11, 12, and 13 months plus can be a difficult time to determine a toddler feeding schedule with so many transitions from baby food and bottles. Get these sample feeding schedules with milk for 1 year olds from a feeding expert and mom.
A baby’s first year is filled with many changes, and as it comes to a close around 11 to 12 months, often one of the biggest changes is fully transitioning to table foods and totally leaving behind baby food.
At the same time, parents are also trying to navigate how to wean from breast or bottle. Many parents feel overwhelmed and are unsure how to make these changes, and understandably so.
Although I cover transitioning to table food and bottle weaning here in lots of detail, it is important to have a feeding schedule in mind too because it helps make these big transitions successful.
Today, I’m sharing three sample schedules with you that I use as a licensed occupational therapist for babies 11, 12, and 13 months old. Basically, a feeding schedule for 1 year olds, so you can see how to make the transitions work for you.
They are flexible and have options for a 1 year old milk schedule, or a 1 year old feeding schedule with or without milk included.
Feeding at 11, 12, and 13 Months (Aka The 1 Year Old!)
If I had to pick one word to summarize feeding babies at this age, it would be: unpredictable. Honestly, they are so busy and easily distracted that you’re baby won’t eat anything at some meal and others they may seem to eat more than you.
This is normal, and I want you to keep that mind. It is important to not jump through too many hoops to get your child to eat, because they will soon learn how to wield that power.
Setting up a routine and schedule around meals goes a long way in curbing the unpredictability and potential picky eating.
I would also encourage you to move completely to table foods by 11 months, if you haven’t done so already. An occasional pouch is okay when you are out and about, but by this age babies should be eating a variety of table foods.
The schedules I share below are made based on this assumption. See further down in the post if your child is having difficulty with this transition.,
In my 8-10 month old feeding schedule, I recommended introducing a straw. If you haven’t done that yet, no problem, they will likely pick it up very quickly. While the straw is a great choice, at this age, your child may be ready to drink from an open cup.
I know how shocking that sounds. It is a surprise to most parents, but stay with me.
Open cup drinking is an important developmental skill, and challenges children to use the muscles in and around their mouth in new and different ways. This helps them progress with managing different types of food, as well as their speech.
Great, right?
Yes, there is always the potential for messy eating with kids, but read why it is actually important to let your kids get messy!
So be brave and give the open cup a chance. It is a wonderful tool to add into your routine, as you can serve your child’s milk and water in it during mealtime.
Because this is a time of transition, I’m going to share with you three schedules so that you can see the transitions.
First, you will see the schedule at the beginning of 11 months, then you will see it once the baby is weaned, usually around the first birthday or in the next few months.
In the latter case, I gave you samples for either one or two naps, as this is often a transition at this age too! Of course, all of these factors vary from child to child.
Get more specifics for bottle weaning and breast weaning.
Sample Feeding Schedule Around 11 Months Old
*This schedule is just a sample. Your child may sleep at different times and you will need to adjust accordingly. I suggest taking note of the time intervals so that you can apply to you child’s individual schedule. You can use this 1 year old sleep schedule as a reference.
6:30-7:00 AM: Wake-Up – Breastfeed/Bottle upon waking *This is usually the second to last feeding you will take away. Sometimes it’s the last if your child is more attached to this than the night time feed.
7:00-7:30 AM: Breakfast – Water available in an open cup or straw cup, table foods (include a fruit/veggie, carbohydrate, and protein).
9:30 AM: Nap
11:00 AM: Breastfeed/Bottle upon waking *This is usually the first milk feeding I take away, if there are no complaints from the baby, and I promptly feed them lunch instead with milk in a cup. Some babies may start to nurse or take very little from a bottle earlier than their birthday. It is okay to follow their lead.
11:30-12:00 PM: Lunch – Water in a straw cup, table foods (include a fruit/veggie, carbohydrate, and protein).* Give milk at this meal once the previous formula/breast milk is eliminated.)
1:30-2:00 PM: Nap
3:30 PM: Breastfeed/Bottle upon waking, immediately followed by an optional small snack such as fruit and crackers/dry cereal/rice cake. *This is typically the second bottle or breast feeding I take away, but it can be the first if this works better. Once this bottle is gone, offer milk in a cup and some protein to the meal like peanut butter, hummus, cheese, or beans.
6:00 PM: Dinner – Water in an open cup or straw cup, table foods (include a fruit/veggie, carbohydrate, and protein).
7:30 PM: Breastfeed/Bottle before bed *Typically this is the last breastfeed or bottle you will take away, and it can be the most difficult. However, feedings at this time won’t interfere with their other meals.
7:45-8:00 PM: Sleeping for the night
*Times are given in a range of possible start times, not duration. If you are concerned about how much your baby needs to eat, see this post on Portion Sizes.
Sample Feeding Schedule for 1 Year Old with 2 Naps
Specifically, this is an example around 12 – 13 months
7:30 – 8:00 AM: Breakfast – 15-30 minutes after waking. About 4 oz. of milk in an open cup or straw, a protein, carbohydrate, and fruit/veggie.
10:30 AM: Nap
12:00 PM: Lunch – 15-30 minutes after waking. About 4 oz. of milk in an open cup or straw, a protein, carbohydrate, and fruit/veggie.
2:30 PM: Snack – About 4 oz. of milk in an open cup or straw, a protein, carbohydrate, and fruit/veggie.
3:00 PM: Nap
5:30 – 6:00 PM: Dinner – About 4 oz. of milk in an open cup or straw, a protein, carbohydrate, and fruit/veggie.
Sample Feeding Schedule for 1 Year Old with 1 Nap
Beginning around 12-13 months Old
7:30- 8:00 AM: Breakfast – 15-30 minutes after waking. About 4 oz. of milk in an open cup or straw, a protein, carbohydrate, and fruit/veggie.
11:00 AM: Lunch – About 4 oz. of milk in an open cup or straw, a protein, carbohydrate, and fruit/veggie.
12:00 PM: Nap
2:30- 3:00 PM: Snack – 15-30 minutes after waking: About 4 oz. of milk in an open cup or straw, a protein, carbohydrate, and fruit/veggie. *This meal should include all the elements listed, but will be on a little smaller of a scale.
5:30 – 6:00 PM: Dinner – About 4 oz. of milk in an open cup or straw, a protein, carbohydrate, and fruit/veggie.
Tips for Feeding 1 Year Olds
As a pediatric occupational therapist, I get a lot of questions about when and what to feed 1 year olds. Here’s some answers to the most common questions:
- Milk should be around 16 oz. total for the day after 1 year of age.
- Ideally, meals should be spaced 2.5 – 3 hours apart, counting from the start of one meal to the start of the next.
- Babies and toddlers are capable of feeding themselves a lot of food at this age. Yes, it’s messy, read the benefits of babies getting messy while eating. I encourage you to allow them to feed themselves as much as possible, even with a spoon!
- If your baby is gagging a lot or you’re nervous about their occasional gag, then head to What You Need to Know About Baby Gagging.
- Try to have as much variety in your toddler’s diet as possible, ideally not serving the same thing two days in a row. Need some inspiration? I’ve got you covered! See The Mega List of Table Foods or The Ultimate List of Meals for Toddlers.
- If you’re concerned about how many calories they’re eating or need to increase your babies weight, then see High Calorie Foods for Babies.
- Around this time you may also be considering getting rid of the binky or dummy, if so, I’ve got a guide that will help you know when and how to do it. Check out Everything You Need to Know About Pacifier Weaning.
What If Your Toddler Isn’t Eating Well? Is It Picky Eating?
If you feel like your baby isn’t getting the hang of table foods or is consistently eating very small amounts of food at 10 months of age, then I would strongly suggest scheduling an evaluation through early intervention (if you live in the states) or seeking out a private or outpatient therapist.
I highly encourage you to save a seat in our free workshop on how to get your child eating table foods, if you haven’t already. This will give you practical strategies on working through this transition with your baby or toddler.
To get you started with strategies you can use at home, grab my, Learn to Eat Table Foods Cheat Sheet, that I’ll send right to your inbox. It has a step-by-step plan and some other tips that will be helpful.
Unfortunately, many times, pediatricians advise to wait it out, but trained feeding therapists (usually OTs and SLPs) are able to catch early signs of underlying sensory or motor difficulties. The earlier these problems are addressed, the easier they are to overcome. Head to Everything About Feeding Therapy to read more.
More on Feeding Schedules for Babies from Your Kid’s Table
The Best 6 and 7 Month Old Feeding Schedule, So Easy to Follow
Introducing Baby Food: Everything You Need to Know
The Ultimate Guide to Feeding Milestones for Babies and Toddlers
Feeding Red Flags for Babies and Toddlers
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Alisha Grogan is a licensed occupational therapist and founder of Your Kid’s Table. She has over 19 years experience with expertise in sensory processing and feeding development in babies, toddlers, and children. Alisha also has 3 boys of her own at home. Learn more about her here.
Hi Alisha
My daughter is 8.5 months old and is currently breastfeeding up to 6 times in a 24 hour period. St present, she feeds at 7am upon waking, at 11am and 3pm (after naps), 6.30 before bed and often 2 night feeds which isnt ideal.
Im due to go back to work in 8 weeks and was hoping to drop the 11am feed. She wont take a bottle so should i substitute this feed with formula or given that she had so many feeds throughouy day /night, could i drop it all together?
At 11 months, would it be ok to have a morning and night breast feed with all other day feeds being replaced by full cows milk?
Thank you in advance
Most doctors would say no to cows milk even at 11 months old, but ask yours. I thinking using formula is just fine, but you can experiment with dropping that feeding and shuffling things around a bit in the next month. Hope that helps!
Hi!
My daughter will be 1 year old in just about 2.5 weeks. I keep reading elsewhere that cows milk shouldn’t be introduced until AT LEAST 1 year old. Do you disagree? I’m currently nursing 3 times a day. I cut out the lunch time nursing session but didn’t think about the idea of replacing with milk with her lunch. She usually just has some water in a sippy cup with whatever she’s eating for lunch. I plan to cut out the other afternoon nursing session soon so that we are only nursing morning wake up, and bedtime for the time being. So, should I be offering cows milk at these that I cut out instead of water?? I dont want to be cutting her short on calories!
Yes, I totally agree! Since this post goes into 12 months plus thats why you see milk listed in places, before 12 months use breast milk or formula.
I love your plan and are already making great strides!
My son is 11 1/2 months old and we are working on his schedule as he will be going to daycare when I go back to work in a couple of weeks. He just made the transition to whole milk. We were mixing it with his formula for a couple of weeks and then yesterday we dropped the formula and just did all whole milk. I do know the recommendation for whole milk is 12 months and I asked my doctor if it was ok to make the transition a couple of weeks early so that I wasn’t creating a new routine as I was starting back at work. When we were doing the formula/milk mixture we were doing 4/day but I’d like to just do milk feedings 3x/day. Is that ok?
Here is an example of his schedule right now:
7:00 – wake up
7:30 – 5oz whole milk in sippy cup then breakfast (today was a small handful of multigrain Cheerios, an egg and blackberries)
9:30 – nap for 1 1/2 hrs
11:30 – 5 oz whole milk in sippy cup then lunch (today was baked sweet potato cut like fries with a bit of olive oil and spice on them, half a banana and a slice of watermelon)
2:00/2:30 – nap for about 1 hr
3:30 – ***this used to be the 3rd milk/formula feeding…can I just give a snack with some water in a straw cup instead? Maybe blueberries and a half a piece of toast with hummus? What do you suggest for a good snack here?
5:30/6:00 – supper (whatever I am having…tonight is probably homemade chilli or spaghetti)
7:30 – 6 oz whole milk in bottle
Then bed.
Would like to know if this looks ok or what you would recommend changing. When he goes to daycare he will have to get up about an hour earlier as we will have to be heading out the door around 7:00.
Thank you!
I think this looks great! Love how proactive you’re being! Once he is officially 12 month old I’d start giving him those sippy cups with milk with his meal instead of right before, but start with one meal at a time:)
Thank you!!
Hi Alisha,
Thanks so much for your advice, so valuable 🙂
My babe is 10.5 months and is breastfed 4x/day and will not take a bottle, for love nor money!! (any tips on this front would be incredible if you have any!)
We have removed breastfeeding her from her bedroom at night and instead do it in a quiet area elsewhere in the house before dad reads and puts her down (which takes several attempts of her standing in her cot & putting her down again before she settles) but at least she isn’t using the boob as a crutch at this time. However, she does still feed during the day and does fall asleep on the boob, if she doesn’t it takes forever to get her settled with many tears too… which of course makes us all anxious!! Any tips on the settling front here?
I have a course I need to go on for a week at the end of June (she will be almost 13months) and will not be around to breastfeed during the day, only morning and night. Do you have any tips on what I can do in preparation for both her and I to get her weaned off these feeds by the?
Thanks so much in advance Alisha X
You’re so welcome! As far as the bottle goes, I know its so hard. You can check out this article, it is really hard to switch at this point and might just want to move onto a straw cup at this point.
I also have how to wean from the breast. Take a look at these and let me know if you have more questions!
Dear Alisha,
I am confused the schedule.
Should I go with protein, veggies.. first and after 30 mins, a cup of milk?
Or milk first then food?
My baby is nearly 14-month-olds.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Thank you very much
Hi Stephanie, yes offer milk with the meal, which should have all the foods you mentioned but 3-5 foods total. Offering immediately after the meal is okay too as long as they drink it all right away and aren’t walking around with it for an hour. Hope that helps!
I was reading your 11 month old feeding/nap schedule and my son is pretty much on that same time frame give it take 20-30 mins. For the second bottle/breastfeed where is says that is he first bottle you take away depending on the child do you take the bottle away and give formula in a cup with lunch? It’s says milk but I thought they can’t have milk until 1 year ? Thank you 🙂
Yes, you are right- until 12 months (since this schedule is for 12 month olds + as well I said milk) but whatever “milk” is for them at 11 months is great.
My baby will be 12 months the 20th we have been feeding her table food and she eats it really good matter of fact her formula and baby food no longer seems to be enough so she eats her baby food and has a sippy cup of formula plus she eats when we eat also we go to the health unit for WIC vouchers Tuesday the 2nd will they go ahead and start her on milk and regular food for this month of January or wait until next month
They will probably wait until next month, they can be really strict about the being exactly 12 months!
So happy to have found your website.
I have a 10.5 month old. I usually give him his formula and then solids around an hour and half after his bottle. Should I move his solids (as in breakfast and lunch) to half an hour after his milk as suggested in the schedule?
Also if he only has an hour nap do I give him a snack or just give him his bottle earlier eg at 10:30am instead of 11 and lunch at 11 instead of 11:30?
And one last thing, he has dropped his afternoon formula bottle on his own so I have been giving him a small snack instead with no milk. Is that okay?
Thanks for all your advice!
I think you’re fine but want to be moving towards that once he’s 11 months old, this is so he can start to understand that his his bottles aren’t a “meal” and his appetite will adjust, too.
The snack with no milk is okay for sure, you may add this once he’s drinking cow’s milk.
As for the nap, its okay to play it by ear for now, you want to start paying attention to the intervals and getting 2 to 2.5 hours between meals and milk. Does that make sense?
Makes perfect sense. Thanks so much
Great advice! I’ve cut out our 3pm nursing session and replaced it with a snack and milk. I’ve been giving her about 3oz? Will cut out the 11am nursing session next and replace with a snack and milk again but I’m wondering when I cut the morning and bedtime session how much milk should I be giving her at breakfast and dinner and before bed? Thanks!
Great job Kimberly! You got this. So, you’ll want to have around 16-18 oz milk total for the day, if you want to spread that across three meals think about 5-6 ounces at those three times. Don’t get overly worrisome about those amounts though, especially when she’s nursing. It’s a transition so there is a lot of back and forth and at times relying on milk a little more as they are learning to eat more.
I’m curious to know why cow’s milk from a cup is a better choice for a 13 month old than formula in a cup or breastmilk from the breast? I notice you said in a reply that a mom of a 10 month old should continue to breastfeed a couple more months, but your article indicates that weaning from breast and bottle should be complete by 13 months. I’m curious to know the sensory and developmental reasons that weaning at a year old is ideal so I can balance that against the World Health Organization’s nutritional recommendation of breastmilk until 24 months. My son is 11 months now and still getting his first two teeth in, so I’m not worried about cavities (especially as the ADA study on that was focused only on bottles, and my son won’t take a bottle.) I want my son to have good nutrition, but I don’t want him to face developmental problems either. He already drinks broth with a straw, handfeed himself (though he actually consumes very little) and we’re working on using an open cup. I’d like to know the developmental and sensory reasons that make 12 months ideal for weaning? Thanks!
Oh, no no no. I’m sorry if you misunderstood and I’ll have to go back and look and make sure I do a better job, but breastweaning is totally different than drinking from a bottle AND if you have breastmilk to use in a cup that’s wonderful, by all means use that as long as your able to. The WHO and AAP differ on their recommendations, some believe its because the WHO is looking at second and third world countries and is trying to ensure the maximum nutrition for toddlers that may not get it, if not on breastmilk.
Around 15 months babies cognition develops further and they can become very attached to the bottle or breast. The latter is fine, but can make weaning more difficult. Bottles are really the primary reason for concern because of the reasons you listed. One other point that is really important, a milk source is really important still from 12-24 months, but often it can interfere with a toddlers regular meals and cause them to eat less because they are filling up on milk, that is what we don’t want. And, its totally normal at 11 months to eat small amounts.
So my husband is trying to take away my son’s bottle of formula/milk of 7oz when he first wakes up. He isn’t willing to budge on the situation but I feel like it is necessary for him to start his day off good with what he’s most comfortable with. Generally he’ll get 2 more of those mixed bottles the rest of the day ( morning nap and before bed). I’m even willing to give up the bottle in the middle but I really feel like he should have one when he first wakes up otherwise I noticed he gets really cranky and irritable.. now,I’m all for weaning and setting him up for success and which he eats snacks and little meals throughout the day but I’m still attached to the idea that he NEEDS that wake up bottle to set his day off right. Am I wrong in wanting this for him or should I just stick to what my husband thinks and that is that?
If you’re son is under 12 months, then yes stick to it. If over 12 months, it doesn’t matter which bottles you take away when, you just need to comfortable, and the baby needs to be adjusting. I’d try taking away the afternoon bottle instead and see if that’s easier:)
thanks..i find it difficult feeding my 13years old boy..he doesnt eat atall…he only feed on cerrlac and lactogen…what should i do?..
WOW!!! This is very valuable information. I really appreciate! I will try with my son.
Hi Alisha great post! My baby will eat any fruit purées but will not eat any as a finger food or on his own. Any advice ?
I actually have a post to help with that Andrea, take a look here and let me know if you have questions: yourkidstable.com/2013/07/teach-your-child-to-feed-themselves.html
In the one nap schedule, is the second nap at 3:00 just a typo?
Yes! Just changed it, thank you!
We still heavily rely on nursing to sleep for naps. Can you talk about strategies for eliminating this crutch?
This can be tricky, do you think you can start to alter the schedule so that they aren’t nursing right before nap, maybe just one nap at first? You could also try changing up your routine and not nursing him in a spot he would normally fall asleep, then take him to his room and do a little routine before nap to help get him used to sleeping without nursing. It will take some time and their will probably be some tears. Proceed with how you feel comfortable.
nice advice,thanks