My son is 10 months old and is now refusing to eat baby food at all, he wants to feed himself. Any ideas on healthy easy finger foods. Also my doctor said I can start switching him to milk at 10 months as long as he is eating meat and other proteins on a normal basis, he said to switch him to 2%. Any opinions on this?

The current recommendation is to not introduce cow's milk until 1 year of age, and it should be whole milk, because of the amount of good fats that are in it. It's not protein that is the difference between 2% and homo, it's fat content.

If you are breastfeeding, I would hold off on cow's milk until your child weans. If you are formula feeding, you could start cow's milk at a year, or move to a toddler formula.

You should ONLY stop breastmilk or formula once the child is eating a well-balanced diet every day. Breast milk and formula provide nutrients and vitamins from ALL food groups. Cow's milk is just dairy.

For good finger foods:
- toast
- pasta
- soft-cooked veggies
- homemade pizza
- soft fruits
- cheese
- crackers
- quesadillas
- dry cereals
- rice cakes

If you are mom who enjoys preparing food for your baby, my SIL and a good friend both rave about the book Super Baby Food. I don't know if I just couldn't get my act together or what, but I just couldn't organize my day around preparing and utilizing whole foods for my daughter. She LOVED the Gerber finger foods dry "cereal". They come in fruit and veggie flavors. She also did really well with "pick up" bite sized pasta. (Ditalini seems like the perfect size.) One really good hint that I got from my Super Baby Food friend, was that you don't have to cook apples - just cut them into bite sized pieces and stick them in the freezer overnight. After they are frozen, thawed apples are the perfect consistency for baby. There are some really good organic options out there, too, you just need to be able to spend time looking at your local natural foods store. There are some really convenient options out there. Oh, and my niece LOVED avocados! Messy, but cut into pieces they have great texture for babies, and there is good protein and fats for baby.