Am I overfeeding my baby?

[GGS01]

I started weaning my baby at 25 weeks and he took to food quite well. By the 4th day he was on 2 meals and would eat 3/4th of a bowl of food. For example, he would eat 90% of a whole apple and 1 beetroot, cooked and pureed. I don't force feed him or distract him. I sing when he slows down halfway through but I feed only if he opens his mouth. He still has 6 to 7 breastfeeds all day. He is on the smaller side. At 25 weeks he weighed 6.42 kg. Everyone is telling me he is eating too much for his age. Am I overfeeding him? Should I offer more breast milk?

It’s hard to say - is he small but growing appropriately? Is he still breastfeeding as much as before? I would personally be wary of filling him up with purées if it results in him cutting down too much on breast milk, but that may not be the case.

I am not doing purées and my son is feeding himself but I am not fussed about how much solid food he takes in and he is 75th percentile for weight so that isn’t a concern

He has always been on the 2nd percentile and has been gaining well. As to the number of feeds, he has cut down one feed in the evening and one in the middle of the night. He used to take 9 feeds and now takes 7 feeds. Still wakes up 1 to 3 times for night feeds. I am concerned he might be drinking less milk but I normally leave 1 hr gap between breakfast and a breastfeed. He used to take 1 breastfeed at 7:30 pm and the next one at 8:30. The 7:30 feed is now replaced with vegetable puree.

The general advice is that food is for fun before 1 year old so don't be too concerned about filling him up as he's getting the bulk of his calories from milk.
I always started with milk first and then offered food just to make sure that DS wasn't filling up on purées when he needed milk

Thank you. Will try offering milk first and then food. If he still takes a lot of food, I shouldn't worry I guess.

Yes definitely feed him roughly an hour before offering solids and there’s no need to introduce more solids just yet. The NHS recommend introducing the third lot of solids between 8 and 9 months

If you are worried about weight, it’s much better to introduce another BF rather than more solids