how much food is too much?

[obsessedwithcake]

On the advice of the hospital (for reasons I won't bother you with) I've started weaning my slightly underweight and normally a bit ambivalent about his feeds DS at 18 weeks. We're sticking with baby rice, fruit and veg purees. DS seems to think this is the best thing to happen to him in his life so far... gets v excited at mealtimes, reaching out for the spoon/bowl with both hands, opening mouth like a baby bird in anticipation, trying really hard to launch himself face first out of the chair and into the bowl and whimpering when the bowl is empty / delivery is too slow.

All good, right?

The question I have is how much food is too much?

Advice I've seen is all about encouraging those who only want a teaspoon or two. HV and hospital say there are no rules - 'if they want more, give it to them, they'll tell you when they're full'. Stupidly I took this quite literally at 1st and fed DS about 3 bowls full of baby rice and carrot puree! I realise this probably wasn't very sensible and fortunately he showed no ill effects, but even after 3 bowls he was still showing strong signs of wanting more.

No-one seems to have advice about those who's babies want to eat too much! An example of his current diet (at 19-20wks) is...

6am BF

10am 1 pureed apple and a full BF

2pm approx 4-5 Tbsp baby rice / mashed potato (made up with formula) and 7oz formula

6pm approx 2-3 Tbsp pureed carrot and a full BF

11pm BF

He hasn't noticably cut down his milk, he just seems to want to eat massive portions of solids at each meal - where do you draw the line?

I agree with HV, keep feeding until he is full.

My DD has always had days when all she does is eat, and other days she isn't too bothered.

He is too young to over eat, in that if he does get a bit greedy it will literally come straight back up.

You could try and space milk feeds and purees seperately, allowing at least an hour in between. He might be better snacking? My LO would never have gone 4 hours between feeds at that age without screaming the house down, but then she does love her grub!

My 6mo has just graduated to 3 meals a day but from what you have listed that doesn't seem too much at all. They will defo tell you when they have had to much and worse case he would throw it up if?
Let him draw the line, so long as the food is fresh and healthy which it is would keep on trucking!

My DS loves his food too. He's 10 months now & still makes me worry I may be giving him too much.
One thing I spoke about with my HV at about 6 month was baby led feeding (which I had started to do.)
Is there foods that you could give him so that he can feed himself. I found that my DS would seem to take longer to eat (obviously) & he seemed to feel full earlier.
Maybe it goes back to the thought process of allowing the brain to register when our belly is full?
May be worth a try.

Thanks for the advice. Feel a bit reassured

My only worry is that I'll feed him a massive bowl of stuff which will sit like a brick in his little tummy and his baby brain won't connect his raging tummyache with the umpteen bowls of food he's scoffed!

Seeing the paed next week so will clarify then.

I've been wondering the same thing as I recently started weaning & bub is ravenous - look forward to seeing your update.

Bah! All advice from paed and hv says 'use your common sense' - well clearly I don't have any, or I wouldn't be asking the question in the 1st place!

my strategy: 1-2 tablespoons of watered down fruit or veg puree morning and evening, 2-4 tbsp at lunch, mixed with a starch like baby rice, potato, sweet potato. Always AFTER a BF to be sure I'm not compromising the vitamins DS still needs from his milk feeds.

So far so good!