8 month old, not wanting lunch...

[Chelly71]

Hello, my 8 mnth DS is a pretty good eater... routine currently as follows
7am - 7oz bottle
8am breakfast (porridge with fruit puree and toast/fruit)
11am - 5oz
11.30am - lunch
2.30pm - 7oz
5pm - tea
6.30pm - 7oz

We just struggle with lunch... he screams and doesn't want the food but will eat loads at breakfast and tea. Could he not be hungry enough? Should I stop his 11am bottle? I do try and feed him protein at lunch so the meal tends to be lumpier (he could happily eat a pouch of puree) - but surely he should be able to cope with lumpier foods at 8 months?... I then end up feeding him loads at tea to make up for it but not sure if this is great given it so near bedtime.

Would welcome any advice... BTW - if I push lunch later he is too tired as he has a sleep around 12.30-2pm... thanks!

He is still only 8 months old. He is still very young and has only just started learning how to eat.
If he doesn't want lunch, don't force him to eat it. Most professionals recommend introducing a third daily meal from about 9 months. Maybe he's not ready for it yet.
You certainly don't need to make up for a lack of lunch with more at tea time. At his age, the majority of his nutrition is still coming from his milk.
The eating should be nutritious, but more than that it should be fun, tasty and exploratory. He is learning about food, its tastes and textures. Don't worry if he eats more on some days than others and don't worry if he rejects a meal altogether. He will eat as much as he needs and wants, when he needs and wants to.
Follow his lead.

You're doing the right thing. Of course he should be on 3 meals a day by now. Try gradually moving lunch a little later to say 12 or 1215 as he's probably just a bit full from his 11am milk.

He only needs a minimum of 18oz of milk (including that in other diary) nutritionally. Definitely drop the 11am milk and then offer him lunch at 11am, gradually pushing it towards 12pm by about 10-12 months.

Alternatively, keep offering lunch at 11.30am (with the view to pushing it towards 12pm as he gets older) and offer him a snack (rice cakes/fruit etc + water) at about 10am.

The majority of his nutrition should come from food, not milk. Milk is an incomplete source of protein and digestible iron.

Thanks all for the advice... we worked it out and he started spitting up the 11am feed so I dropped it and we are now on lunch at 11.45 (snack about 10am sometimes). Amazing how things change so quickly... he is stuffing his face this week and would eat me out of house and home if I let him!