2 Questions for Almost 11 Month Old

I remember getting growing pains and I'm 28! LOL! They are quite real. A more recent memory of it though is through my DD. She's 3.5. She'll do the same thing. Those legs start kickin.... She just can't seem to get comfy. All night long. Then the next day, she's like 6 feet taller. If it's really rough on her I give (and gave her then too) some tylenol. It helps relax the little muscles. Also I would massage her legs and give her a warm bath. Those helped a lot too. Good luck!

...I started my DD on milk at about a year so I can't help with the other question. I'd say though that if you DS is taking it OK & has no tummy trouble from it, why not switch???

My pediatrician gave the go ahead to start switching to milk at about 11 months, but you should check with your pediatrician first. As for growing pains, yes totally real. My son was a bit older when his started, but they lasted a long time and he was very uncomfortable. He would actually wake up screaming in pain. Try massaging his legs and if that doesn't help you could try infants tylenol or infants motrin.

Growing pains are absolutely real. They tend to be muscle pain, as Red said, the muscles stretch and cramp and hurt like crazy as they try and keep up with bone growth. Feels like (because it essentially is) a pulled muscle. One help for them (aside from massage, always making sure to go in an upward motion to keep from breaing the little gates in the veins) is keeping potassium levels in the body UP. Bananas are a good natural / readily available source of potassium. Sometimes, however, it's actually bone pain from the line of the epiphyseal "joints" - the growth plates at the ends of bones. (Think about how much your pelvis hurt when pregnant as it was stretching... it's that kind of pain, but worse... because it's *all* your bones, or specific pairs of bones). When it's actual bone pain tylenol &/or ibuprofen helps a great deal.

My son was on milk a 10 months old. He refused formula so we tried mixing the formula with milk to make the transition gradually (which our pedi was suggesting to do at 11 mos) but after 3 cups of it mixed, he refused it again. So we started giving him straight cow's milk and he was fine. My son LOVES milk! He's smart and he's healthy.

Growing pains are definitely real.. What happens is the bones grow slightly faster than the muscles and causes pain until the muscles catch up (or stretch.) Usually babies this young don't get it though... like Jane M. said, they are made to grow fast this young. I would wonder if maybe he is teething, or has an earache, upset tummy, etc. that isn't uncomfortable enough to make him cry, but enough to keep him awake. As far as the milk thing, it's like other's said... Cow's milk isn't made to nourish humans, and it's important to get as many nutrients as possible while they are growing so much. Babies CAN drink it, but they do better on human milk or formula.

Hi, A.:

The Arms and legs thing. Have you tried massaging them when he wakes up and then let him fall back to sleep in his own bed?
Sleeping in your bed will become a habit hard to break.
Good luck. D.

He can have milk, but you can't switch to milk. So in cheerios is great. Instead of a bottle of formula, not so much.

Growing pains are real. I had them and my daughter has them. However, I've never heard of them so young. Kids that age are pretty well designed to do a lot of growing in a short period of time. I bet he was just trying to rock himself back to sleep.

Good luck.

I am not sure about the growing pains..sorry.

The reason for not switching to milk until a year has nothing to do about handling it. Its about nutrition and milk has no where the nutrition that formula/breast milk does. I would wait until a year...even though I know how tempting it is to start early.

You can switch him to milk...he's almost a year, it's fine. The goal is to transition them to milk and table food by a year so he's probably already cut down his formula intake at least a little. I'm not suggesting you should totally abandon the formula, but I started both my kids right around 11 months. I mixed it with their formula a little at a time for the month and that way we were done with the formula by then. If he were any younger I would say wait on the milk, but he's fine.

As far as the other, I think it's probably just a phase. If it were me I'd keep him in his crib, but you gotta do what you think is right. I might check on him, or see if he puts himself back to sleep without you even going in there. Sometimes my kids wake up, fuss and go back to sleep, it's pretty normal.

My son's pediatrician (he's 17 now) had him try milk starting at 10 months old. My son was allergic to it but he told me to try it every 6 months. I gave up at age 2. But anyway, he was fine with him starting milk before 12 months.

don't know about the growing thing...
Yes I started milk w/all my kids before 1...around 8mos They all did/do fine. I buy whole milk and dilute it 1/2 with water. This stretches my $ and helps them digest it better.

I think a milk a month before he turns one is fine. In regards to the leg pains yes he is probably having growing pains. Give him some infants motrin or infant tylenol before he goes to sleep.