Am I feeding my baby too much? What do you feed yours?

[Deedee87]

Hey all
been Seeing some threads recently on meals and what is good enough etc and just wondering what everyone is feeding their babies?
Mine is 10 months old and sometimes I worry it’s too much food? I don’t know if it’s in my head because I’ve had food issues in past and I’m trying to raise my little one relaxed about food and not fussy etc.
he takes bottle morning and night (has dropped the daytime one he just wasn’t taking it - maybe because eats so much food? Doesn’t snack really but Eats so much at mealtimes! I just leave him to eat as much as he wants, he lets me know when he is done. Just wondering what other people feed their 10 months olds and if this seems ok?l or too much?

so for example - yesterday’s meals

breakfast - mango finger, pineapple finger &
Whole slice of wholegrain/seeded toast with nut butter

lunch - Spanish omelette with lots of veg, (asparagus, peppers, peas, olives..)
whole layer of salmon, whole layer of potato, a whole egg…
cherry tomato’s and cucumber
followed by blueberrries & blackberries. Had more berries.

dinner - wholewheat pasta with turkey bolognese with aubergine and courgette added,
Had seconds. followed by plain yoghurt, still wanted to eat so I give a rusk while I clean up…

so i try really hard to give balance and variety and if on the rare occasion he doesn’t eat much it is never forced of course.. and I still give the yogurt after dinner regardless since it is plain anyway… but to be honest he enjoys most meals and will often have seconds which I never limit… good at drinking water…
i do feel lucky that he really enjoys food and will try anything.

i think the balance is ok? Is it? I think it looks like a good diet? But I just look at it and think it’s ALOT?! Is it too much?!

I’m just worried because I’ve been an under eater, and an over eater (currently over eating)
so currently I don’t snack or graze but I have big portions and frequently have seconds and I feel like my baby is following the same pattern?

maybe I am reading too much into it, I do struggle with anxiety and over thinking …
when I hear what other people feed their babies it seems so much less in amount and their babies are all healthy. My baby seems healthy too but i feel like my baby eats like a 3/4 year old? Or older? At dinner the baby bowl will often be filled and then he’ll still eat more.
he can sit at the table for ages just eating.
I don’t know if eating so much of everything is a good sign he won’t be fussy or it’s a sign he’ll just keep eating all the time.
i think I’m just worrying about passing on food issues to my baby so if anyone has anything tips about how to raise a child with a healthy food relationship that would be great thanks 😊

Letting him eat until he's full is fine at this age. It's more about what they eat than how much.

I would cut out olives (too salty) and rusks (no nutritional value at all), but everything else sounds great.

Sounds all right to me. Mine used to eat very well indeed, just like yours, at the same age and was fine. It's good that he is getting a good variety of food, well done.

Just let him regulate his own appetite and eat as much as he likes. Like the previous poster said, it's more important that what he's eating is healthy rather than how much. My son used to eat massive amounts at this age, breakfast was a wheetabix and a half with milk, fruit, peanut butter and yoghurt mixed in and he'd still munch away on toast after finishing all that. He actually eats less now at 17 months.

Oh ok thanks. I’ll cut out the olives. I try to give him things I don’t like too because I’m worried about passing on my food aversions to him and I think maybe he will like them so I shouldn’t deny them. . I hate olives lol that’s why I gave them.
And what would be good to feed him when he still wants more after two bowls of dinner and yogurt? Should I give him More yogurt? Or Cheese? He does sleep threw the night so he’s probably filling up as much as possible before then lol.
I didn’t know that about rusks! It was one of the first things I have with milk , like a cereal…It’s just been a thing my parents/relatives always used. I guess I never really thought about them. I’m still learning!

Oh great thank you 😊

Oh phew ok thank you so much.

mine can also eat more than one weetabix.

I think i worried because the portions seemed to double in the space of a few days!
I did also mix peanut butter in his yogurt recently and it was thicker and much easier for him to use with spoon!
what about fruit skin? Is it ok for babies this age to eat with the skin on ? I always give him skin on now, including kiwi but somebody’s told me that is not ok? Is there some skin I need to avoid right now?

Every baby is WILDLY different at this age. (And FWIW its to be expected that a baby will eat more than a toddler due to their vastly differing rates of growth; my eldest DS used to have 2 weetabix + flaxseeds + breastmilk + full fat greek yoghurt + fruit for breakfast when he was about 10mo, but now he's 3yo I do him half a weetabix with flax/milk, bit of yoghurt and fruit and he often doesn't finish it).

I also have a 10mo who ate this today (much more into milk that my eldest was at this age):
7am - big breastfeed
8am - porridge with cashew butter, various ground nuts and seeds and strawberry chia puree mixed in. Ate close to the same sized portion as me.
9.30am - short breastfeed
12.30pm - scrambled egg (1 egg), pear slices (whole pear), avocado chunks (1/4 avocado) rolled in hemp seeds. Ate every bite, I didn't serve more though - not for any reason other than that 3yo was DONE being at the table so 10mo had a little breastfeed in the lounge instead.
1pm - breastfeed
2.30pm - breastfeed
4.30pm - egg noodles with peanut butter sauce, red peppers, broccoli, bits of pork (much more playing than eating this meal), followed by greek yog and strawberries
6.30pm - breastfeed
(he'll also feed at least once overnight still)

Have a look at the solid starts website www.solidstarts.com (you can search any food to find the safest way to serve it according to age, as well as loads of articles) but also search them on instagram - I learned SO MUCH from what they share on there.

Oh wow thank so much. I’m so glad you shared this or i might have worried when my LO got older and started eating much less! I guess that’s also why I was worried- seeing older kids eat much less or my LO seeming to eat as much as me sometimes.
my family always comment on his chubby face or how round he is, but every check up his weight percentile is the same as his height so I know his size is fine.
I think I over worry because I’ve had eating issues and often over eating so I’m always conscious about that - I don’t want to avoid passing on certain habits.
your menu looks great. I’m going to try those meals out!
and thanks for the website link! :)

I agree with Essie. My 10mo DS would easily eat 2 or 3 weetabix. Now he’s 20mo he’s actually not had much cereal in the last few weeks and is preferring yogurts and fruit. He can now ask for what he wants, I try not to prohibit any food and especially not healthy choices. And yes let him eat to full.

Ok that’s good to know thank you. People are always surprised when I say he has often has seconds. I just keep giving until he’s had enough. But he he will let me know when he’s done. There is also the very very occasional day he doesn’t eat as much, and I know it’s not something he doesn’t like as he will take a lot less milk those days too. Then he’ll have a nappy clear out and eat extra the next day! So I’ve never been worried about him not eating enough!

Thanks all this has all been so reassuring!