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Weaning

Find weaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Weaning forum. Use our child development calendar for more information.

6mo eating too much and screaming when I take food away

20 replies

Makingitupasigoalong13 · 25/03/2015 12:09

Hi all - looking for some advice about what to do with my lo at feeding times. She's currently on 2 solid meals a day (lunch at 1130 and dinner at 430) and since i introduced solids 3/4 weeks ago she's loved everything I've given her. However she never (ever) seems full and has never refused anything I've given her...wouldn't have imagined this would be a problem but I have to restrict her food as (from experience) she will eat until she's sick, and when I take food away from her she goes absolutely ballistic. As in she'll start whining if I don't get the spoon to her quickly enough, which escalates into crying when i take the bowl away, and finally screaming (tears, red faced, the lot) when she realises she's not getting any more. I've tried bf before the feed so she isn't ravenous when we start, signs to show its the end of mealtime, and consistently giving her some finger food at the end (normally slices of fruit) to see if she gets bored of her own account. Nothing seems to be working and i'm now worried on a number of fronts - that she's going to be putting on too much weight (taking her to get weighed next week), but also that maybe there's something wrong for her to react so strongly every time i take food away?!?! Does anyone have a similar experience? All i can find is posts about babies crying before/ during meals, not after!

OP posts:
PourquoiTuGachesTaVie · 25/03/2015 12:14

I haven't got much advice sorry (my child was the fussy kind!), but my first thought is not to take food away, just give her the amount you are happy to eat from the start.

ToddleWaddle · 25/03/2015 12:17

Maybe try giving finger foods along side the spoon feeding. Will give plenty time to mess about and learn to self feed, regulate etc. Look at baby led weaning.

Makingitupasigoalong13 · 25/03/2015 12:19

Sorry - my post wasn't clear. When i say 'take food away from her' i mean she finishes the pot/ bowl I had prepared or whatever. So she eats what i set out, the problems start when I don't then go and get more for her!

OP posts:
TheCowThatLaughs · 25/03/2015 12:21

She's probably hungry and needs more to eat. Just give her some more. Aren't babies self-regulating at that age if they're allowed to be?

maamalady · 25/03/2015 13:12

If she's hungry, give her more food? Give her breakfast too.

MinceSpy · 25/03/2015 13:25

A six/seven month old should be on 2-3 milk feeds and three meals a day. I think your little one is telling you she is hungry.

dementedpixie · 25/03/2015 13:31

a 6-7 month old should have far more than 2-3 milk feeds, mine had 5 or 6. You could try adding in another solid feed if you didn't think it would impact too much on milk intake.

VenusRising · 25/03/2015 13:42

Babies are self regulating.

My DD in particular ate over a kilogram of food at 7 months. She'd just keep going untill she'd turn away when she was full. I fed her all kinds of food that we ate- I'd just purée up dinner into 100g jars, and she'd have 5. The rest was fruit and veg. She also had 2 bf and one large bottle ff at night. It was scary how much she ate when it was all put out in the morning, but she regulated the amount she wanted.

She's going to be 6" tall, like all DHs family. She's a bean pole at the moment and eats more than me. She's constantly hungry, and considers dinner as an appetiser for second dinner.
She chooses fruit and veg over any kind of sweet stuff. She likes all the strong flavours as I fed her the food we were eating including garlic and chilli and curry. I never cooked anything special for them, I cook from scratch and they eat with us.

Can I ask,
What are you thinking, what's running through your mind, when you are restricting your baby's food? Are you afraid of her being fat, or tall, or bigger than you? I think you need to take measure, get a hold of yourself, and stop restricting your baby's food to be perfectly frank.

Also, it might be better to feed your baby smaller, more frequent meals so she's not so distressed with hunger she pukes when you do provide her with food.
Some babies eat a lot, and they regulate themselves, so keep on shovelling until she turns away. She's developing her own inner knowledge about her own hunger and satiation. Trust her, she's her own boss.

DixieNormas · 25/03/2015 13:44

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

SuzanneSays · 25/03/2015 13:55

My (limited) understanding is that at six months your baby should still be getting the majority of their calories from breast milk/ Formula, and that solids are introduced just to get the baby used to different textures, tastes etc. Maybe try offering more milk feeds during the day?

mamapants · 25/03/2015 14:08

How much is she actually eating?
I don't think I would leave her crying wanting more food.
I'd try maybe making milk feeds more frequent so every three hours rather than four say depending on current routine. And possibly offer breakfast too if she still seems unsatisfied.
If she's hungry she's hungry

RawCoconutMacaroon · 25/03/2015 14:12

What do her meals consist of? If you think she's eating a large volume of food, and is still hungry, maybe you need to increase the nutrient density of the food (ie more calories, fats and protein in a smaller volume might satisfy her more).
Maybe add a bit of grated cheese or olive oil to a meal?

doublepotions · 25/03/2015 14:30

Have you tried offering finger foods after her meal? If she has something in her hand it might stop her crying for more.

BertieBotts · 25/03/2015 14:34

I would have said the same - to give her more food, but if she's eating until she is sick that is worrying.

I would ask your health visitor or GP for advice.

TheCowThatLaughs · 25/03/2015 14:56

Is she actually being sick or is she maybe just gagging a bit and some food is coming back up?

Chips1999 · 25/03/2015 15:07

I'd probably ask the HV for advice to be honest as it's a bit worrying if she's being sick often because she's eaten too much.

I'd probably go all in with BLW and let her feed herself rather than spoon feeding, and I think I'd give her three meals a day so hopefully she wouldn't be eating as much in one go (which I'm guessing is causing the sickness?) and the solid intake is spread out more over the day?

quietlysuggests · 25/03/2015 15:15

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

CloserToFiftyThanTwenty · 25/03/2015 15:25

I'll probably get flamed for suggesting these but I found little rice cakes good for providing entertainment and filling up the DC

Makingitupasigoalong13 · 25/03/2015 19:31

Thanks all for your advice.

A month ago I'd have completely agreed that 'babies self regulate' and until recently was just feeding her as much as she seemed to want, but unfortunately she is now eating so much that she vomits an hour afterwards so I have been really questioning this. As an example, for dinner last night, she started with a full bowl of cauliflower cheese, followed by a large portion of pureed lentils with veg, followed by 3/4 of a banana and yoghurt (the banana she ate herself). After each bowl i waited to see if she wanted more (it's not like i was force-feeding her bowl after bowl!) She wasn't happy so i gave her a slice of toast cut into slices but gave up when she wasn't eating it and was just crying in her high chair - i figured that as she was distressed i should get her out. An hour later she vomited a massive amount (we're not talking about spitting up a small amount).

Venus Rising - what I'm thinking when i 'restrict what she eats' is that I want her to actually keep down what she eats, rather than eating so much that she then vomits it all up and ends up getting none of the nutritional benefit. I think its great that your lo eats so well, and I wouldn't have any issue with my lg eating similar, but as it gets to the stage where she vomits what looks like the entire meal, I have started to try and avoid this situation. to be clear, she doesn't vomit while she's eating or crying - this situation has arisen when i give her as much food as she wants, and then an hour later she vomits the whole thing up... So i do have a very firm hold of myself thanks very much - I'm just trying to make sure that my lg does actually keep some food down. My comment about putting on too much weight was simply because my friend's hv scolded her when her lg went up two centiles and gave her a row about over-feeding her.

Quietlysuggests - completely agree that I don't have to worry about her getting fat - she's on 5 milk feeds a day as well as I haven't wanted to risk decreasing her milk intake in case she drops a centile!

I'm going to try and increase the amount of finger food she gets to see if that helps her to self regulate as some of you suggested. I'm also going to introduce some brekkie to see if it helps space out her food intake over the course of the day (the hv specifically told me not to do this until she was showing signs of hunger before lunch time which she hasn't yet done, which is why i was holding off).

Thanks again for all your advice - if the vomiting doesn't stop tho I'll head to HV as I really don't think that's good.

OP posts:
mamapants · 25/03/2015 19:47

That does sound quite unusua.
Would she accept a milk feed after food. So say you give her cauliflower cheese and a yogurt then offer her milk, would she take some and then stop of her own accord?
Is she crying at the end of the meal and then stopping crying if you offer her more?
It does sound like a lot of food.
Can I ask how long she's been on solids and how slowly you've built it up.
My second son really enjoys his food and will cry sometimes when something runs out but he's never made himself sick.

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