Talk to me about weaning a big baby with an appetite to match

[OooohWhatIfItHurts]

My DS is almost 6 months and weighs (according to my very accurate stand on scales with him, then without him, then subtract method) about 22 pounds, so he's a big lad. He has been EBF until a couple of weeks ago when I started him on solids which he has taken to like a duck to water.

I've always just fed on demand and have adopted the "you can't overfeed a breastfed baby" approach, so I haven't had to worry about quantities of food before.

I'm worried now though that he might be eating a bit too much, but that's just because in my completely uninformed view it seems a lot for a little person to consume. So, for the last couple of days his solids intake reads like this:

Yesterday's breakfast: 3 cubes mango + banana, with some of my toast

Yesterday's lunch: 4 cubes carrot, sweetcorn and potato mash then some more mango + banana

Yesterday's supper: 4 cubes broccoli, courgette and potato, with 3 fingers of bread, followed by 2 cubes of stewed apple & raisin

Today's breakfast: whole mashed banana with a couple of fingers of brown bread

Today's lunch: 5 cubes carrot, sweetcorn and potato with 3 fingers of brown bread, followed by 3 cubes of pear, nectarine and banana puree.

The cubes are the equivalent of large ice cubes. On top of this he has milk feeds on demand throughout the day and fed last night at 11pm, 2am, 4am.

Does this sound a lot to you? Is it possible to overfeed him? All the stuff I'm giving is healthy, I think, and he has yet to refuse a mouthful so I don't want to do anything to spoil such a healthy enjoyment of food. Equally I don't want him to become an obese toddler.

Help!

What were you like as a baby? And your dh?

Generally big babies run in families, and you find that once they start walking they start to slim down.

That's fruit three times a day , which seems a lot, as some fruits can be high in calories but not necessarily filling him up.

But then I'm someone who thinks fruit is overrated anyway.

What about giving him porridge for breakfast instead of the fruit?

So it does sound quite a lot to you too?

I was a big baby too - my Mum says that I hit 23 pounds early and that her HV was telling her to put me on a diet but that I plateaued and stayed the same weight for ages then even though I ate the same.

I don't think that I was as good with solids as DS is though.

Interesting you should say about fruit, belgo. I've been leaning towards banana-based breakfasts and puddings because I thought that would be more filling than, say, apple and also until he hits 6 months I wanted to stay away from dairy because he has eczema and I'm wary of doing anything to exacerbate it. But I'll be able to introduce porridge, weetabix etc then which should fill him up more then (I hope)!

sounds about how much mine ate when I weaned them, at about 5.5 months and 6 months respectively. I am always staggered by how much babies can put away.

Like you I just give them food until they stop. As long as it's healthy that's fine. Mine aren't overweight anyway.

If he's really got the hang of it I'd be adding in meat, fish, cheese and that sort of thing, moving onto giving him whatever you have really. There's not a lot of fat in what he's getting at the moment, and remember that breast milk os fairly fatty. And sweet. That reminds me, ambrosia rice pudding is always my top weaning tip, lovely wholesome ingredients, cheap, lush, and same % sugar as breast milk!

After 6 months mine get weetabix for breakfast as well.

The only thing to watch out for is added salt with bread - it can have quite a bit. So I try and only do bread for lunch (well I did with DD1 - I've got a bit slack with DD2!)

Oh I see you are holding off with the cows milk. So scrap half my post!

I was also about to suggest yoghurts etc.

My ds also had eczema and I held off the diary until he was about 16 months, and he can tolerate it fine now, but I've had to be very careful with fruit because he seems to be allergic to various fruits.

It doesn't really matter what he weighs, it matters what his height/weight ratio is. If he's on the 98th centile for weight and the 98th for height, then he is perfectly in scale and I would just feed him however much he wants. If he is on 98th for weight and 2nd for height then he is a bit of a chunky monkey (I have one too!), but I wouldn't necessarily control his food intake unless he is obviously putting on a lot of weight. They are burning a lot of energy at this age and it is hard to become obese on pureed fruit/veg with a bit of brown bread!

I would talk to your health visitor if you are rally worried.

Lots of useful thoughts here, thanks.

ImSoNotTelling - I'm now craving ambrosia rice pudding. Yum! I'm waiting in at the mo for a food delivery and plan to spend the rest of the afternoon whizzing up a few meat and fish based numbers. Thanks for the tip about bread - I'd forgotten about the salt. It has been great for his coordination to have the fingers to pick up and he's better with bread than fingers of carrot etc which he finds a bit more difficult to hold.

belgo - I was planning to wait only another week or so to introduce dairy as DS will turn 6 months then. Did you try your DS before 16 months and have a bad reaction, or were you just being very cautious? So far, touch wood, DS's eczema is rumbling on at its usual rate with no obvious flare ups in response to the foods he has tried.

GetThePartyStarted - Last time I had DS weighed was quite a few weeks ago and he was 98th for weight and 75th for height, so a little chunky but by and large he feels big and solid. Like a rugby player

I love his chubbiness but guess I just worry because I've always been on the plump side and (a) I don't want to get DS off on the wrong footing with food and (b) if I'm honest, I worry that people will judge if they see a chubby mother with a chubby baby and think that I am the cause.

Re ezcema, mine both had it, DD1 was not so bad (patches all over but didn't seem to trouble her) DD2 is much worse, red and itchy and frequently itching and scratching til she bleeds the poor little thing. We struggle to control it with aveeno and hydrocortisone - the hydrocortisone calms it in one place and immediately she's scratching herself raw somewhere else. Having said that I know she's not nearly as bad as it can be.

Anyway. Weaned DD1 at about 5.5 months - she was crawling at 16 weeks and getting on with everything quickly, she snatched some food from us and wolfed it down in the end and that was that. Held off cows milk til 6 months and no noticable deifference when it was introduced. She grew out of it pretty much at 1.5, her skin is rarely dry/sore now.

DD2 is 10 months and also had cows milk at just after 6 months. Noticed no difference in her ezcema either - it was bad before and it's bad after.

They were both EBF til weaning.

Just for your info really - it sounds like your position is similar to ours.

OOoohh- the doctors told me that the eczema was caused by the dairy in my diet, and not to introduce ds to dairy until over one year.

don't worry! My youngest was a big boy, both weight and height and eats moer than my 6 adn 10 year olds now (at 18 months!)

Agree about trying more meat/fish/carbs and less fruit

I also know what you mean about the chubby mum/baby thing - BabyG went through a VERY chubby stage and was in his car pram (little umbrella fold storller that i keep inteh car) and looked like a blob with a head. I saw a woman at him and was shocked and hurt. Shrotly after he had a huge growth spurt and slimmed (i use that term loosely!) back ot his usual heiferness

That's interesting belgo.

I suppose there are lots of causes and that's one of them.

Hold on - dairy in your diet - getting through the breast milk?

Sounds a bit far fecthed (as a total layman!). Did they do tests and stuff? Our doc has never mentioned me having dairy or the kids having it.

I mean some people just have ezcema - not caused by anything - they just do. I have a little bit of mild ezcema and so I assume that the kids have just inherited my v v sensitive skin.

Apparently diary is one thing that is definitely transferred into breast milk.

The doctors told me to cut out diary from my diet but they didn't give me any dietary advice on how to do this; I tried for a few weeks, never noticed much difference with the eczema and so I started eating diary again.

The doctors told me most eczema is caused by an allergy and in a baby, the most common allergen is cow's milk protein. Eggs are also a common allergen.

As I said lower down on the thread, if my ds had a cow's milk allergy then it is gone now but he is allergic to kiwis and possibly strawberries and paprika.

Well I just have crappy sensitive skin! I don't think I'm allergic to things. Well I am allergic to lots of skin creams but nothing to do with diet.

Ezcema is a catch-all name for a whole host of different things though isn't it. I expect the docs have looked at it and been able to see thaat it has different causes.