How much did your 8mo BLWer eat yesterday?

[jeffily]

DD is 8 mo, we are BLWing. She is still taking 3 full BF in the day and at least 2 at night, more like 3 usually.

Just wandered how much others were eating. Attempted to get a straight answer from HV on Monday, like getting blood from a stone ! Apparently she should be 'eating as much as any other 8 mo'. Yes, yes, but how much IS that!?

So- yesterday;
Breakfast 8am- half a pear, chewed up a slice of toast, prob ate about 1/3.
Snack 10.30- mini muffin with cream cheese. 2 tiny sips of cow's milk.
Lunch 12.30- Tiny bit of potato, bacon and broccoli quiche, seeds from 2 sticks of cucumber, 1/4 tomato, 2 spoons yoghurt, 1/2 rice cake
Snack 3pm- 2 segments of satsuma, 1/2 small banana, 1/2 bread stick
Tea 5pm- 1 flake of fish with courgette, 1 rice cake with cream cheese, 1/2 pear.

Anyone else?

Sounds like you 8 monther is eating about the same as my boy ;-)

Your DD is eating a lot more than mine (who is also 8 mo). My dd normally has a strip of toast at breakfast (more gummed than eaten), milk mid-morning, something like breadsticks, hummus, rice cakes and cream cheese followed by youghurt for lunch, milk in the afternoon and then tries whatever we're having for dinner.
I'm going with the 'til one it's fun' theory and trying not to worry about how much she's actually eating. She's still taking a lot of milk and is putting on weight and seems healthy...

My 8.5 month old is eating probably three times as much as yours

Yesterday she ate (actualy ate, not offered),

Breakfast- 1/2 sachet porridge, whole apple, 2 slices melon
Smack- satsuma
Lunch- 1 egg ommlette, handful blueberries
Snack- 2 breadsticks (mini ones) a banana
Dinner- chicken casserole (ate half a chicken breast and lots of veg and sweet potato chunks)

She is a baby piglet though, and I posted a while back to make sure you can't overfeed a BLW baby. I got her weighed a few weeks ago and she's jumped from the 25th centile to about the 60th in 2 months

I guess I'm trying to say that there's always something to worry about! As long as you're happy and she's healthy I wouldn't worry.

you - that's a lot of food - it's more than I ate yesterday . My friends little one is BLW'd as well, he's 9 months and eats LOADS!

I assume you were told you can't 'overfeed' a BLW'd child - but what if they are like some adults who just like their food and will eat till they are fit to burst - or is that not supposed to happen with BLW'd babies??

I'm fascinated with the whole idea of BLW, if not the mess it makes!!

Chipping- erm, I'm not sure! She has cut right back on her milk intake and finally (only for 3 nights so far but i'm skipping with energy ) dropped her night feed.

I think the general idea is that babies don't hold any emotional attachment to food so they will just stop when full iyswim? That certaintly doesn't seem to be the case with her though, she'll never refuse food. However I've started after a while just not giving her any more and distracting her which works fine so she's clearly not actually hungry, just a piglet!

And on the upside, the fact that she's such a glutton means there's almost no mess as she knows better than to waste food dropping it on the floor

Hi jeffily - think I've seen you around here before!!

My dd is 9 months and she eats about the same as yours - sometimes less , sometimes more. Alot still gets on the floor/spat out. And she's eating a lot more than she did a month ago!!

I have friends who are BLW with similar age babies and they all vary. One friend has a baby who eats a whole weetabix for breakfast, but my baby usually manages a few bits of soft fruit and nibbles on a bit of cereal or loaded spoons of porridge. Each baby is different and I used to get frustrated that DD didn't eat as much as her friends, but now I realise that I need to let her set her own pace and not worry about comparing her!

Personally, I think HVs are not very useful on BLW so I wouldn't even bother asking mine how much they are 'supposed' to eat. Kind of goes against the spirit of BLW anyway - LO eats as much as they are supposed to.

If its any consolation/hope - until a few weeks ago DD was on 2 feeds at night. Then she suddenly seemed to try and eat more and cut her feeds down to one a night. Last week she even did a 7pm-6am stretch!!! (although it hasn't been repeated). She did this all on her own - and it seemed to happen suddenly. I go on the BLW forum and it seems like it is common for babies to 'get' eating around 8-12 months and it happens suddenly - usually after a period when you have lost hope!

My friends BLW little boy has certainly 'got' eating! LOL

However, as you said, her LO would keep eating if not distracted, so although babies aren't meant to have an emotional attachment to food, is it possible for them to overeat simply because they like the food and should they be 'restricted' or does it mean they are actually hungry??

(you, not getting at you in anyway, just really curious about BLW - I think I should get some books & leave you all alone!! LOL Not to mention the fact I don't have a 'weaning' child anyway - just very curious about it!!).