Am I feeding my baby too much?

[3ormorecharacters]

DD is 6.5 months old and about a month into weaning. She was born a little early at 2.8kg (50th centile for her adjusted age) and was EBF until weaning. She was quite slow to gain weight and I have never been 100% confident in my supply, but was reassured that she was having regular wet and dirty nappies and sticking to the 9th centile line so doing ok. She's still small for her age - about 6.5kg when I weighed her the other week.

She absolutely loves food - wolfs down anything I give her and seems to have a bottomless stomach. Her portions are almost small adult size. For example, her dinner tonight was half an avocado mashed with a tablespoon of cream cheese and a piece of wholemeal toast. A few bits of toast ended up on the floor but most went in. All her food is healthy stuff made from scratch (PFB!) with a mix of spoon feeding and finger foods.

Everyone is commenting on how much bigger she is looking now - she's still far from big but she is filling out loads and getting bigger in all dimensions. I'm pleased that she's enjoying food but a little alarmed at how much she's putting away. We had a similar age baby friend over for lunch today who is much bigger and had just a tiny pot of food which wouldn't even dent my DD's appetite.

Am I setting her up to have problems with portion control in the future or is this just what her body needs at the moment?

Don't worry about over feeding at this age, they are pretty good at self regulation.

It's great that she's taken so well to weaning. I'm no expert but I seem to recall that when babies are full, they just stop eating, so chances are she is eating what she needs. I don't think you should worry, as long as the food is healthy.

Your baby will stop when she's satisfied. She sounds like she's thriving,well done!

DD used to eat huge portions when she started weaning, I was baffled where she put it all. Once she got to 1 year her appetite decreased a lot and she was moving around loads and slimmed right down. She can still put some massive portions away when she wants to but is skinny as a rake

If your DD is eating and loving nutritious foods like avocado toast then I'd leave her to it, it's not a huge plateful of nuggets and chips and she will stop once she's full.

Thanks all. You worry when they don't eat, then you worry when they do! The joys of motherhood.

At this age you should only be spoon feeding once a day. As long as you are offering milk 30 mins to 60 mins before food then it’s fine.

My DC1 took to weaning like a duck to water. He'd be pointing and shouting at the cupboards to get more food. We used to joke that he'd have dinner, pudding and cheese & biscuits every night. He was really active as a baby and while he did look a bit big looking back at the photos now (he's naturally big and tall), he's now slim at nearly 4.

Honestly, enjoy it and use the opportunity to get as many new tastes as you are able. I had one dd who did not take to weaning (or eating at all after that) and one who did with gusto. With dd1 I worried so much about how to wean, when to feed, what portions. Dd2 just sat down with us at mealtimes and joined in, whether with our food or something made for her. Enjoy your dd exploring and loving food!

I literally could’ve written this post myself, we were even referred to the paediatrician as she barely gained any weight while EBF, like you, I’m not sure if there was a bfing issue, we used nipple shields.
My baby eats solids like a horse! And she’s gained really well from it, I’m just taking it as a plus! To be fair, she is 8 months now and I would say she is a little more selective with what she eats so just enjoy it. My baby was the star of a family party where she ate prawns, feta cheese, olives and crab paste on crackers 😂 BLW is, I guess, a kind of new concept so a lot of people haven’t seen young babies eat like that before!

I sometimes worry about this too! My son is a big lad - 91st centile for weight and height, currently weighs about 21lb. He will happily eat an adult sized portion of readybrek, and for lunch he’ll have 5/6 tablespoons of pasta / rice / curry etc.

I’m currently just going with it on the basis that I assume he will stop when he’s full. He feeds himself (either finger food or I pass him a loaded spoon) so I assume he just wouldn’t put it in his mouth if he were full. I am amazed by just how much he will eat though.

Does she have 1 meal a day? I just started this weekend weaning my 6 month old. I don't know whether to give him tastes a couple of times a day or only once. Made him porridge this morning he had 3 spoonfuls then stopped opening his mouth so didn't really have much

I started off with just one meal a day, then two, now three. I've used a book called Feeding Your Baby Day By Day which I've found really helpful. I haven't followed the meal plans exactly but it gives you a good idea of how to introduce things. We fast forwarded through it though as she seemed so keen. All babies are different I guess so you have to follow their lead I think.

All babies are different I guess so you have to follow their lead I think

And that is BLW in a nutshell. You've followed her needs, and that's perfect