How much food might be too much?

[stephanie95]

My DS is almost 8 months old. We have been going slow on solids (purees). We didn't introduce food until 7 months. He loves to eat. Often he will eat a whole 4 oz jar of food. My DH is worried that is too much food at one sitting. My DS will keep opening his mouth and grabbing the spoon. When he is done, he is clearly done. So how much does your LO eat in one sitting?

As a side note, yes I am currently using jarred food. I like to do it at the very beginning because it is easier to go with organic foods. It also allows me to try a big variety without a lot of waste. We also do chunks like banana, avocado etc. I do understand and support BLW but this mixed method works for us.

[texaspeach]

as long as you nurse first and then offer solids I don't think he's going to eat too much solid food. fwiw, the aap guidelines say at dinner time, 8-12 month olds should eat: 1/4 cup each vegetable, fruit, grain/starch and meat. that's a cup of food. there's no way my ds could eat that much but yours might.

[karika]

dd2 went through a period of eating a lot at a sitting early on, and I think it is fine. They know what they need. As long as you are offering wholesome organic foods, I would let them go till they don't want anymore. DD2 backed off food again then ate a lot, then backs off... she always nurses a lot. I think it correlates to the growth spurt times. I trust them to know when they are full since I am not force feeding them (putting them in a highchair and spooning it into their mouths whether they are interested or not, like the old way you used to see of making it an airplane or such and urging them to eat more). We eat informally on a blanket on the floor or at a side table in the living room. She is always free to move away from the food this way.

[cristeen]

Originally Posted by texaspeach

as long as you nurse first and then offer solids I don't think he's going to eat too much solid food. fwiw, the aap guidelines say at dinner time, 8-12 month olds should eat: 1/4 cup each vegetable, fruit, grain/starch and meat. that's a cup of food. there's no way my ds could eat that much but yours might.

They've got to be talking about formula fed babies - the average BF baby doesn't have the stomach capacity for that at 8 mos.

Your average BF baby is only drinking about 4 oz at a sitting at 8 mos. So if he's eating 4 oz of food, that's replacing a full nursing. Is he being nursed before being offered solids?

[wombatclay]

I realize that you're not using BLW but you might want to check out the kellymom baby led solids page anyway... there are a number of charts that give an idea about what percentage of a babe's diet should (on average of course) be solid and how much breastmilk. And a look at caloric and/or nutritional needs at different stages.

As for us.... hmmmm. My ds self feeds and is 9mo. He might eat half a banana and a few slices of turkey at a sitting, or a quarter of an apple? Last night he ate a big scoop of corn, some rice, and some chicken. He nurses a LOT and while I don't nurse him prior to dinner, we don't do a lot of sit down meals anyway so usually nursing and solids get mixed together over the course of the day.

[Norasmomma]

My DS can eat a TON, in fact he won't stop, he'll eat until he'll puke-literally. He also nurses, I don't necessarily nurse him before dinner or any meal. We have to really watch him, he just loves food and will gorge himself, tonight he ate a large amount of refried beans, he'd have eaten more if I'd let him, he cried when I took him out of his highchair.

[JordanKX]

Originally Posted by Norasmomma

he'd have eaten more if I'd let him, he cried when I took him out of his highchair.

This is my DS, 8.5 months old. I too worry about "too much" food, cause he'll just eat and eat. And he cries with EVERY MEAL. He's recently started that when he sees the spoon scraping for the last parts of the bowl, the meal must be over, and he starts to cry. It's actually really odd. I've never known another baby to do this.

He's 25 lbs. He is not starving :-)
I think he just really likes to eat. I bought a few of the tupperware gerber baby food, saved the containers. It's about 1/2 a cup. And that's his meal size, 3x a day. For lunch he had some ground turkey, refried beans, and avocado - because I had a burrito. For dinner he had ground turkey, chopped up spaghetti pasta, and a teeny bit of tomato sauce. And some applesauce. I feed him jarred babyfood - normally 1/2 the jar combined with chopped up spaghetti, to make the tupperware container size.
He won't eat straight purees, but despite his want to have chunks he can feed himself, he doesn't have teeth yet so I keep it small chunky.

I just feed him. The 1/2 cup size seems to be perfect, imo.

[Charlize]

DD3 has been eating solids for quite some time now. (She turns eight months on the 6th. o.0) She usually has fruit of the morning (6 oz.); a veggie at lunch (4 - 6 oz.); at dinner time, I try to cook something she can eat as well, but if not, she will eat a meat + veggie/fruit entree. We're doing pureed baby foods as well. I like to be able to measure what she eats.

She also nurses several times a day still (4 - 6 times per day usually). At her six month check up she weighed 15 pounds, 9 ounces and was 25.5 inches, so it seems like she's growing as she should be. I'll just keep following her lead.