Esther this is not a stupid question, I have spent days trying to decide when the best time to feed Calum his solids. I have also looked through posts and found schedules similar too or but not quite there.
When you start you will just need to tweak your schedule, so you are happy where you put the solid food.
Also, don't think it is snacking, the reason for the milk then a hour (I sometimes give it right after) is so that our LO still get their milk first (their main food) then the solid food - hope this makes sense. Esther you will find that when Paul is a little older he will start refusing feeds because he wants less bottle in a day anyway, I am going through this at the moment and when Calum went to 4hr EASY, I can't remember if you are on 3 or 4 EASY or how many feeds Paul takes in a day.
I will give you an example of Calums routine when he was Pauls age (1st) , and one for our current amount, 2nd(this is a bit crazy!)
7am - wake
7:30am - milk 7-8oz
11:30am - milk - 7-8oz
12.30pm - solids - 1 ice cube of veggies or fruit mixed with formula and possibly baby rice to thicken
15:30pm - milk - 7-8oz
19.45pm - milk - 10oz
no dream feed - never has
The above is when he was Pauls age, he was taking a bottle every 4 to 4.5hrs - I could have given him a solid meal at 0830, 1230 or 1630.
7am - wake
7:30am - bottle - 6-8oz
8:30am - Breakfast - porridge mixed with 2oz of milk I usually add an icecube of fruit to this as well.
12:00 - bottle - 5-6oz (I give him as much as he will take)
13.00pm - solids - 3 or 4 veggie or fruit ice cubes
16:00pm - bottle - 5-6oz (I give him as much as he will take)
17:00pm - small yogurt for babies
19.00pm - bottle - 10-12oz
no dream feed - never has.
This routine is our current one, we are still trying different things - I went down to 3 bottles for a few days, but my mothers instinct was not happy at that - I didn't feel he was ready for 3 bottles yet and his milk intake had dropped dramatically. So I have reduced the amount of the middle 2 bottles it still takes an hour to feed him sometimes so we generally end up giving solids straight after milk.
Trust your judgement with the solids, remember to introduce your first food at the time when Paul is the most hungriest i.e morning, lunch or tea, try not to introduce things too late in the evening it will sit in his tummy (check out the stuff I typed for Kaylene/Allison on our Sep/Oct thread).
Esther I hope this helps, but you may find you need to tweak your routine soon anyway, just because of the age Paul is. I have had to tweak mine loads in the past month and Paul is a month younger than Calum.
