to mothering Chase, I pray, count my blessings and focus on how incredibly lucky I am to be his mom and how small my worries are in the grand scheme of things.
Eat
After a short reprieve, I’m back to being stressed out about Chase’s eating again. I had high hopes for some quality weight gain over the past few months but during his one-year pediatric visit, he registered in the first percentile for weight again. Our pediatrician is amazing and always reminds me that Chase is growing on his own little peanut curve and that he’s developmentally doing just fine. That always makes me feel a little better but it’s still hard no to get in my head and worry about our tiny little man.
To help with weight gain, our pediatrician encouraged us to continue giving Chase foods with higher fat content. I feel like we’ve already been doing this but I’m trying my best to keep it going.
Chase loves nut butter and I recently introduced him to green smoothies made with spinach, frozen bananas, peanut or almond butter, whole milk and full-fat yogurt. He seems to like the smoothies a lot but getting him to sit still long enough to eat or drink anything is a challenge. Playing still trumps food for Chase and it can be frustrating for me when I just want our little guy to eat, eat, eat. I have to trust that he will eat, grow and gain weight all in good time.
I am still nursing Chase quite a bit but over the course of the past two weeks, I’ve been trying to wean him off of some of our daytime nursing sessions and get us down to nursing first thing in the morning and right before bed (and sometimes in the middle of the night because I’ve succumbed to the fact that sleep is always all over the place in our house).
Transitioning away from daytime breastfeeding is going fairly well and I do think that dropping some of his daytime nursing sessions results in better eating during the day, but I am feeling a little challenged because Chase definitely prefers breastmilk to whole milk. He looooves water but when I offer him whole milk, he will only take a couple of small sips before pushing the cup away. I’m not sure how to get him to drink more milk, especially if that is supposed to be a decent part of his calories right now, but at least he likes the smoothies I make him that have a whole milk base.
Sleep
Ugh. Sleep. Here we go again… We’ll have Chase sleeping through the night until something changes – traveling, a guest in town, etc. – and then it’s like we have to start from scratch and really work toward a solid night’s sleep. With such an unpredictable summer full of travel and house guests, I just don’t have the energy to go through sleep training 10,000 times a month when one little outside factor throws everything out of whack.
Everyone has their challenges and even though we’ve had some good nights, Chase still does not seem to be consistently sleeping through the night. Sometimes I feel like a big fat failure because we’re still waking up to nurse but other times I am just over the whole thing and think to myself, “If unpredictable sleep is one of our biggest battles, I consider myself very lucky.” (Well, unpredictable sleep and a child who doesn’t love to eat real food. Fun hurdles, right?)
Chase still wakes one or two times a night (his second waking is usually after 5 a.m., so I really don’t mind it since I wake up early to work anyway) and, honestly, at this point I’d rather just feed him and put him back to sleep since the whole ordeal takes less than 15 minutes versus listening to him fuss or cry on-and-off for an hour or more. Plus, our next two weekends include even more travel and more guests staying with us and I know that would foul up any headway we make if we started back up with sleep training again. I don’t feel comfortable letting Chase cry for long at night when we have guests staying with us since our guests sleep in the room right next to Chase’s nursery, and everyone knows that travel totally messes with a baby’s sleep, so that’s where we are right now. I’m eyeballing September as our “return to sleep training” month. Get ready, Mr. Chase!
I waffled back and forth as to whether or not I should skip the above part of my monthly recap because sometimes I feel like a broken record regarding our sleep hurdles but then I realized there may be someone out there in a similar boat who feels like they’re surrounded by stellar sleepers (and eaters) who might take comfort in knowing they’re not alone. I was actually reading a blog post Jessica shared a few years ago when I went back to read some of her baby posts that said her son wasn’t sleeping through the night at 11 months either and I felt myself exhale. It felt like a giant relief to read that I’m not the only one struggling with sleep a year into the whole baby thing! Everyone has their challenges related to parenting and motherhood.
As far as naps are concerned, Chase is still a good napper which is a HUGE blessing. As a mom who works from home, I’d happily take good naps over good nighttime sleep any day since we don’t have any childcare help and I rely on Chase’s naps to work.
For the most part, he’s still taking two 90-minute to 2-hour naps but there have been a few very unpredictable days in there where Chase refused to nap in the afternoon and skipped a nap altogether. When I observe his demeanor after a skipped nap, I feel pretty confident that Chase still needs two naps a day and thankfully he napped normally again yesterday. I’m still trying to figure out if he’s working toward merging his naps and dropping to one, but right now my gut says he’s not ready. Time will tell!
Likes
- Climbing over everything
- Slapping his hands/banging on everything
- Shakers
- Brown Bear, Brown Bear (He loves the sliding windows in this book and it comes with us everywhere)
- Doors (Apparently doors are magical)
- Splashing in the pool or bathtub
- Watching Sadie
- Super-speedy crawling
- Hide-and-go-seek around our kitchen island
- Flicking light switches on and off
- Music and dancing (He raises his arms and motions his hands up and down and it’s just the cutest)
- Pointing at everything
- Water
- Salmon
- Apples
- Peanut butter sandwiches
Dislikes
- Having his nose, face and hands wiped
- Getting dressed
- Being held for too long
- Sitting in his high chair for too long
- When we take something away from him that he’s not allowed to have (Pens come to mind…)
- When we pick him up after he starts speed-crawling toward Sadie’s dog food (He is obsessed)
- When Ryan walks away to go change into comfy clothes after he arrives home from work
12 Month Baby Favorites
We’ve had some new discoveries this month that Chase seems to love and I’ve added them to the beginning of this list that also includes some of our tried and true favorites that continue to be go-to items for Chase at 12 months old. (I also removed some past favorites that Chase decided he was no longer into this month.)
PLAY
- Brown Bear, Brown Bear Slide and Find Book
- Pat The Bunny Touch and Feel Book
- Oball Rattle and Roll Car
- Melissa & Doug Pull Along Zoo Animals
- Little People Activity Airplane Ride-On
- B. You Turns Steering Wheel
- Grandma Wishes Book
- B. Parum Pum Pum Drum Set
- V-Tech Sit to Stand Learning Walker
- Step2 Finding Dory Water Table
- Infantino Turtle Shape Sorter
- Tuffo Outdoor Water-Resistant Blanket
- SpringWays Swim Float with Canopy
- Sesame Street Silly Sounds Remote
- Baby Einstein Take Along Musical Toy
EAT/DRINK
- Lollacup
- Munchkin Snack Catcher Cups
- Munchkin White Hot Infant Safety Spoons (He loves carrying these around with him everywhere)
- Protective Floor Mat
- Chicco 360 Hook On High Chair
- NUK Mash and Serve Bowl
SLEEP
Past Baby Updates
- Eleven Months
- Ten Months
- Nine Months
- What I Wish I Knew Before My Baby Was Born
- Eight Months
- Seven Months
- Six Months
- Our First Sleep Training Experience
- Traveling With A Baby For The First Time
- Five Months
- Four Months
- Three Months
- Two Months
- And Then He Smiled
- Three Weeks
- The First 12 Days
- Q&A: All About Birth & Life With A New Baby
- Chase’s Birth Story: Part I, Part II
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Aww happy belated birthday! My daughter didn’t like Whole Milk too much either so I started mixing in an oz. of almond milk and she chugs it! Before that I use to do some formula mixed with milk (at 11.5m). I know she isn’t allergic almonds (she’s been doing almond and PB). I’ve heard of people doing hemp milk too. 🙂 Hope everything comes back okay with your babe this Friday. <3
Have you considered that your daughter may be allergic to milk or lactose/casein intolerant? It’s very common; about 75% of people lack enzymes to digest lactose. I hated most dairy products as a child and found out at 13 years old that I was allergic to milk. Turns out I hated them because they made me feel terrible! But as a young child I didn’t have the words to express that, and by the time I could, I was so used to feeling that way all the time that it seemed normal. I just associated the nauseated feeling I got from milk with dislike instead of an actual allergy.
I developed acid reflux in elementary school as a result of my allergy and have battled related health problems ever since. If your daughter won’t drink whole milk but does better when it’s diluted with almond milk, it’s worth looking into, even if it turns out she just loves nut milk! Make sure your doctor is knowledgeable about delayed reactions, as well. Sorry for the long post! I’m passionate about this because the longterm effects of consuming foods you are sensitive to are not well known, and I don’t want any beautiful babies or their families to have to deal with the health problems that can result from them.
I’m sure you’ve tried this but maybe heat up the milk a little? I stopped breastfeeding at 3 months for both my girls due to lack of supply and our second one would only drink formula (and now whole milk) if it’s borderline “latte hot” — I’ve tried moving the milk to a sippy cup cold, and nope! Couple sips and she chucks it. LOVES cold water but not her milk. It’s worth a shot, right? I also would advocate the slow intro to whole milk by doing the 25/75, then 50/50, then 75/25 milk to breastmilk ratio until he’s officially on whole milk. Hang in there mama, before you know it, he’ll be running around the house screaming and laughing and demanding his goldfish after his nap saying “do you want a sweet hug?” (heard from my 3-year-old today) 🙂
Julie!! I am just reading this now for the first time. First, tons of love and prayers to you guys right now. Second, Max is now 20 months. He just (barely) slept through the night for the first time ever while we were on vacation. When I say that, he slept from about 8pm to 4am. This was HUUUUGE for us! I felt the same way you did – it was easier for me to nurse him at night and get him back to sleep so I could go back to sleep too – anything else we tried just stressed us all out. I also really love nursing and it just felt like the right thing for our family. Don’t feel like a failure at all!
Also, Max is only in the 3rd percentile for weight and has been since he was born. I may have missed this but have you tried the Stonyfield organic whole milk yogurt pouches? Max loves those – sometimes he wants 2 a day. I know he’s a little older so this may not apply yet, but if I give him peanut butter toast or something, I also butter it first with grass fed butter (this is so gross to me, but my grandma always did it, ha!) – just for the extra calories. Basically I add coconut oil or olive oil to everything too, avocado when I can, the same things you’re doing. You are doing great!! xoxoxo
First off, you are doing a fantastic job at mothering, I enjoy reading your posts about Chase’s milestones. Our babies have the same birthday by the way, my little guy turned One on July 29th also. With that being said, my little guy does not sleep through the night either, his sleep schedule has never been consistent since day one. He still wakes up to nurse in the middle of the night (there are times we get lucky) and he is an early riser at about 6am. I don’t know how he only sleeps between 8-9 hours a night, crazy! Unfortunately for momma, and baby, he is not a good napper either. He has his days where we get two naps, and there are days we get about one 45 minute car ride nap. So don’t beat yourself up about it, I just keep reminding myself to take a deep breath and realize that he is only mearly a One year old soul. As of getting him used to whole milk, the trick I tried was adding a bit of chocolate syrup to it for the sweetness, because who doesn’t like chocolate milk? And I gradually added less and less over a few weeks time and now he is used to just drinking plain whole milk. And hey, maybe the extra sugar and fat from the syrup will help with the weight gain.
I hope you find some success. Just remember to stop and remind yourself that you are doing a great job, and that little boy loves you just as much as you love him.
Best wishes.
I just wanted to chime in here and say that it is TOTALLY normal for babies to still wake up through the night at 12 months! Don’t feel like a failure, it’s just how your baby is right now. I feel like today’s culture in the U.S. is so pro independence for young kids, and the fact is that it’s normal for them to be “needy”. They need momma and sometimes that means during the night too! In other cultures, they’re not super into sleep training and having babies in their own cribs the way we are. I personally strive for my kiddo to sleep in his own crib at night, but the word failure bothers me here because you are anything but!
My second baby didn’t sleep through the night consistently till about 16 months (prob not what you want to hear) but it might help not feel alone! At the 1 year mark I was really struggling with it. She would still need a bottle in the night to go back to sleep. I was also concerned about letting her cry too long in case she woke up my 3 yo! Hang in there. She is now sleeping through. I think some kids just take their time. She is also an excellent napper thank goodness! Xx
My girl did not sleep through the night until a couple months after her 2nd birthday. It was on day 6 of no breastfeeding! When she realized she was not going to be nursed if she woke up, she started sleeping all the way through the night. Those first 5 nights were horrible! The best thing for us was to cut nursing cold turkey. I would try to reduce feeding but it only frustrated both of us. I basically weaned in three different steps. I cut out public feeding at about 12 months, then cut out nursing on demand at about 19 months (only nursed to bed and throughout the night), then cut out all nighttime feedings at about 26 months. During all that, I would try to cut down one feeding at a time but that didn’t really work for us. Good luck with everything!
I just started reading your blog and am currently “catching up” on posts while I nurse my 12-month-old daughter to sleep. She’s my third (I have a 5 year old daughter and a 3 year old son).
I haven’t read the other comments, but just wanted to chime in with a little perspective. First, with the sleep – Elle (the 12 month old) still wakes up once/twice a night and likes to nurse. Her siblings took pacifiers and were able to comfort themselves to sleep throughout the night sooner. It’s totally normal I’ve learned for them to need us for awhile. One day, they WILL sleep. 🙂
As for the milk: with all my children it takes a good month+ to get them drinking the “correct” amount of cows milk. I did a super organized weaning schedule getting her onto whole milk bottles (I worked then so she had pumped breast milk all the time). I worked out going 90/10, 80/20, 70/30 … 10/90 ratios of breast to whole milk. It was really quite ridiculous. For my second, he didn’t really have bottles because I always nurses him. We went straight to cups of whole milk offered at meals while I still nursed. No mixing for him and he did fine. It was hard to not get worried that he wasn’t drinking enough, but it all worked out when we took our time. Now we’re offering Elle milk and she alternates between spitting it all out and drinking a lot. It just depends on her mood. I suspect it will take about a month to ease her into it, just like the other two.
We don’t have the gaining weight issues that you have, but I can say everything just takes time. Chase will eat when he’s hungry and as long as he’s growing (even if you think it’s only a little bit), it’s fine. If you offer them good food and follow their cues about when they’re hungry, growth takes care of itself. Have faith! :)))
Hi Julie! How did tackle Chase’s sleep issues? Did you sleep train? Our son is 13 months and we are still having issues with sleep! Just curious how you tacked this as well as nurse weaning! We are still night nursing and nursing to sleep at this point. Thanks!