11mo - time to drop to 2 bottles?

[clairebear79]

DS just turned 11 months old, we have been having a few issues lately with breakfast & tea (solids) & I'm wondering if it might be related to his milk intake.  

His feeding routine is currently as follows:

6.30am 6oz milk
7.30am breakfast - either 3/4 weetabix, rice krispies, 3tbsp readybrek plus 2oz milk & fresh fruit pieces or slice toast
10.00am snack - a small selection of raisins/grapes/oat bar/dry cereal/breadsticks/apple/dried fruits
12.00  lunch - protein/veggies or sandwich if we go out plus pot of jelly (we're dairy free)
2.30pm 6-7oz milk
5.00pm tea - something like pasta in tomato sauce or a bit of what we're having.  He barely eats anything
6.45pm 7-8oz milk

He can get quite fussy before breakfast, we've always put this down to hunger, but then quite often during breakfast he starts shouting angrily, throwing himself backwards in his highchair & thrashing his legs around.  I cannot work out if its simply b/c he doesn't like the food we give him, or if he's too full from his milk so he doesn't want his solids.  Or if its just that he's eaten all he wants (which usually isn't very much) & wants to get down out of the highchair.

We often have the same performance in the highchair at teatime, and I really do struggle to get much solids in him at all.  He always eats really well at lunchtime.

I was wondering if I should maybe try cutting back his 2.30pm milk feed & see if that makes a difference to how well he eats his tea.  I know this will be the next bottle to drop & he's coming up to an age where he shouldn't need it any more, but he always seems well ready for it & drinks pretty much all of it, even though he eats a good lunch.  Is it ok for me to cut it back or should I be waiting for him to drop it of his own accord  

I am also wondering if I should be feeding his solids BEFORE milk at breakfast time now, since he is 11months  And whether that might help him take a better solids breakfast

He's also reaching the age where he ideally wants to be having his milk from a sippy cup - so how do I go about making the transition  Do I just put his entire feed into a sippy on his highchair & see how he goes, or do I do it gradually & say put a couple of oz in the sippy & the rest in his bottle

If anyone has any thoughts or suggestions, they would be much appreciated. TIA.x

[Lolly]

He could well be refusing breakfast because of the morning milk so you could switch them around now and see if it makes a difference, he is getting plenty of milk through the day. We switched milk for my DD just after she turned 1 for the same reason, so we did breakfast and then milk in a sippy as a snack with some toast a bit later. I think that's a good chance for you to swap to a sippy too, let him get used to that one, then do the afternoon milk.

If he is eating well at his other meals I don't think you need to worry too much about tea, my two quite often refused tea (DD still does ) if they are hungry they will eat. You could cut the afternoon milk and bring tea a bit earlier in case he is getting too tired to eat if that fits in with your ruotine.

Laura

[Hedgehog17]

Hi,

We've started to split the morning bottle into two, so he now gets 4oz on waking, then solids, then another 3oz afterwards. This has really helped him to eat all his breakfast 

I'm still giving milk first thing as he gets probiotic drops in it and this ensures he gets the lot at the right time!

You could always give the first lot in a bottle and the second in a sippy if you want to get him used to it.

HTH 

[clairebear79]

Thanks ladies.  I think we shall be making some changes over the course of the next week!!!