Reducing bottle feeds for 10 month old

[boredbuthappy]

My DS is 10 months old and still have 4 bottles a day. I need to reduce these to 3 a day because he's not eating his solids very well ie they are for playing with rather than eating. HV says to work towards him eating 3 sold meals a day by the time he's 1 year old, and that is only 2 months away. He's currently having 5-6 oz first thing in the morning and then breakfast, then 5-6 oz at about 11am, lunch at about 12:30, 5-6 oz at about 3pm, dinner at about 5pm and then a last bottle before bed at 7pm usually 5-6 oz as well. What's the best way of getting rid of one bottle feed without upsetting his clock too much?

could you give him a snack at 11am instead of the bottle, or just a smaller amount of milk so that he eats more of his lunch?

he isnt having loads of milk, my dd is 12mths and has 4 bottles a day, the morning one is 5oz and the other 3 are just 4oz, she eats well tho, she is a little gannet!

so i would maybe reduce the milk or try and get rid of the 11am feed as that is the easiest to replace with lunch or an earlier snack.

when dd was on 4 bottles i just cut the first morning bottle and gave her breakfast first thing in the morning with a beaker of water

you could also try missing or reducing the 11am bottle and maybe bring his lunch forward a bit?

Thanks for the advice folks, I think I'll try bringing lunch forward. He's been napping fairly well these days in the afternoon and the 3pm bottle coincides with around the time he wakes up from his nap, so I don't want to get rid of that one. I think the 11am bottle is the one that's the problem, so reducing/ eliminating might be the best way? What's weird is that he's been on this routine for a few months now, and 2 months ago he was eating more than he is now! You think it'd be the other way around. Mind you, he's a cutting a lot of teeth at the moment, might have something to do with the reduced appetite, but nonetheless, I need to work towards getting him to eat more.