Don't Drink Your Calories......

We've all heard the saying, "Don't drink your calories!" We've heard it from doctors, trainers, nutritionists, Dr. Oz and even those people that share their wisdom with us on Facebook. There are days were I would happily drink mine and Morgan's daily calorie intake in the form of alcohol. But, I'm not writing about my possible problem ;)

In our family, the worst offender is, Madeleine! If we'd let her she would gladly give up all solid foods for milk. She could be a on a "Got Milk" ad. This past weekend, we decided to cut down her milk intake to only at night and in the morning. It didn't go as well as we hoped. There were some skipped naps a few little meltdowns but nothing drastic.

Then on Sunday we decided to throw her another twist... take away her bottle! Now, some of you may judge me because she is still using a bottle at 18 months. You know what I say? Don't talk to me because I honestly don't care! HAHA, no seriously! I know that I had been putting this off for a while. She will use her sippy cups that have a straw, for water all day and has been using one of those since she was around 6 months. But, she would never take her milk in them. I tried lots of times, but she would take a sip, and then make a "bitch face" and start to cry. The girl loves her bottles!

Taking away bottles + decreasing milk intake= END OF THE WORLD FOR MADELEINE!!!
We didn't do this to be cruel (although in her mind, we are the worst parents alive!), but we wanted her to eat more solid foods. I'm not trying to make her eat like a 250 lbs man, but eat more than a baby bird. We'd also like to expand her palette a little more. She will consistently eat about 15 things, but the girl cannot eat spaghetti every night of the week! Lol

We are on day and night two. She has refused to have any milk from a sippy cup! Last night, she woke up crying every two hours because she wanted milk from a bottle. I almost caved on my 6th time of getting out of bed, but I stuck to my ground. I did offer her milk in a sippy cup but she flat out refused. She finally fell asleep at 3:30 and slept til 8:45am. And so did mommy!!! I think she tired herself out, because she napped for 3 hours today. I even took a 45 minute nap, and anyone that knows me, knows I am a horrible napper! It brought me back to those newborn days. YIKES!!!! This morning was a little rough, but I did notice that she ate more solid foods through out the day. But of course, she refused milk from a sippy cup all day! But, I think she is about to break soon. I just went in there (I've been trying to write this post for 2 hours now!), and she took a few sips from the cup! Progress!!!

During one of my browsing sessions on Pinterest, I came across this pin that had great ideas for helping a picky eater. I also loved how she helped her daughter eat broccoli. I am definitely going to try.

As anything in life, especially with a child, it is a work in progress. There will be good days and there will be bad days. And most importantly, my mom will be here next Monday to help!!! And I have no idea how often she is gong to wake up tonight. I better try to get some sleep!

Good night!

P.S. I made that homemade play dough and it was super easy! For some reason my colors didn't turn out as vibrant as her's, but it still came out great. I did use gel food coloring, but I probably didn't add enough. We are going to play with them tomorrow. We were too busy trying to survive without a bottle today!