BLW: Do you keep supplying more food until DD refuses or do you stop placing food in front of her when you think she's had sufficient?

[kimberlina]

Sorry - not very snappy title.

But last night DD (who is only 6 1/2 months) was offered 3 sticks of carrot, 3 sticks of parsnip and an egg sized portion of mash on preloaded spoons.

She ate it all!!! Which obviouly I was very pleased about but the rest of the food now had gravy all over it for me and DH so couldn't offer her any more.

This was more than I'd thought she would eat anyway. Should I have kept more back from the gravy and kept adding to her tray until she stopped or would you have left it at that point anyway?

She was due (and took) a BF 90 mins later at bedtime anyway.

Just wondering what experienced BLWers do in this situation?

Does seem like a lot of food! I would probably have done what you did- given her a bottle after- if you'd given her more solid's she may have been sick or had stomach ache later on

I offer food until he tells me he is finished by shoving it off the tray onto the floor!

In that situation I might have offered a couple of baby rice cakes (I always have a bag in the cupboard - he likes the blueberry ones), breadsticks or whatever, I usually have something suitable on hand for emergencies. Maybe some yoghurt if I was sure he was still hungry, but if I had doubts I would go with something more challenging or interesting to eat that might satisfy the urge to play and chew rather than fill their belly, cucumber works well. If you offer a choice between the interesting and the easy to eat then she has the option.

They will surprise you with how much they put away sometimes, then another day they just mess around with it and none goes in the face at all.

That's a good idea futurenanny - something that is more difficult to eat to practise with. I'll do that in future

Fairy - yes I was worried about tummy ache and sickness, so I think if I do as futurenanny suggests then that should keep her happy and entertained plus she gets to learn new skills :o

I offer until DS stops. I always bf'd an hour before meals though.

You soon learn the signals that tell you if they've had enough. I offer more food till it gets flung straight on the floor, as this means she's has enough. Even then, we usually can continue eating our meal then offer more - often our LO (8.5 months) will leave something on her tray and have a break to "talk" to us, then eat some more from her tray and thee days she is often still eating long after we have finished our meal and are tidying up! She will also tell us (loudly and with arm waving) when she's had enough of being in the high chair and wants lifting out!

Another option - could you have scraped the gravy off and given her a bit of yours?

Depends, ds had reflux and would just eat and eat until he threw up. So I had to limit his food to a reasonable amount.
dd is totally different, she knows when she is full and will stop eating.

whats wrong with gravy?

and that doesn't seem a huge amount of food

Gravy might be too salty?
should be ok in small amounts.

Homemade gravy made from homemade stock (no salt) is fine...gravy made from stock cubes or gravy granules is a no-no as it's too salty.