help - where to go from here?

[mom_2_2]

My ds is just over 10 months old and I am not really sure what or when the next step is with his feeding/milk schedule.  Currently he takes in the following over the course of a day (seems like he's eating or drinking all day!):

6:30am - BF
7:15 - breakfast - usually 2 3.5 ounce containers of baby food
9:45 - 7 ounces of expressed breast milk
12:00 - lunch - usually 2-3 containers of baby food
2:45 - 7 ounces of expressed breast milk
5:00 - dinner - 2-3 containers of baby food
6:10 - BF and bed

Here are my questions:

[1] He doesn't seem particularly interested in feeding himself (either with the spoon or with his sippy cup).  Is this unusual?  Should I encourage self-feeding and, if so, how?

[2] He seems pretty happy at this point just eating baby food.  How can I get him interested in regular food?  I've tried offering Cheerios (he's not really interested) and he'll eat tiny bits of a banana, but I haven't tried much beyond that.  How will I know when he's ready to transition to baby food?  I've been hesitant because I don't really know what to try and what do I do if he doesn't eat it?  Do I just give him the regular baby food meal if he doesn't want the regular food? 

[3] When does he drop to 3 milk intakes (from 4) per day?  How does his feeding (and sleeping) schedule change at that point?

Thanks so much! 

[emmas]

Hi - I would say your routine is fine - I found ds slowly started taking less at the afternoon bottle - but I still offer him some, he is down to about 3oz at that feed.

It will probably be quite awhile before he can spoon feed himself - have you tried offering finger foods?  Toast/Rusks/Veg sticks etc - I used to just leave them on his tray - it took him awhile to realise what to do but I tried to eat the same and he'd watch and copy me.

There is a thread on first finger foods in the FAQ section - I make things chip shaped for him to hold.  He'll get the swing of things soon.

HTH

[mom_2_2]

Thanks - when he eventually goes down to 3 milk feeds a day, is the dropped feed usually replaced with something (like a snack) or is it just dropped altogether?

[emmas]

I offer the milk as a snack - I did try to drop the mid morning bottle as it clashes with his nap now and I'd just give a yoghurt or something similar to keep him going to lunch.  My ds has never really cried for food if that makes sense so its hard to know if he is hungry!