Am I over feeding?

[BakingBunty]

I'm BLW my second child, DD (8 mo). Her older brother has never been particularly interested in food... At 3.5, he eats a really wide range of things (was also BLW) but doesn't have a massive appetite and will stop when he is full (unlike me ). In contrast, DD can't seem to get enough of solids and I'm worried that we are giving her too much. She has gone right off milk and I'm struggling to get her to drink 15oz in 24 hours. She's chunky (9kg, but tall too) which I find adorable, but I don't want to store up problems for later in life.

Here's what she has eaten today - as in actually swallowed rather than toyed with! We give her yoghurt on a spoon but everything else is self fed:

6.30 - 5oz milk

7.30 - 4 raisin wheats soaked in milk, half slice toast with peanut butter, 4 slices apple fried with a little butter and cinnamon

10 - 2 rice cakes, water

11.30 - one egg cheese omelette, nibbles of a mini corn, 2 tenderstem brocolli spears, 2 strawberries, a mini yeo fromage frais, water

2.30 - 3oz milk, water, rice cake

4.30 - 20 fusilli twists with bolognese - was out and DH gave her tea. Quarter banana, another fromage frais, water

6.30 - 5oz milk

I'm thinking it's too much. I'm just so aware that milk should be the primary source of nutrition but think that she's too full to be interested in it!

Can you change the fromage frai for healthier full fat Greek yogurt?

Change the raisin wheat to shredded wheat/oatabix/porridge.

Also note that oatcakes would be better then rice cakes as rice cakes are high GI and so a quick hit.

The diet seems quite sweet and it would be better to do more savoury and less sweet so she doesn't develop a sweet tooth - which she might already have.

In contrast my 8MO has today eaten-

7am 7 oz milk
7.30am 1 raspberry, 2/3 mouthfuls of banana muffin (from blw cookbook)
11am 7oz Milk
12am 1 carrot baton, 3/4 mouthfuls of spinach pancake
3pm 7oz Milk
6pm couple more mouthfuls of that banana muffin.
6.30 PM 7oz Milk.

9.5kg ish 91st percentile.

Either your over feeding or I'm under feeding or all babies are different and take to food in their own way/at their own time.... Who knows!

lottiedoubtie your LO has two to three times as much milk as mine, though! The food will suddenly take off. That banana muffin is a hit in our house too!

variousrandomthings thanks. She often has oatcakes and shredded wheat, porridge, natural yoghurt - depends day to day. Should probably cut down on the rice cakes though! I'm not concerned about the types of foods she eats, or the balance, just the volume.

Gosh she eats way more than my 18 month old ever has! We manage 5 pasta twists per meal and consider that a good meal .
All babies are different though. If she's healthy, happy and thriving then I wouldn't really worry too much.
Just for comparison my 18 month old eats something like this is a day...
Breakfast- half a weetabix, a banana
Lunch- half an omelette, a bit of cheese, some salad or veg, some Greek yoghurt
Dinner- 5ish pasta twists with a tomato sauce, some veg, fruit afterwards, sometimes some home made custard or something along those lines
6oz milk at bedtime

She eats far too little though!

Lottie my dd is a week off 8 months and eats like yours. I think it varies wildly.
She's still a milk monster!

She's little 9th percentile. .. but very strong and developed with it.

Thats reassuring squiz - everyone I know in RL has babies who are gobbling up proper meals (baby size obv). I guess he will get there eventually forces self not to worry

He's PFB can you tell??

Lottie yes I hear a lot about it at playgroups. But then 1-1 or if someone says it several people will then say their baby eats much less (especially blw).

Lottie my DD was the same (if not worse) at 8 months. Proper milk monster though. She's only just started eating bigger portions. Despite that she's on the 50 centile and has been since birth!

It's funny, DS ate like a sparrow but was a milk monster like your LOs. Which is why this is unchartered territory for me! We cut down her portion sizes yesterday and she still only drank 2.5oz at bedtime . But she drank 6oz when she woke up this morning. Good job as she has refused to drink any milk at all after her lunchtime nap!

How about Milk instead of the mid morning/mid afternoon snacks? I give DS Breakfast, a bottle before nap at 10, lunch, a bottle before nap at 2-3, then a bedtime bottle. With 2 overnight feeds still though he's in no danger of going short! I don't think the volume of what she eats is something you e forced upon her though, you are BLW so she's conttolling her intake. I don't think she'd eat more just because it was in front of her, DS will start playing with it when he's done! But he can eat quite a lot on one sitting too.

Dd1 on 9th centile probably ate similarly OP,she was tiny but just loved her food. I don't think what your dd is eating sounds overly sweet, pretty tasty and healthy actually, if a lot.

Just reread my post and I'd like to add DS is nearly 9 months, and I give him dinner in between nap bottle and bedtime feed!

Thanks so much buglife and greenstone. You've made me feel much better!

Great idea to reinstate milk mid morning, we dropped that feed a couple of weeks ago because she seemed to have lost interest but a couple of ounces is better than nothing!