o think this is quite enough to eat in a day?...despite what MIL says

[Lemonsqueegie]

So I am 37, bfing DC3 8mo who is on 3 meals a day, quite active with the other DCs and do a bit of exercise (run 5k twice a week). I am only 5ft. I weigh 48kg roughly which is a UK size 8-10. And I like to eat healthily but not deny myself anything I like. At all.
But my baby is quite petite ( born 25th centile, growing along it nicely)and my MIL will not stop going on about how I am not eating enough "so she is not growing". And now she has started telling DH to tell me to eat more.
So whilst I am perfectly capable of politely ignoring her advice, I am starting to doubt myself...
so is this enough to eat...?

Porridge (big bowl - 60g dry I guess) and apple and plum. 2 cups tea.
Latte coffee
Banana and water.
Salad, two slices of toast, cottage cheese, yoghurt, fruit. Water
Pineapple chunks
Pasta with ham and veg.Fruit. 2 cups tea.
2 meringue nests
Another massive bowl of porridge

I eat chocolate when I want it and have a bottle of wine (at least) every week (spread out obv)

Bloody hell I have to say that what you eat sounds like a diet to me! (this may be why I am a tad lardy right now ) But YANBU that your MIL should stop commenting. If your baby is 8mo & on 3 meals a day then the input of your milk has significantly less to do with her weight than if she were younger and ebf (and even then your diet has not a lot to do with it as others have said)

Being consistently 25%tile is fine. Would be a cause for concern if she had been 80 or 50 + and then dropped, but IMO the key use for percentile charts is tracking weight. Someone has to be 25th after all. Assuming your baby is getting the right nutrition through solids, which I imagine she is looking at your own diet, you can safely shut your ears to your mil and perhaps ask your DH to have a word.. Or just ignore her full stop.

If the porridge is made with milk it's not low on protein.

Start having a beer with each meal and tell her this boosts milk production. ;)

oftengrumpy that would need more than a pint of milk to get 21g - oatmeal is not that high in protein!

There is also protein in yoghurt and cottage cheese.

And there is protein in ham, so the op is probably getting quite a lot of protein.

I'm the same height as you, and bfing, but have put on 2.5 stone to my pre-pregnancy figure. My DD is currently on 75th percentile. My MIL makes comments about DD competing in the Olympics at sumo wrestling, and asked me the other day if my trousers were too small. You can't win!

Fredfredgeorge... According to the box 40g of porridge + 275 ml of milk is a serving and has 14.3 g of protein so I thought 60g would have about 21g? I agree though that is about a pint of milk if you have it twice a day if not a bit more! The protein mostly comes from the milk as the oats on their own only have 4.4g in 100g. (Will stop reading cereal boxes now and go to bed!)

I think your protein is probably fine too. Meat eaters over estimate how much protein they need and understimate how much is in things other than 'meat'. It's worth checking though.

I don't eat anywhere near that much in a day and I eat plenty. I have no idea why she thinks you need to eat more?!

Good point Chipping. I am vegetarian and quite aware of different sources of protein. It all adds up.

OP, your daily food intake sounds fine to me. I run 8 - 10k, 5 nights a week, but still eat much the same as you - porridge for brekkie (made with water), banana, wholegrain toast w/peanut butter (one slice), fruit. Pineapple chunks in the afternoon. The only difference being that for dinner, I have mostly fish, and the occasional steak, with veggies (no carbs for dinner). Then a slice of toast with peanut butter for carb replacement post - run. So agree Chipping, very little of my protein comes from meat.

Seems healthy to me. Although, DP's Mother would have you believe I was staaarving him, due to the lack of burgers and croquettes and crispy pancakes and waffles and chicken nuggets (she loves them). Riiiight.

My MIL still insists that everyone needs 3 full meals per day, 2 of those must be three courses. Oh, and anyone who isn't at least a few stone overweight is starving to death.

If you have enough energy and don't feel the need to eat more then ignore, and let the DH know that you are ignoring so that he knows not to bother relaying her comments

Seems fine to me. I'd ignore your MiL, but I wouldn't say/do anything about it. Let her say what she likes, shrug it off.

I came thundering in to say that there is more protein in there than it looks at first glance. Pasta has protein in it, not a lot, but some. As does egg white.

I remember calculating the protein in my DS1's diet as I was convinced he wasn't getting enough (dairy allergy). He ate a lot more protein than I realised. Bread has quite a bit.

(Allergies are always to proteins, I am told. So if you can be allergic to it, it's got protein in it!)

Looks fine (and very healthy) to me too!

And cottage cheese is a good source of protein!

Porridge has a decent amount of protein in a serving.

the baby is not getting a smoothie of what you eat. So true, but never heard it put quite like that before

If you are maintaining a healthy weight by definition you are eating enough

I'd up the iron though if I were you are there isn't much in that diet. The ham would add some but not enough - eggs, dark green veg, nuts, red meat are all good sources

Sounds fine to me, including protein intake.

Sounds good - most people eat way more protein than is really needed. You've got half your protein requirements in just the oats and pasta, not including milk, cottage cheese, ham etc.

Pay no attention, your baby sounds healthy too.

I would have thought you're getting tonnes of protein from all the milk products (assume you make porridge with milk). Could be low in iron, though, depends how much ham & chocolate, what kind of pasta, etc.

Aw thanks everyone (never thought I would come out of an AIBU thread saying that!). I feel all vindicated and a bit pampered - as if like I have had one of those nutritionist diet reviews you see glam people having in the "health and beooowty" bit of magazines - this must be how those slebs feel..!
Nevr think about iron - Think iron is in dried apricots? am also on one of those bfing supplements so should be ok

I'm glad you feel better about it :)

You'd need an awful lot of dried apricots to meet your 'daily requirement' but tbh I don't eat anywhere near enough of the 'iron rich food' to get 'enough' iron in my diet, but whenever I'm tested my iron levels are just fine

If you feel fine then just smile and ignore her :)