How much food at 6 months?

[harrietm87]

My baby is 6 months. We started blw a few weeks ago as he was grabbing stuff from our plates. He wants to eat whenever we do so I’ve been giving him 3 “meals” a day of fruit and veg finger foods (e.g. for breakfast yesterday he had half a banana and a quarter of an avocado) and he’s been properly eating it. He’s bf and has never taken a bottle so I have no idea how much milk he has, but my friend told me that he should only be having 1 meal a day at this age as otherwise he’ll miss out on important milk feeds. He hasn’t reduced the frequency of his feeds as far as I can tell. Should I be slowing down with the food? How much did your babies eat?

I have a 6 month old who went to three meals a day straight away because she sits at the table when her brother is having his lunch tea etc. She is a scoffer and really likes food I also offer her water with her meal. She is still taking her bottles though so as long as he is taking milk from you you should be fine. You friend is right they get their nutrition from the milk, but that will start to change as they eat more food. Don’t get too hung up on it. As long as they are gaining weight normally and seem happy I would do what was best for you.

I would offer him as much as he wants and trust he knows what to do. Particularly with blw, the amounts they actually eat are quite small. If he needs more milk, he’ll let you know. Mine was on 3 meals a day from the latter end of 6 months and definitely wasn’t slowing down on milk. Though he eats well, the amount is still small relative to milk, so I wouldn’t worry. Just continue to offer milk on demand too.

Thanks for the replies - that’s reassuring. He’s really enjoying his food and I’m enjoying introducing him to new things but obviously want to do what’s best for him.