solids - how much

[EsJay]

hi all, just wondering how much food is 'normal'
dd is now 8 months, has been on solids since 4 due to reflux, loves almost everything no problems there, but im worried about how much she should have? my mchn told me to up her solids at 7 months, so i doubled each meal to equiv half tin of commercial stuff (home cooked here) so i make tubs of 60g vegies sometimes with fruit for lunch and 60g meat & veg for dinner (50g veg, 10g meat) and she always has dessert after dinner, approx 30-40g fruit/yoghurt/custard, but the last few days she doesnt seem satisfied with this. i have been advised to feed till she turns her head away, however she doesnt turn her head away i have gotten to 100g of food and shes still keen to go for more, i stopped at this point, and i think this is just too much.
so i wondered what everyone thought, how much do your bubs eat? i give solids about an hour after bf or bottle - 3 times a day with cereal for breakfast and the above for the other 2 meals. do you think its ok for her to eat more than the 60g or is this quite enough for her age? i know every babies different, just wondered what was, i guess average.
shes already a quite large baby and i dont want to add to that unnecessarily, on the other hand i want to make sure shes not going hungry. shes putting on weight so this makes me think she is getting enough and she might just be a bit of a piggy.

any advice/info/thoughts welcome,
thankyou

[Life is Good]

I was told by my paediatrician to feed our DS (who was on solids at four months and is now 10.5 months old) until he is full. He has two Weetbix for breakfast (sometimes doesn't finish it all), 2 small jars of baby food (or equivalent) for lunch and 3 small jars or 1 large and one small jar (or equivalent) for dinner. Snacks involve some fruit mid morning and mid afternoon. He is on 4 bottles of formula per day.

Granted he is a big boy, but he is very much in proportion: over the 100th percentile for weight and over the 100th percentile for height. As long as her height and weight are in proportion I would feed your baby as much as she wants. Whilst occasionally babies cannot stop when they are full, it is very rare. Most will recognise their fullness and turn their head away when they no longer want more. That is what I was told and I kept on reminding myself of that every time I thought my little man was guzzling too much food!

[MantaRay]

Jen, I think the biggest worry most mums have is whether their babies are getting enough to eat. Luckily though, there is mostly nothing to worry about. Babies are hard-wired to eat what they need, so generally whatever they eat is fine. Some mums find that it is easier and less worrying to use the Baby Led Solids approach - put the food in front of the baby and just let them take what they want. This way you know they are getting enough, and also that you are not spooning food they don't want into their mouths.

It can be also helpful to know that milk is the most important part of a baby's diet until 12 months. Food will replace milk, so giving too much food is not a good thing either. Another reason why letting the baby have what they want can work really well!

But what I'm really trying to say is that it sounds like you are doing a really great job and that I'm sure your DD is getting enough food. However it sounds like a lot of hard work for you to be measuring and weighing all the food, and by the sounds of it maybe pureeing it as well. How would you feel about giving her finger food to eat, such as steamed vegies from your plate, pieces of fruit, pasta bolognaise to feed herself etc? Often forgetting about the "numbers" can take a lot of stress out of it, and just letting her feed herself what she wants might save you a lot of time too. How does that sound to you?

[~Kim~]

:yeahthat:
Babies still have the instinct for fullness, sadly lacking in many adults.
There are so many variables of 'normal'.

[EsJay]

manta ray i have tried to do finger foods with her, she is not interested in feeding herself, just looks at it or throws it on the floor, while sitting there with her mouth open ready to eat. i do continue to try this each day with pieces of fruit/vegies/cheese but its been the same for 4 months, so i dont think that will work for us at this stage, this baby of leisure wants everything done for her!
it really is no hassle to cook up a batch of mixed vegies/fruit, mash them then chuck the containers on the scales, fill and freeze.
that is exctly what i think too, milk is more important at this point.
thanks for your thoughts girls.

[Arimeh]

Some mums find that it is easier and less worrying to use the Baby Led Solids approach - put the food in front of the baby and just let them take what they want. This way you know they are getting enough, and also that you are not spooning food they don't want into their mouths.

Yup this is what I do with DD2 (nearly 7 months) And she throws it on the floor too, its all part of it. They're learning what to do with it So I just pick it up and put it back on her tray, she eventually gets it to her mouth. And if she doesn't, I just figure she's not interested and maybe she wants a drink of water or something if she's still grizzling and looking like she wants food.

Try not to worry - they rarely take more than they need

[Calluna]

With the BLS my DS was the same- wouldn't eat it, threw it on the floor etc.
What I did was put the food on his tray and if if didn't eat it, after 5mins or so or didn't show much interest, I'd pick up a piece and feed it to him with my fingers, once he got used to that I started putting it in his hand, then after a while, he learnt to pick it up on his own.

Sometimes I'd have to feed him a little taste to get him interested before putting it in his hand but he got there eventually. I think he probably just didn't realise it was food

[MantaRay]

That mummy instinct to feed our kids and worry about them getting enough is really strong isn't it!! But research has shown us that babies will eat what they want, when they need it. If babies don't eat the finger foods themselves, it is nearly always because they just don't need the food. Playing with the food is all part of the process - most of the time they will touch it, throw it, squish it, smell it and even taste it, before they start to eat. But they will eat when they are ready. The idea of BLS is to allow that process to happen - to literally let the baby lead. Allowing them to follow their instincts means we don't have to decide how much they need - they'll tell us. And it also means that we don't over-ride that "I'm full" instinct that Kim mentioned. By feeding our babies food, and later on insisting that toddlers eat everything on their plate, we can be setting up our kids to over-eat later in life because they have lost that instinct (I am sure many of us have the same problem as adults, stemming from having this done to us as kids).

I can totally understand putting food into our children's mouths - either by spoon, or picking up the finger food for them. Believe me I have done plenty of that myself too. But the idea of BLS is not to do that - so if you can over-ride your mummy "feed the baby" instinct, and let them do it for themselves, there are some advantages.