Comfort or still hungry?

Just wondering how you can tell if you have given your baby/toddler enough food and how long should it really sustain them?

EG. last night i gave my son dinner at 6.30pm. He had alot of meat and veg as well as fruit afterwards. I could tell he was getting slower with each mouthful and just had that 'full' look about him like i know i feel when eating alot.
He woke up at 9.30pm and had a huge bf. He would just cry and cry until offered him milk. I know babies can digest breastmilk in 2-3hours, but solids? Does it digest as quickly as well?

If it was just a comfort thing then how do i tell the difference?

At that age hun, the milk is what really sustains them and the food is more about learning. I found with DS2 - and many mums I know had the same thing - that if he ate lots of solids he didn't sleep well and woke up often for breastfeeds. When I cut the solids back he slept better again. The breastmilk has all the fats and proteins needed for their brain development and I think that it's the need for milk, not the needs for solids, that often makes them seem hungry or unsettled. Perhaps you could try offering him the breast before and after his meal and give him less to eat to see what happens.

Thanks for that Manta :)
I also today went back to my salicilaytes list that the orginal LC gave me (where i learned his intollerance to dairy and eggs) and found broccoli on there. he didnt' seem affected by it so i thought when he was little; but i was really looking for pain and diahreaah not just 'notsleeping' - so i've cut that out also now and we will see how he goes!

I've found solids not to affect the amount/volume of bf's at that age. Regardless of how much and when they have it, they both would still have their scheduled bf. They know for themselves what they require from their diet, and its still from the milk, so they will pick the times and volume they want. They go buy more of a 24 hour clock, and how much they have had in that time period. I was always warned though not to try to force to much solids on them, and let them allow to give you signals when they want more solids, otherwise it may interfere with their milk intake, which is more important. I think it would be that if they have to much solids in their belly, they can't fit the amount of milk in they want and can feed more often or get tummy pains.