How much food can I feed my 41/2 month old?

[babyk]

My little one was not putting on any weight and becoming unsettled at night so was advised to try a little baby rice. Needless to say she ate it with no problems. She soon progressed to having porridge in the morning and a veg puree for lunch but now seems to eat everthing i give her, which is becoming 1/2 a pot! Is this too much should i follow her or ...? When do you think I should try a small evening feed?

Milk is what she needs.

Milk has more calories than baby rice etc

give her milk

Babyk have you taken her to the Dr? Is there any reason she's not putting on weight ie vomitting, illness etc. I think you've been badly advised about starting solids though. Perhaps you could give her some extra milk. Are you feeding her at night? Would she settle if you gave her some more milk when she wakes? It's pretty common for babies to wake more frequently at this age.

Have been brestfeeding her so far, do you think i should introduce formula too?

No. Just give her lots of BFs.

no your milk is the best thing she can have

feed her lots, feed her on demand and feed at night if she wakes up

who told you to introduce other foods?

My HV! SHe has started slleping through again but still unsettled during the day!

Of course it was a HV.

Milk, milk and more milk. All yours.
Common time for a big growth spurt about now. It will settle down.
Ditch the hv.

well yes I can't say it came as a complete shock to hear that

your milk is really the best thing for her, and lots of it

have you read / heard about introducing solids too early being responsible for all sorts of health problems? Your hv should be supporting you to (if possible) only be giving breastmilk until at least 6 months

you can stop with the rice etc right away and just give more milk, it will give her the calories she needs

rice just gets them used to something different in their mouths. It has no goodness or nutrients

Seems to be pretty standard hv advice. Mine told me the same when DS1 was 16 weeks and I believed her (I didn't know any better then).

As the others have said just keep bf. My DD went through a similar thing at about that age where she didn't put on much weight but she'd had a cold, her eczema was inflamed and she was itchy and she was awake more and consequently burning more calories. She woke frequently at night and fed possibly 3 or 4 times a night for a while. It will settle down again.

How much does your dd weigh?

Just keep b/f on demand. I have been told a growth spurt is normal at this age (dd is 4mths) and have had to give my dd the odd night feed again after her sleeping through. Of course I have had many people telling me this means she is needing solids but I have decided to just feed on demand again. (I am no longer b/f her) This often means she only goes 3 hours between feeds during the day but I am happy with that.

I was doing feeds every 90 minutes for 3 weeks from about 20 weeks. It was hard work but she was best on my milk.

I've come to discover HV are not that smart.

she will appear to eat more with solids cos they have less calories than milk so to get the amount of calories she needs she will have to eat higher amounts of solid foods than what she would take in milk.

i know people that have had to bf every hour or so from about 5 months but it's best for them.

i was ff but still had to give bottles every 2 hours.