Is he eating too much solids?

[zenmumajen]

So tonight we went out and MIL watched Leo. I hate pumping but figured if I nursed him right before we left....and then she offered him solids 1-2 hours after we nursed that I wouldn't need to pump. Though we always carry extra milk in the freezer.

Anyway, MIL fed him a little over an hour after I nursed him and he ate 2 of the smallest jars of food (We are doing part time BLW and part mashes), and that she added a little oatmeal to the second one. I almost had a heart attack about the oatmeal. PLUS he ate a lot of banana today at lunch. This just seems like ALOT of food. I finished nursing him at 5:30 and by the time we were nursing again it was 9:50 so it replaced a nursing session. I am staring to get all paranoid here that Im going to lose my supply and that he doesn't need me anymore and this is the end of our nursing relationship. I have never seen him eat that much in one sitting- he will maybe move on past a jar but hardly eat anything out of the next one. Maybe I can just read his cues better than MIL. In your opinion, is this too much? He is 7 months...

 I know that breastmilk should outweigh solids in the first year but when SHOULD solids start replacing nursing sessions?

[Knitting Mama]

As a one-off I wouldn't worry about it.

I think that the gradual shift from milk to solids is different for each baby. Cecilia, for example, is nowhere near replacing any nursing sessions with solids meals at 10 months old. But in my DDC, some of her contemporaries are eating 3 solid meals a day and nursing other times. I personally don't subscribe to the notion that babies need to be eating meals by one, but others do.

[GoBecGo]

How did he nurse overnight?  When my DD eats so much she skips a nursing session, she catches up later on.  He probably ate a ton because you weren't there.  FWIW my DD frequently eats almost nothing in a day and yet i too have seen her put this amount of food away in one sitting too.  I think it's whatever whim she's having more than anything else.

[expat-mama]

I'll be interested in reading other replies to this too.

My DS is 7 months (today!) and he will eat a ton of "solids" (mashed and pureed veggies and fruits, yogurt, etc.)- he will eat as much as you give him! I try to nurse him before feeding, but sometimes don't. Right now he is eating food 2-3 times a day of varying amounts. I think he would eat a lot more if I gave him more even though he isn't hungry. He is still nursing ALMOST as much as before- some days it is a little less I think, but I am trying to keep it up as much as possible. It's just soo much feeding time now with solids and nursing... sometimes I feel like it's all we do.

Anyway...interested in hearing other replies!

[zenmumajen]

Leo nursed pretty good in the night. As it is very rare that I am gone that long...I'm going to try not to worry about it. I am just wondering if I should stop feeding him twice a day and only feed him once because I feel like ever since we started solids it was very slow to start but once we got going it seems like its going fast. 

Expat-mama- I hope we see some other replies too. I've looked at websites and I feel like this part is just not covered. I know every baby is different but I am interested to see opinions and what other babies did. Also- our babies are one day apart! 

[MJB]

My babies have always eaten TONS of solid food and never cut back on nursing before a year (my oldest nursed ~12 times a day until 3.5, when he eased up a little). My current babe probably eats a little less than her brothers did but for dinner last night she probably ate 4-5 oz. total. 

[crystal_buffaloe]

If I am gone, DD will eat a lot more (she'll be 9 months next week), so that might be the case with your LO as well.

We've just recently started offering 3 "meals" per day, but I would say probably 80% of her diet is still breastmilk. If she keeps eating, I keep offering until she signals that she's done (usually by swiping the food off of her tray or trying to crawl out of her chair). She ate two pieces of ham (lunchmeat), three mum-mums loaded with hummus and olive oil, and several chunks of pear yesterday at lunch, but then she had only three miniscule bites of salmon at supper (I'm talking the size of a baby fingernail) all of which were offered on my finger, because she was showing zero interest, and then she turned her head to say "no". So it varies quite a bit by meal. I wouldn't get too caught up on how much he's eating, I'd just try to offer a variety of foods and watch his cues.

Oh, and I totally agree with the PP who said it feels like all we do is eat :) Offering solids 3x a day and nursing 8-10 times a day, sheesh.

You can also watch his diaper output -- if it's still breastfed poop, he's still getting most of his nutrition from breastmilk.

[zenmumajen]

Well his poop yesterday looked like butternut squash and was the exact same consistency and was not runny. So what do you think? 

[GoBecGo]

My DD's poop is as you describe on days when she's had literally only a spoonful or two of food a day for the previous few days.  So i would not be concerned.

[crystal_buffaloe]

Ah, yes -- there's a lot of variation in "breastfed" poop, and just because it doesn't look exactly the same as it did before isn't a problem. He's eating some solids, and his poop has changed somewhat.

We're doing cloth diapers, and even though DD is eating more and more food, her poop is still mostly breastfed, and I'm still washing her diapers in the washer. One day, it was randomly solid enough to plop in the toilet, but it's still been yellowy and more sticky than solid -- still not "real" poop yet.

[zenmumajen]

Thanks for info- I had no idea that breastfeed poo had different variations! Though I knew it would change once he had solids.

There should be a breastfed poo chart that shows all the different colors/consistencies. Haha.

[SeattleRain]

I would totally not worry about it. My LO is the same age as yours, but he's FF. He eats three meals a day with approximately 2oz per meal, plus a tablespoon of yogurt in either the morning or afternoon. He also drinks about 28oz of formula a day. Previously he was stuggling to get about 36oz of formula, so he definitely dropped a feeding but he's definitely not starving, or replacing a huge quantity of milk with food. I think it's normal for food to start to replace some of the nursing, its part of the evolution of life. Solids can be an emotional time because its huge transition, but welcome it instead of pushing it away. As long as your LO is still opening his mouth for more and happy, he's fine.

[BetsyS]

My LO is 8 months old (6/17), and he's my first huge eater.  My first two were much slower eaters, and I still remember that an average meal at 12 months old for my oldest was 1/2 a grape tomato, a morsel of chicken, and that's about it.

This is what the 8 mo eats on an average day.  He is dairy free.

1 cup oatmeal, mixed with 4 oz fruit puree

3/4 cup of chicken and noodles, with carrots and celery (chicken noodle soup, minus most of the broth), 1/2 piece of fruit, in small pieces

3/4 cup of whatever we eat at night (spaghetti, meatloaf and mashed potatoes, poached chicken, casseroles, stews), plus 1/2 piece of bread

Sometimes some snacks in there--cheerios, raisins, fruit--too.

He nurses at least every 3 hours or so, probably 7 times in a 24 hour period (he sleeps 8 hours at night). 

He is growing and healthy, even though he's at the opposite end of the spectrum from my first two.  He's really hammering home the point that kids eat what they eat, and while we can do a good job at providing healthy food, we can't do much about how much they choose to eat.

[Kuba'sMama]

My youngest is the same as pp. My first BIG eater. Her menu for each day is very similar too- 3 square meals plus snacks in between. She is the kid who will sit at the dinner table on her high chair and grab whatever is within reach and stuff it into her mouth with her fists- doesn't wait for me to offer at all... and she luvvvs our dinners- casseroles, soups, spaghetti-- bring it on! lol.

I don't fight it, I just make sure to offer breasts before naps and at bedtime (only time she wants 'em) and lots of fruit and veggies to keep things regular, kwim? After having two extremely picky eaters I must say it's a nice change to see a kid's eyes light up at my cooking. I was starting to think maybe there was something wrong with it, lol.

[zenmumajen]

What I wrote in my OP may be confusing. I was being a scared FTM worried I was going to lose my supply. MIL insists that since he is 7 months old that he needs to be eating more (multiple items at a time) and always have cereal everyday. Well she started her children on solids when they are 3 months, so she has this image stuck in her mind that my son needs to be eating full fledged meals and a lot less breastmilk. I guess what I am trying to say is that I was worried she was shoving food down his throat because he ate at least double what he normally does. She has told us that she used to hold her kid's hands down while they ate and it freaked me out that she may have done that with Leo. 

[SeattleRain]

Originally Posted by zenmumajen 

What I wrote in my OP may be confusing. I was being a scared FTM worried I was going to lose my supply. MIL insists that since he is 7 months old that he needs to be eating more (multiple items at a time) and always have cereal everyday. Well she started her children on solids when they are 3 months, so she has this image stuck in her mind that my son needs to be eating full fledged meals and a lot less breastmilk. I guess what I am trying to say is that I was worried she was shoving food down his throat because he ate at least double what he normally does. She has told us that she used to hold her kid's hands down while they ate and it freaked me out that she may have done that with Leo. 

Well that changes things. If you're really worried about how much he eats when your MIL watches him, I would portion out the food you want him to have and tell her that's all he gets. I'd give her a little bit more than you usually give him because it seems common for nursing babies to eat more solids while mama is gone. So if you only want him to have, say, 3/4 of a jar of food, then I would put that in a bowl and just give her that instead of giving her the whole jar. I'd also talk to her about how you feed him and the signs you watch for when he's done. My mom totally overfeeds my son when she's with him, but he's fine. In the grand scheme of things, it's only every once in a while. It's sort of like Thanksgiving. Everyone overeats every once in a while, but it doesn't meant that the next day they don't go back to eating the amount they always eat.
 

[zenmumajen]

Originally Posted by SeattleRain 

Well that changes things. If you're really worried about how much he eats when your MIL watches him, I would portion out the food you want him to have and tell her that's all he gets. I'd give her a little bit more than you usually give him because it seems common for nursing babies to eat more solids while mama is gone. So if you only want him to have, say, 3/4 of a jar of food, then I would put that in a bowl and just give her that instead of giving her the whole jar. I'd also talk to her about how you feed him and the signs you watch for when he's done. My mom totally overfeeds my son when she's with him, but he's fine. In the grand scheme of things, it's only every once in a while. It's sort of like Thanksgiving. Everyone overeats every once in a while, but it doesn't meant that the next day they don't go back to eating the amount they always eat.
 

Thank you...perhaps since your mother does it too it is a generational thing? I will be talking to her about paying attention to his cues, hopefully I don't come off rude. 

[JudiAU]

As a one time thing I wouldn't worry about. Most grandmothers I've met love to shove food into babies so maybe give clear instructions on what is enough. With one of the grandmas, we had too leave written instructions each time because she would really, really, really overfeed.

If it doesn't happen often it doesn't really matter. But if this routine then you should leave a bottle and pump for the missed session.(even though you hate it) Missed nursing session ARE bad for your supply and a 7th month should not have solids replace a nursing session. Too young.

[sk8boarder15]

I totally understand, my MIL is dying to stuff some food in my baby. She started feeding DH solids when he was 2months! 0.0 I told her not to give him anything, PERIOD and she is respecting that. When it comes time I'm totally not going to leave him with her at meal time for a while, then eventually give her portioned food to give him.