Too much food?

[sloathy]

Hello

I'm probably worrying about nothing and really don't want to appear to be complaining when I know other mums worry about their babies not eating enough, but my 6.5month old DS seems to eat a huge amount and I'm scared it might not be good for him (I guess I mean in terms of weight gain- at the moment he is dead on 50th centile for everything and seems happy and healthy). I think I'm worried because he seems to eat so much more than other babies his age that I see regularly. He is my first child so this is the first time I've done this weaning lark.

Anyway, we're doing a combination of finger food and spoon fed mashed/chopped stuff, usually left overs of what we've had the day before or whatever I'm having, but sometimes shop bought stuff. Today he has had this:

6.30am: 9oz bottle

8.30am: 3 heaped table spoons of porridge made with whole milk, 1/2 pear and 1/4 wholemeal bagel with cream cheese (which he fed himself).

10am: 5oz bottle

Midday: whole 'tube' of Plum Organic lentils and buttery veg, small rice cake (we were out so I took this for convenience - he'd normally have some sandwiches, carrot sticks, cherry toms or mashed hard boiled eggs on toast etc)

2.30pm: 5 oz bottle

4.30 ish: chopped left over roast dinner (chicken, veg, cauliflower cheese). Difficult to give amount but approx 20 spoons full. Then half a banana and a table spoon of fromage frais for pudding.

He'll have another 9oz bottle before bed at 7ish. He seems quite thirsty and will have quite a bit of water after each meal.

I've already cut down his day time bottles as he's become less interested in the milk (he was having 4 x 9oz).

He's very active between meals, rolling over (& over!) and playing so perhaps he burns a lot off but I'm still worried I'm over-feeding him. I never force anything on him and it's quite clear when he's had enough but he just seems to want a lot!

Does anybody else's 6.5 month old eat this much?

Thanks

My ds is 6 months old on Thursday. He was wean early with dietician advice due to allergies and reflux and is now doing:

7am 5oz bottle
8am 3 scoops of baby rice with fruit puree
10:30 5oz bottle
12:00 equivalent to small jar of veg puree, small pot of fruit puree
2:30 5oz bottle
4:30 veg puree and fruit puree
6:00 finger food ie veg sticks maybe a rusk or rice cakes
7pm 5 oz bottle

He wakes at 2am ish for a 5 oz bottle too!!

IMO it does seem alot, and as he is quite active and not over weight or in a high centile i don't think its a bad thing. If he suddenly jumped a centile or 2 then I would suggest you cut his milk down slightly.

I have almost the opposite in that my dd only has 20oz of milk a day and 2 meals, mostly fruit and veg and some finger foods and she has jumped from the 50th to 91st centile since she was born, its so frustrating.

it does seem a lot, but as he is eating it without fussing and without you 'stuffing' him (I presume ) I would not worry.

Babies are generally very good at regulating their own appetite. If he's eating this without you having to 'encourage' him to eat the second half of the meal or finish his plate, then I don't see it's a problem.

It sounds fine to me. DC4 (almost 8mths) ate this yesterday (fairly typical)

Breakfast: 1x weetabix with actimal yogurt. half banana

Lunch: 1 scrambled egg on one slice toast, slice of ham, couple of slices of cheese, 1 fruit pot. Raspberries and blueberries.

dinner: small bowl (prob about three/four heaped tablespoons) of chicken pasta bake. yogurt and mango.

She snacked on raisins and a cupcake

She is also BF on demand so probably 4 long feeds during the day, a bit of snacking and unfortunately she still wakes for a feed in the night.

She is pretty small but is on the move literally every second she is awake - she is definitely not a sit quietly baby!

Thanks everyone - I feel reassured! It's so hard to know what's right and what's not sometimes. As long as he seems happy and healthy I'll try not to find things to worry about!

Natzer Sorry you're having a frustrating time of it. It's interesting what you say because my DS was quite small at birth, under 6lb so he's gone up to the 50th from the 9th centile.

I wouldn't worry too much. As I keep getting told that as soon as she starts crawling walking etc the weight will fall off.

I think that unless your ds continues to climb the centiles then not to worry. Its not as if you're feeding him chocolate biscuits and other bad stuff.

But for info, they only need 20oz of milk between 6-12 months. But he obviously likes his morning milk.

Thanks Natzer I had read (in an Anabel Karmel book I think) that they needed between 18-28oz of milk so thought it was ok, but am definitely working towards reducing it. I had cut it down to two 4oz bottles in the day which was ok for a day or two but then he started to cry when the bottle was finished so I upped it by an oz again. Perhaps he was having a growth spurt, I'll try reducing them again and see what happens. I'm aiming to get him down to just his morning and bedtime bottle first and then will try and drop the morning one.....

TBH I would continue to give him as much milk as he wants/needs, and let him decide when it's time to drop a bottle. As far as I understand they start drinking less and less either mid-morning or mid-afternoon, until you know you can replace the bottle with a snack (hasn't happened for us yet, DS is 9 months and has about 4-5oz at 10am and 3pm).

It does seem like a lot of food, but as others have said as long as you read his cues and don't force him it should be fine. DS was eating a lot at 6 -7 months, but has been eating much less lately, not sure why, he started crawling and pulling himself up to standing, so in theory he should need more calories... I find all this weaning thing so unpredictable...

DD puts away an enormous amount of food. I think it's just what some of them do. Some of the other babies we know move far, far less than her so I think it's just an energy in-energy out thing.

I Rember years ago.listening to someone on the radio.talking about how much babies move. They can be moving arms and legs constantly wiggling whilst awake, if we did that as adults we would need to consume huge amounts. All kids are different my DD1 eats vlittle lots of days, then we will.have a week when she eats us out of the hse, she is 4now. Her friend eats huge amounts, more than me and is tinyittle 4yr old just vfasy metabolism and doesn't feel the cold. They both still have half pint plus of milk to drink morning and night. Sounds like you doing fine, your keeping an eye on percentile and once he starts walking it will prob any weight will drop away. My DD2 is 10wks so ive got this all to come again vsoon....