Formula/Baby Food

[GirlMomma]

I no longer accept infants under 12 months. While I skip most of the hassle, I now see that maybe it helped parents actually parent and helps the infants developmentally.

Right now, I have a 15 month old DCK that is still on formula and baby food. With the formula, they also send baby food pouches and those baby puffs that dissolve. This isn’t a big deal to me, I don’t buy it. However, developmentally, it’s a concern. The DCK’s I had at an early age were capable of eating cereal with milk and a spoon (with minimal mess) between 15-18 months old. The bottle was gone at 12 months and transitioning over to milk also began at 12 months - in a sippy cup.

When the DCK is here, I do feed him like I would any 15 month old - I serve him what all the other kids eat and encourage utensil use. He gets one bottle a day, he’s usually full from the meals I provide. It’s not until close to pick up time that he gets hungry. I have considered just giving him milk here, but then I would have all this extra formula and I don’t know what to tell them when they ask if he needs formula if they haven’t transition him at home.

When it’s brought up to the parents, they say they don’t follow the parenting rules book and the child will transition to whole milk when he’s ready. How does the child know he’s ready if they’re not working on it with him?

[Momboss]

Unless its for medical reasons, i wouldnt allow the formula. I made a set of rules/expectations for infants turning 1 and let the parents know around 8 months what i will be weaning them off of. I know since you dont accept infants, before enrolling you can let them know what/how you feed the kids. That you dont do bottles, that the children should know how to use a sippy cup by 12 months. Stuff like that.
i could be wrong, but i think if you follow a food program, they have to be on milk? You could always use that excuse. Honestly i would start giving him milk, and when he starts drinking it without issues, i would tell the parents you gave him milk and he just loved it so they dont have to bring formula anymore. If they give you push back, tell them since he seems to do fine here with milk, they will need a medical note with a diagnosis to why the child needs to stay on formula at daycare.

[Blackcat31]

Are you on the food program?
Even if you are not participating with the food program some state's licensing rules/regulations require providers to feed children according to the CACFP meal patterns anyways.

[Cat Herder]

I serve formula until 24 months for better brain development. I serve the formula before the meals to ensure they take enough to meet their daily nutritional requirements, before table food.

Most families diets are not well balanced enough to meet their toddlers nutritional needs, especially iron, and their mental development suffers. (most of my kids eat only one meal per day at home, often fast food) I serve it in a bottle until 12 months, then a cup until 24 months. 6 ounces with snacks, 8 ounces with meals.

I have not had anyone diagnosed with autism here since I made the change. Before that I was batting 1/4 for the last 12 years. I only enroll newborns so this is a valid consideration for me. These kids literally eat the majority of their meals, birth to 5, with me.

I am not saying it prevented it, but I am not saying it did not. Doing more is always better than doing less when it comes to nutrition. *As a kid who was given lead painted toys/crib, we don't know everything yet. The 20 hour brain development training I took a while back made me rethink infant nutrition, other countries view infancy until 24 months. Honestly, what can it hurt if I am wrong?? I provide formula and write it off 100% anyway.

At 24 months, I serve 2% and protein at every meal/snack.

[Cat Herder]

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1540447/ - Infants are at high risk for iron deficiency and iron-deficiency anemia. This review summarizes evidence of long-term effects of iron deficiency in infancy. Follow-up studies from preschool age to adolescence report poorer cognitive, motor, and social-emotional function, as well as persisting neurophysiologic differences. Research in animal models points to mechanisms for such long-lasting effects. Potential mechanisms relate to effects of iron deficiency during brain development on neurometabolism, myelination, and neurotransmitter function.

[GirlMomma]

I’m legally unlicensed in my state (which I’m obviously open about with parents) and I am not on the food program. Is there an option for me to be on the food program?

Anyways, I don’t mind the formula so much. If that’s what they want to do. But I absolutely think its hindering the child’s development - not the formula itself, but the way a bottle is still used for the child’s meals. They give him a bottle as breakfast or dinner paired with a fruit/veggie baby food. From my understanding, no other nutrients are offered at home.

CH, you absolutely raise a great point and that’s something to consider should I accept infants in the future. However, I don’t believe they’re doing this for the child’s benefit.

[Cat Herder]

Yes, you can be on the food program as long as you are legal. No license required.

[Blackcat31]

I’m legally unlicensed in my state (which I’m obviously open about with parents) and I am not on the food program. Is there an option for me to be on the food program?

Anyways, I don’t mind the formula so much. If that’s what they want to do. But I absolutely think its hindering the child’s development - not the formula itself, but the way a bottle is still used for the child’s meals. They give him a bottle as breakfast or dinner paired with a fruit/veggie baby food. From my understanding, no other nutrients are offered at home.

CH, you absolutely raise a great point and that’s something to consider should I accept infants in the future. However, I don’t believe they’re doing this for the child’s benefit.

GirlMomma I messaged you...

[Pestle]

Have this child's teeth failed to erupt? If not, it's developmentally inappropriate for this child to only be fed introductory foods appropriate for a baby half their age. I think this stems from parents wanting convenience foods they can grab and pass to the child and then not have to think about or monitor.

As long as you are providing age-appropriate foods for the child to explore with, then it seems that the sensory, fine motor, and spatial skills are getting what they need to develop during their time with you. I hate it when parents are lazy and pat themselves on the back for handing their kids fruit all day, as if that's nutritionally complex enough for them. But there's not much you can do about that, except to make your daycare menu as healthy as possible and hopefully open the child up to building a more typical palate instead of "fructose only."

I do request that parents send me an updated list of foods that have been introduced to their children from six months until about a year old, so that no new allergens surprise us while we're at my house. By a year old, I haven't had a client whose children have a severely restricted diet, and I've been good to just feed them a modified version of what the toddlers are having. If you are uncertain about whether a potential allergen has been introduced to this child or not, you could talk to the parents about how restricting foods into toddlerhood may be a cause of food allergies.

[GirlMomma]

Pestle he has all his teeth, he may not have his one year molars, but he’s capable of eating normally. He’s been eating very well here, but the allergens are something I’ll have them make a list of. I didn’t think about that!

[flying_babyb]

food pouches: a cautionary tale by flying_babyb
There is a little boy who was in our care. He would come every day with 4 pouches plus two "desert" pouches. He would eat these all day long. along with his bottles from about 4 months. The little boy turned 1 last month. Mom was worried that when he moved up to the next class pouches were NOT allowed or served, neither was the bottle he was still on. New classroom teachers sat him down at lunch and he spent lunch crying. This went on for a week. Classroom teacher is frustrated, moms frustrated. Teacher tells mom he needs to eat real food, since he has a mouth full of teeth. He starts taking the sippy cup with organic whole milk for his teachers but struggles with it at home. Daycare teacher starts placing little bits of food on his tounge at meals. Hes eating 5 to 6 bites of bread every meal and refusing most foods. Teacher keeps trying and tells mom about her sucess. Mom says oh mabye its time to cut the pouches at home. Pouches are evil if your not feeding them regular food too!

As of the point where we closed for covid (so 4 days ago) the kid is still on the bread, goldfish and crackers diet

[GirlMomma]

I never used the pouches for my own kids and this is the first parent I’ve had that uses them. It just seems lazy to me because they’re not spoon feeding a child. Would it be nice as an on-the-go option - absolutely! But I don’t think they should be used for anything other than that.

[Alwaysgreener]

I used to have parents bring baby food. I had a mom bring me pouches, I sat there and spoon fed the baby from the pouch, I later found out that most people just hand the pouch over, I was a little shocked.

After awhile I started reading the ingredients, One brand of pouches that she had bought were all flavored applesauce.

After that I switched to homemade food.

Another thing that bugs me about the pouches is that baby food is not the only thing that you find in pouches. I think you can get pet food and medicine/vitamins in the pouches. Which could lead to child thinking that any pouch is for them.

[GirlMomma]

Alwaysgreener yup! They’re garbage! I made my last daughters baby food for her and then did baby led weaning. She never ate from a pouch.

[Pestle]

I hate that the pouches aren't recyclable and are single-serving and are purees instead of food in its natural state and are all super-sweet and strongly-flavored and work like a toothpaste tube instead of like anything that these kids will be eating from in adulthood.

I think I hate every single thing about them.

[Cat Herder]

I was thinking the same thing. lol!!!

[Blackcat31]

I was looking at some doll accessories at a big box store last weekend to add to my doll center. One package was doll feeding accessories….a bib, a bottle, a sippy cup and two squeeze pouches. No little spoon, plate and pretend jar/boxed baby food.

[GirlMomma]

Blackcat31 wow that’s sad!

[hwichlaz]

Why does the type of milk he gets bother you? Would it bother you if it was breast milk? I'd totally give it to him in a cup though, and feed him what the other kids eat. But the milk type is no skin off anyone's back but the parents.

[GirlMomma]

hwichlaz It doesn’t bother me that he is on formula at 15 months old, I don’t pay for it. What bothers me is that the child isn’t getting enough nutrients to outside of my daycare, he’s in the 20th percentile for his weight, and he’s not being taught basic motor skills at home.

Instead of the child eating a well balanced meal for breakfast or dinner at home, the parents have told me they are giving him fruit pouches, Puffs and a 4 oz bottle of formula. Up until he started with me, he had not tried very many foods, which is a huge allergy risk on my end.

I’ve had a child on breastmilk until 20 months old. I’d give it to him in a cup at breakfast and lunch. I had another child on formula until 16 months, same thing - with his breakfast and lunch. Both families did the same at home, so we were all on the same page. The family I am referring to in this post is not on the same page as I am.