My 11mo is ravenous!

[RubyrooUK]

My DS2 is 11mo old and seems insatiable at the moment. It seems like he is always hungry.

I normally work full time and he just eats solids during the day and has about 8 breastfeeds between night and morning. Which feels like enough!

This weekend, he has had about 8 breastfeeds during the day and another 6 at night! It's like having a newborn.

So yesterday, as well as around 14 breastfeeds (not comfort, I can hear him glugging away) he ate:

Small yoghurt (sweetened with fruit)
Small bowl of porridge
Quarter of a slice of toast
Three rice cakes
About ten carrot puffs while in pram
Squash, pea and carrot stew
Another yoghurt
Satsuma
Strawberry
Slice of apple
Slice of cucumber
Some sort of baby biscuit
Bits of a cheese sandwich
Large portion of bolognese that rivalled his three year old brother's (beef, tomatoes, leeks, broccoli, peppers, mushrooms,courgette etc) with baby pasta and some extra spaghetti
Three strawberries rejected by elder brother

He is very tall and not especially chubby. His brother was eating far less and was a far chubbier baby - DS2 isn't skinny but he is quite lean and long. He is very active.

I'm also running out of snack ideas. He only has two good teeth (his top four are all coming in) so is only just really getting properly good at chewing.

Does your 11mo eat like this? Have I just forgotten what babies eat? Is this a growth spurt (hope so, or my boobs will fall off). Any good snack ideas?

My almost 11mo has eaten like a horse since his first spoonful of puree!
Yesterday was:
180ml milk
1 weetabix, 60ml milk, 1/2 banana, 3 chopped apricots
180ml milk
1 tortilla folded in half with 1/2 can of sardines and 1/2 grated carrot
2 banana biscuits and about 10 grapes
lamb, lentil, sweet potato, carrot and parsnip casserole - about 1/2 my portion
180ml milk

He would eat until he's sick if I let him, so I have to chose the size of the meals - he's steady on 91st line for height and weight so I assume this is about right for him.

I find snacks hard as well and hate just giving a couple of biscuits all the time. What about tortilla or bread with avocado or curried lentil dip on top. Or homemade mini sausage rolls, so you know the meat isn't full of crap and you can add apple or parsnip to it to give it a bit more flavour? Or some cooked pasta swirls with a bit of sauce? Or apple, but as massive 'shavings' - I use the potato peeler, then it's easy for him to pick the pieces up and he doesn't get left with sharp bits once he's started chewing.

Hiya - sounds about right for my 11 month old too. I'm still BF'ing, but only morning and night now. She won't take milk from a bottle or cup so I try and give her lots of dairy.

She's loved proper food from the start and just keeps opening her mouth like a baby bird! Today was fairly standard and she had:

7am - BF
7.30am - 1&half weetabix, with a large tablespoon of fruit purée and full fat milk. Then Greek yoghurt mixed with fruit purée.
11am - cheese triangle
12.30pm - large pot of food: haddock, courgette, celery, potato, carrot & basil. Large yoghurt. Fresh raspberries.
3.30pm - fromage frais
5.30pm - large pot of food: chicken, carrot, sweet potato, turnip & potato. Small yoghurt. Fresh raspberries.
7.30pm - BF

Hm, obviously these babies consume a lot! I just wish he would cut down the breastfeeds a bit too. He literally swings himself into position on sight of me.

Oh dear - no advice on that but I feel for you! Love the baby bird analogy - I just went to put moisturiser on my son's face and he opened his mouth ready to be fed!

Could you up his protein and fat, know he will be getting it from BM but his diet seems a bit carb based. The protein and fat might be more filling

Another thought - my son didn't naturally drop any of his bottles. I dropped them as I increased his food intake - he was perfectly happy with the decrease in milk but would never have instigated it himself!

What would happen if you just didn't bf as often? Is he actually crying for milk, or do you think he'd be happy with a longer gap? Could you see how he reacts if you just offered water on some of the occasions?

I had this with ds1, by 11months I was reduced to tears as he was reverting to a newborn feeding all night and waking up for breakfast at 5am. We were both unhappy with the situation so I know it goes against a lot of people's feelings and advice (and I bf my daughter till over 1y) but I just stopped offering the breast at night at all.

It was painful the first night but then he got over it and it worked a treat.d I reduced snacks as well so he was actually filling up on carbs, protein and veg at meal times. He started eating proper meals in the day, similar size to his three year old sister , but he's a tall boy so I don't think it mattered. Looking back I think he was going through a big growth spurt and didn't know how to ask for food other than bf at night.

My dd2 is now 8 months and also started feeding at night again but as she can't have proper meals in the day I won't do the same thing at this stage. I think you know when your baby gets to the stage that they can manage through the night without a bf and they need to have 3 solid meals in the day. You could still bf him bed time and morning but I know with my son that offering him milk all night and snacks in the day meant that he was permanently nibblish.

Good luck as I know it's hard work feeding a growing boy!

Thanks everyone for your help.

Jilted, you are probably right about protein. He gets cheese and milk but we don't eat meat that often so maybe I should build that up a bit. Thanks.

JELT - the current situation is that we are co-sleeping (no room for him until we fix the house a bit) and if DS2 doesn't get a feed, he goes beserk, waking up his elder brother. He is actually a very relaxed baby and breastfeeding is one of the few thing he will go completely crazy about. So I don't want to stop him feeding...yet. Having said that, DS1 was still feeding like a newborn as a toddler and in the end, I stopped feeding at night and he accepted it with less fuss than I expected and no apparent trauma so I will bear that in mind!