To be a bit upset with hv comments?

[MenaZovut]

My son is 13 months and we just had a health review. I was asked about diet, I answered honestly:

breakfast: 2 weetabix with 6oz (neocate) milk, 1 slice toast, fruit
snack: fruit or crackers
lunch: normally warm, e.g. spag bol, washed down with fruit or cereal bar (or both). Somedays a sandwich instead if out.
snack: er....anything nearby tbh. Healthy 90% of the time but can be naughty
dinner: again cooked, similar portion (if it was jar food I'd say 1.5-2 jars) with desert of some kind.

About 8oz milk in two feeds on top of this.

Before I share her reaction...is this abnormal?

He's 19lb 2oz and had a lot of issues around food early (first solids 8 months) and weight gain (which is now steady).

I think your ds because of his dairy alergy is maybe not getting the calories he otherwise would from milk (which is very high in calories) so he's trying to make it up in other ways.

Babies and toddlers need almost as many calories as adults - it's not size proportional!

If he's feeding himself - how much of that is ending up in him and how much is ending up decorating the carpet anyway?

That's about double what both of mine eat in a day and they are near the top of the centile charts BUT if your little lad is struggling to gain weight he obviously needs it. Kids metabolisms are different. Does he do a lot of walking - always on the go?
Is your HV advising you to cut back on portion size? Because I don't think that would be wise if he's at the bottom of the weight chart - I would get a second opinion.

I can very clearly remember that my DD used to have two weetabix from 8 mths with a pot of yogurt and often toast as well. It was far more than I could eat myself and far more than she eats now as a very healthy slender 6 year old.

If you're not happy with your HV don't visit it is fortunately not compulsory.

my DD at that age would havea 8/9 oz cup of milk and a small bowl of porridge with banana or pear, ham sandwich on whole meal for lunch perhaps a cut apple then a small bowl tuna pasta for tea. we dont do snacks or supper in our house. so to me that seems a lot but i am pretty strict diet wise in our house.

Honestly, I think the key here is the milk. At that age, my daughter (50%ile height and weight, fed on demand, BLW) was drinking about 24oz of cow's milk during the day and was breastfed first thing in the morning, last thing at night, and at least once overnight. Your son is getting his calories elsewhere, is all.

Both my boys eat VAST quantities of food but because they never stop moving they burn it all up.

If their weight is within normal range and they are eating a varied diet I wouldnt worry.

IME HV just seem to wind people up.

My dd (17 months) is pretty small, still wearing 9-12 month clothes but not been weighed in a while.

She eats a massive breakfast and 8oz aptamil growing up milk every day. It is the only meal she's guaranteed to eat. She doesn't snack between meals. Lunch is usually a sandwich (one slice of bread) some fruit and salad type stuff, cucumber,pepper etc or something like a 1 egg omelette. She mostly picks at things at lunch.then for tea home made meal but again a smallish portion that she sometimes eats all of and other times around half followed by yoghurt and fruit, then a 5oz bottle of aptamil again before bed at 6. (she then sleeps till 630am)

My Hv is really nice and said as long as you offer a wide range of healthy food then at this age they self regulate what they need. (I was really worried about dd not really eating lunch or tea somedays and being tiny compared to other babies the same age) she also said toddlers use a lot more energy than us and so at times need what seems like a huge amount of food. She said so long as they're sleeping well, drinking plenty of water and happy in themselves then not to worry.

Your ds sounds a very happy healthy boy from your posts op and all babies are different. You know him better than your hv does and sounds to me like you're following his lead and doing a brilliant job. Don't let her get to you.

If he's happy and healthy and not gaining weight at an alarming rate then can't see the problem. I have a 3 yr old DS who barely eats most of the time but on some weeks will eat like a gannet. His weight chart resembles a roller coaster, but he was poorly alot in his first 2 years (mainly due to asthma) so when his weight starts to go up i'm not worried as i know when he is next ill it plummets again. I've stoppped weighing him and take my cue from his energy level.

At his 1 year check i got lectured about him not building bricks (he had no interest) but has good fine manipualtive skills with drawing etc. if it wasn't for the fact i'm a nursery nurse i might have been more worried but as it was i laughed it off.