Is my 10 month old eating too much?

[TheSleeperandTheSpindle]

Had 10 month old DS weighed on Friday and he is still tracking the 95th line. He is also very tall and really active, already trying to walk.

So HV starts asking about how many bottles he is on and I tell her 4 x 6/7oz but none overnight. She then raises her eyebrows and says I need to cut him down to 2 bottles by 11 months. She then says to replace the 11am & 3pm bottles with snacks and I tell her that DS also has snacks alongside these bottles already. Well she looked at me like I was some kind of feeder and told me that he needed 2 bottles a day and I can give him vitamin drops rather than always feeding him.

If I give a rough rundown of DS's day can anyone tell me if I am giving him too much, although he feeds himself most of the time and is obviously never force fed

6.30am - 6-7oz

7.30am - porridge, fruit, sometimes some yoghurt

8.30-9.30am - nap

11am - 6oz and some snacks, such as pieces of banana, kiwi, grated cheese & apple, fruit loaf. These are small amounts of each thing and he feeds himself while I'm packing shopping away etc

12-1pm - nap

1pm - lunch. Something like a small sweet potato with cheese and beans or a small omelette. Yoghurt and fruit.

3pm - 6oz and snack such as carrot sticks, the rest of the fruit from the morning. Small puff things from Organix or baby biscotti.

3.30-4.30pm - nap

5pm - dinner. Either whatever we're eating, if it's suitable like macaroni cheese, cottage pie, pasta or an Ella's Kitchen pouch followed by avocado/banana and yoghurt.

7pm - 6oz and asleep by 7.30pm.

So, does this seem ok? DS can obviously only eat so much at lunch and dinner time so moving the 'snacks' to these times or dropping the bottles just results in him waking for milk in the night. Also 3 hour long naps suits him better than 2 naps as he seems less overtired, this was also picked up as 'something to change'

Firstly all babies are different! If you think your DS is happy and healthy then don't worry too much about following an exact timeline

I think we moved my DS from 4 8oz bottles to 3 at about 9 months. That meant he ate more and then we dropped to 2 bottles a month or so later and were down to just the bedtime one by about 12 months. We were told to start making milk a drink rather than a food so from 11 months he was having cows milk from a cup instead of the daytime bottles, but he still had his morning and bedtime ones.

Motivation was getting him to eat more solids and also to get off bottles (no more buying formula or washing all those bottles - it's life changing!).

We just stopped the 11am bottle and then he had one around 1pm instead of 3pm. Then we cut out the 1pm one replacing it with a cup of cows milk. Why not just give him the 11am snacks and see how he does without the bottle? Or maybe keep the same timings and just put 4oz in the daytime bottles and reduce it slowly that way?

Some kids are just hungry. My DS eats loads. Nursery have commented they've never had such a good eater, but he's not overweight and his percentiles are consistent, he's just tall and eats a lot!

I class it as a successful meal time if my 9 month old so much as puts a piece of food in her mouth then spits it back out. Your DS sounds like he's got a perfectly healthy diet! If he wants the bottles, give him the bottles, especially as his weight is fine! And it's not like he doesn't eat any food. Not all babies are the same which I think is what HVs forget.

My 8.5 month old has 4 bottles a day and 3 meals. I don't give snacks in between meals though. If he's happy leave it as it is.

If you don't think there is a probably, carry on with what you're doing. HV are there to guide and provide advice, you don't have to do it.

His diet sounds fine to me!

I think you should just do whatever suits your baby. My nearly 8mo Ds is on 7 bloody 3 or 4oz bottles a day and three good meals. Try as I might he's not interested in dropping any bottles so I'm just going to stick with it and see what happens. You've made me think I should probably double check with my health visitor though

That is a lot, but if he is healthy and happy I wouldn't change it! It's more about what they eat then how much. I would maybe reduce the high sugar stuff like biscotti, fruit loaf and all the fruit for a bit more veg and protein (cucumber and tomato maybe in place of fruit occasionally, an egg for breakfast, a bit of fish/chicken at lunch to fill him up), but really it seems like a healthy diet to me.