Nearly 10mo still on 4 bottles and not a big fan of solids

[h33na]

Hi

My DS2 will be 10 months next week and has been on solids since 5.5months. He started off really well, but it's been a rocky road with food strikes, chickenpox and teething. I feel that he's just not a fan of solids, but has always relishes his milk and drains every bottle. Foodwise he has small portions and sometimes just a couple of spoonfuls. I have tried to reduce his milk to see if he eats a little more but it hasn't made any difference. On average he has 27oz a day.
His routine is :

7am     - wake and 5oz
8.30am - 1/2 weetabix with fruit made with 3oz milk
11am    - 5oz then nap for 1.5 hrs
1pm      - lunch usually 1/2 stage 2 jar and yogurt (very rarely eats all of this)
3pm      - 6oz then nap
6pm      - dinner usually whatever I've made for the family meal (chicken/fish/rice/pasta) and yogurt
8pm      - 7 or 8oz and bed

I'm just wondering if and how to reduce his bottles from 4 to 3 a day and what to do if his food intake doesn't increase.
My DS1 was never a milk fan once solids started so I never had this problem with him.

I know people may say finger food is the way to go, but anything we give him gets a lick and thrown on the floor, so we feed him his meal and he then has bits from our plates.
Apart from feeding, DS2 is a happy, healthy little boy, developing well and weighs 20lbs.

Thanks for any advice.

[Lolly]

If you want to drop to 3 bottles you could drop the mid morning bottle offer a snack before his nap instead of the bottle. We went to 3 bottles with DD early because of issues with reflux so since about 7 months she did

Wake - bottle 7oz ish
Breakfast - 1-1.5 hours later
Nap
Lunch
Bottle (usually around 2.30)
Nap
Tea
Bath/bed routine & bottle

However he's not drinking huge amounts of milk - maybe a little more than average but DD wasn't eating a lot more solids at 10 months and we were struggling to get the min 20oz in her. If he is sleeping through, gaining weight and generally well and happy I'm sure he's getting what he needs. He is still getting his main nutrients from his milk until 12 months so it may be worth leaving things as they are a re-evaluating when he hits 1. DD has had a big appetite increase in the last week, she's draining her morning and night bottle and suddenly eating a lot better and eating more. We have changed her afternoon formula to cows milk in a sippy but that bottle has never been a good one so she's not having to make up for a big milk drop.

Keep offering the finger foods, he will get the hang of it!

HTH!

Laura

[First Time Mom]

I agree with Lolly, keep offering the ffs and he will get the hang of it. My ds will be 10mths in 2 weeks and barely eats ffs. He will now have banana, cheerios, and a little bit of steamed veggies. All other foods are pureed and without lumps. I keep trying to introduce the slightest texture, ie. the skin on chickpeas pureed and he still gags and is not a fan. All los are so different in terms of what textures they will eat, what ffs, and the quantity of foods. In time they will all be on the same page but until then we have to be patient and keep offering, making it a fun feeding adventure for them!

[jennyandgraham]

Our dd was not really interested in solids either until we dropped the mid morning bottle at 9 months.  This is what we do now:

7:00 am bottle
8:30 am breakfast
~12:00 pm wake up snack
1:00 pm lunch
2:00 pm bottle
~4:30 pm wake up snack
5:30 pm dinner
7:00 pm bottle

We also totally failed to get her to let us spoon feed her so she's been spoon feeding herself with a small teaspoon quite proficiently for a few months now.  Once she had the coordination and we'd worked out how to get the consistency/stickiness off the food right she's been doing a fab job.  We had 3 months of pointless/wasteful/tedious mealtimes before we let her feed herself.