Could my 6 month old be eating too much with BLW?

[pikapoo]

He's 6.5 months old and we started a combo of BLW and purees just before 6 months (up to then he was exclusively breastfed). He's also very big for his age (e.g. at just over 5 months he was 10kg, with commensurate length in terms of the percentile), but to date the Health Visitors haven't been concerned - presumably because he has been EBF.

It hasn't surprised us that he's taken very well to solids. However we find that he has a huge appetite. For example, at dinner he'll happily wolf down several chip-sized sweet potato wedges (feeding himself) and fruit pieces. We've also kept up his breastfeeding so he hasn't dropped any feed (nor shown noticeable dip in milk consumption).

My question - I thought BLW was supposed to help babies self-regulate their food intake. Do I need to be stricter with how many pieces I place on his food tray? Am worried that he'll put on even more weight (which he really doesn't need!) as result of overfeeding himself.

[Whatthefreakinwhatnow]

Is 10kg at 5 months a typo?! 10kg is approx 22lbs?

[Whatthefreakinwhatnow]

Sorry I don't meant to sound judgy, just suprised. DD1 was bf for 14 months, was almost 20lb at birth but slowed down growth and was 10kg at around 20 months.

DD2 is 22lbs now and is just coming up to 17 months.

For what it's worth, I don't think it sounds like a huge amount of food he is eating.

[Whatthefreakinwhatnow]

*10lb at birth not 20 lol!

[orangebird69]

😮😮. My ds (although very slim) is 13mo, 9.85kg and off the centiles for length. 5mo and 10kg?! 😮😮

[spacefrog35]

Has his weight gain changed? If he's gaining weight at a steady rate then at this point I wouldn't be worrying too much. My DD at 7.5 months can demolish huge amounts of food if she's in the mood, it startles me

Whilst this is aimed at slightly older kids I found it helpful in trying to understand portions www.firststepsnutrition.org/pdfs/Good_food_choices_and_portion_sizes%201-4_for_web.pdf

[pikapoo]

Is not typo, DS is on/just above the top percentile line (he was born big but has further jumped up a percentile line in the past. I can't believe it most days (nor can my back.

He's long in length, so doesn't look particularly obese. But I'm obviously keen to avoid any early childhood obesity for DS given his size.

[pikapoo]

Great! Thanks Spacefrog

[Amithenormalone]

Ds 2 was like this he was bottle fed though but always way above the top centile on weight once my hv weighed him then went on to tell me I needed to cut down his milk 2 minutes later she did his length and this was also above top centile and told me to forget what she had just said and to not cut his feed down. He also loved to eat and seemed to be able to eat loads no one ever seemed concerned as he was always very skinny you could see him ribs ect. He really did grow really quickly I look back at pictures now and am amazed how quick he grew you would honestly think there was months between some pictures when actually it was just a couple of weeks.

[pikapoo]

Ami - did you find that your DS slimmed down when he reached toddlerhood?

[Amithenormalone]

He's always been slim he's now 3 wears 4-5year old clothes but he's really tall and skinny I find clothes are right for length but baggy on him he now sits on top centile for both height and length he's also under pieadatrican due to development issues she has no issues with his weight at all as he's in proportion with length I do tend to find that when they generalise just his weight and put it in the statistics I get told he's in the over weight category.

[pikapoo]

Thanks for all your comments. It sounds like portion control might be the way forward.

[OneForTheRoadThen]

I think you should let him eat what he needs, babies at this age self regulate and as long as he is eating himself or opening his mouth for spoon feeding I wouldn't worry too much. Babies often bulk up before they start moving and once they are mobile the weigh evens out.

Also my son is 20lb at 6 months, it's the 91st centile so big but not off the charts despite what previous posters might have you believe

[Tumtitum]

I don't think that sounds like a huge amount. My DD is 10 months and tiny compared to your baby and she can quite happily eat 3 or 4 sweet potato wedges, maybe some broccoli, a whole satsuma and may even have room for some yoghurt too! I have worried in the past about her overeating but she just starts throwing it around when she's had enough. The only time she actually overeats is on the odd occasion that we give her a pouch of something, then she normally vomits some up shortly after if she's had too much!