Is my 9m old getting enough

[Leanin9]

My 9m old is just over 11kg and 74cm, so above average size. but hes got no real ‘chunkiness’ to him. He’s got a tiny bit on his arms and legs but his back and stomach have got absolutely no excess. I feel like babies are supposed to be chunky and in both mine and DHs family all babies have been. He still breastfeeds a lot and I’m worried he’s just not getting enough for him (and that’s why he’s feeding so much still maybe)
he’s not underweight so the dr isn’t interested and I appreciate it’s not a critical issue, but just wonder if he’d thrive a bit more if he had more milk?
I didn’t want to supplement with formula but I am wondering if it would be best.

Sounds like you are offering him a really good diet, so that's brilliant.
The frequent feeding does concern me slightly, but perhaps it's just that he hasn't made the connection between food and satiety yet, he doesn't understand food is what you eat when hungry.
Perhaps you're just in a transition period while he gets the hang of eating.
I'd continue to let him feed himself what he wants from healthy nutritious high calorie solid food and I think he'll get it in the next few months.

I’ve just looked and the ‘clock starts’ when you start feeding them, so it’s actually less often than ‘every hour’ I said in my op.

I’m going to track it tomorrow and see how often he’s actually feeding

He has always had a lot even as a baby, I would feed non stop for the first few months. He’s really active too, he never stops, he’s crawling and starting to walk which I imagine is using a lot of energy. When I’ve asked (drs / midwives. / lactation consultant) they’ve just passed it off as feeding for comfort/ growth spurt / teething / all babies are different.

@dairydebris would you have a specific concern?

Only in that it's unusually frequent for that age... but if his Dr's say all good, he's clearly healthy and growing really well, honestly I'd just continue as you are.
It might also be thirst? Offer water along with solid meals but still bf on demand for now, it may be where he's getting most of his calories for now til he completes the transition to solids.

In a smaller baby a latch issue might be worth looking into for very frequent nursing. But as dairydebris says, if all is fine with growth its likely not a big problem.

There are other reasons he may be nursing frequently.

https://kellymom.com/hot-topics/frequent-nursing/

Which would again send me to a cranial osteopath! Can also help with latch.

I think a lot is going on at this age ... teething for one. I remember my son at this age was barely interested in food. I offered it every meal time and he'd have a lick or a bite but nothing proper. Try not to worry. He sounds like he's doing well. You can't force them to eat. Carry on feeding on demand as breast milk is high calories.

Neither of mine were ever chunky with rolls of fat. I think that we are used to seeing FF babies and in my rather limited experience most BF babies will be slimmer.

If he’s feeding so frequently does he have access to a no-spill cup with water so that he’s not feeding due to thirst constantly?

Do you ever leave him with your DH/DP so that he’s not gets used to filling up on solids when you’re not there?

As for finger foods, I had a spoon refuser too. Pretty much anything can be a finger foods. My DD particularly liked a roast dinner 🙂

Could DH/DP start taking him down for breakfast instead of a BF? He can have all sorts of things like:

Porridge Fingers

Blueberry or banana pancakes

Smooth nut butter on toast.

I’d ditch the whole meal though as it’s not recommended before 2. Their tummies are so tiny that the whole grains can fill them up and stop them getting enough nutrients.

And if he’s feeding so regularly has Tongue Tie been ruled out and have you tried some breast compressions?

@Leanin9how did you go on when you made a note of how often he fed in a day?

One thing I found tgat helped with the night feeds was putting them into their own room as they woke less. You might want to wait until the 8 month sleep regression has passed though

Once he’s hit 12 months you can think about some gentle night weaning which should improve his appetite during the day.

He’s feeding 20ish times a day, roughly hourly except when he has a solids meal and he goes 1.5-2hours

Probably about 5 of those feeds are comfort feeds but the other 15 or so, I think are genuine feeds.

Im not worried about my supply but I do wonder why he’s so hungry. I can see when I speak to people they don’t believe me though and think it’s just comfort feeding and I need to start saying no to him.
dh agrees with me though that he seems actually hungry, and he’s not chunky for someone who feeds so much like I said.

I spoke to a midwife again and they said all I can do is carry on, refuse to feed, or offer formula instead and hope it fills him more. And like I said dr doesn’t care because he seems fine. I’m going to try get some breastfeeding support near me.

Have you tried expressing before feeding, so he gets more of the fattier hind milk?

And again, it could be due to latch, or it could be soothing due to pain.

Finding support nearby is a great idea.

My first baby was never chubby, always long and muscular instead, and didn't feel squishy to cuddle. But for the food - it doesn't need to be chunky pieces for them to feed themselves. DS1 was a bit slower than DS2 with fine motor skills, so he wasn't that good at using a spoon but would happily shovel fistfuls of porridge, weetabix etc. into his mouth. You can make the weetabix quite thick by pouring the milk on gradually and letting it soak in before mushing it up a bit, then they can just pick it up and eat it. Yoghurt is trickier but you can blob that onto the weetabix rather than serving it separately. Even soup can work if you make it thick and soak lumps of bread in it. With pasta, we used to pick shapes that hold the sauce, e.g. I remember squidging bolognese into rigatoni in the early days.

I don’t think he knows how to scoop food. He prefers picking up pieces but he used to eat them and now he just plays with them then spits them out.
if I load a spoon he either throws it or takes the food off it and just squashes it in his fist. It’s strange because the first 3 months of weaning he was just eating everything he could!
he did choke (actual choke not gag) and I do wonder if it’s put him off

20 times is an awful lot. My DS had great weight gain but fed about the same amount. His was through Tongue tie.

I think getting some BFing support does sound like a good idea.

Do you ever leave him with DH so that ge gets used to filling up on solids?