Hi Laura,
Thanks for the reply. Right now he is drinking 4, 5 oz bottles...so about 20 ounces total. Our pediatrician told us 14-24 ounces of milk at 1 year. Here's our schedule right now.
6:30ish wake/5 oz bottle
7:30ish breakfast - usually about 4 oz of fruit and grain or fruit and oatmeal puree and 2-3 ounces of something else - fruit or veg as well as a couple handfuls of dry cereal.
9:30 - 11:00 morning nap
11:00 wake/5 oz bottle
12:00 lunch - usually about 4 ounces of vegetable puree or vegetable and grain puree and 2-3 ounces of something else as well as a couple handfuls of dry cereal.
2:00-4:00 afternoon nap
4:00 wake/bottle
5 or 5:30 dinner - usually 4 ounces of a meat/rice/veg puree and a few ounces of something else as well as dry cereal.
7:00 bedtime routine - bath, bottle, books and sleeping by 8.
So I keep reading that people drop the two daytime bottles for sippy cups, but he really likes drinking his bottle when he wakes up from his naps. I know I could force the issue, but the routine is so nice right now and it seems like as soon as we get into a routine we need to change it because he's reached a milestone or whatever. I tried giving him milk in his sippy cut on my lap in the chair where he usually has his bottle and he refused it. I guess I don't feel like that's a battle I want to fight right now if it's not that big of a deal. I was hoping to get him drinking from a cup at meal times before worrying about dropping the bottles in favor of a tippy. He is happy to take water from us (he likes us to squirt it in his mouth from a sport bottle top) but doesn't want to hold a cup (or a bottle, or a spoon for that matter) We have tried several soft flexible spout cups (Nuk, Munckin) a straw cup (he doesn't get it) and a couple easy flow firm spouted cups. He is happy to drink from the latter if we hold it for him, but he won't hold it himself.
Right now his purees are pretty smooth - basically stage 2 organic foods in a jar or tube (Ella's, Plum baby, Happy Tot, and Earth's Best) We tried some stage 3 stuff for a while but he would just gag and spit it out and get all fussy. My philosophy was to keep meal times calm so if he didn't seem ready for something I wasn't gonna force it...I wonder if I was too timid though and should have kept with the stage 3 stuff longer. I didn't introduce the dry cereal until almost 10 months cause I was reading all the labels that said he should be crawling first and he was a late crawler...we started with baby Mum-mums and then added the smaller puffed dry cereal pieces. Occasionnaly I'd give him some banana in one of those mesh things which he'd eat a little bit. We kind of stayed there for a few months...partially because I got really busy with grad school and he was with the sitter and the grandparents more and I didn't trust them to introduce new things. I'm not taking classes or working this summer though so I'm ready to figure this out. This week we've been offering more finger foods at the begninng of each meal. Just putting them on his tray and munching some ourselves. The first few days he wanted nothing to do with them and just poked them and then turned his head away and fussed. But tonight he didn't seem to mind them being on his tray. He kept pointing to them and "asking" us to tell him what each was. He went as far as picking up the red pepper a couple times but never put it in his mouth (which is crazy since EVERYTHING else in the house goes right in his mouth the second he picks it up.) So I'm hopeful that we're heading in the right direction. I know that I don't want to turn meal times into battles, but I also don't want to create a finicky eater...I'm not sure what the right balance is.
He is generally a very happy baby, just doesn't totally love meal time. He's a little on the small size (15% for weight, 60% for height, 90% for head size) but has been gaining weight at the right speed over the past few visits according to the doctor. I feel like he's getting enough food, I just wish he seemed more interested in being a part of the feeding process. He loves popping cereal into his mouth so it isn't like he doesnt' get the concept. But he wants nothing to do with holding his own cup or spoon or trying any new finger foods. Maybe it's not really a problem...perhaps I just need to keep offering and wait it out...I'm a first time new mom so I obsess about these things.
Thanks for your help,
G