How much food does your baby eat????

[papal]

This evening my almost 6 month old ate half a sweet potato in which i had mixed a teaspoon of Earth's Best Oats with a little water.
I know babies are supposed to know when they are full and turn away. I don't think our baby has this skill.. she keeps eating if we keep giving food to her. What is going on???
Are we feeding her too much? I really feel it is too much for a 6 month old.
Please give me feedback.. how much does your baby eat???

[deborah_r]

Rashmi,

Kai used to eat so much more when I spoon-fed him. Like a jar of fruit or veggie (the big jars, 4 oz. I think) and about 4 tbls cereal. Now I know he doesn't eat anywhere close to that, now that he's self-feeding. It's driving me crazy - I'm constantly getting some other food out and trying to get him to eat that after he rejects the first food I try.

Anyway, she's probably just really excited about it. I think she would let you know if it was too much. kai used to scream if the food ran out and he wanted more! He doesn't do that anymore (fussiness has set in, or else maybe he just wants to get back to playing...) Enjoy it while it lasts!!!

[sadie427]

Sammy loves his sweet potatoes too! He could eat 1/2 a sweet potato too. Things that are delicious (sweet potatoes, pears, matzo balls, turkey meatballs, chinese food from my plate) he will eat more of. I wouldn't worry about it, as long as she is still nursing almost as much as before. I think it varies a lot from day to day, depending on how hungry he is and what I give him. I do limit rice cereal to 1/4 cup (dry before mixing) because of constipation, and fruit to a few tbs because of the opposite problem, but otherwise he decides when he is full, and I give him a variety of foods. Watch out w/ the sweet potatoes though--my friend gave them to her baby every day and his nose turned orange! :-)

[papal]

Did his nose turn orange because the sweet-potato got on his nose? Or is it a reaction to excess sweet-potato???

[papal]

Deborah, when did you stop spoon-feeding Kai and why??

[sadie427]

It's a reaction to the carotene in sweet potato. It turns their skin kind of orange. I'm not sure how much they have to eat to turn orange, but I think this baby was eating sweet potato every day and not much other solid food. Didn't mean to get you all worried! :-)

[papal]

:) Sorry, i just panicked for a moment, thinking she had eaten too much sweet potato. Thanks for the heads up on the orange-reaction.. if i see it, i won't be in shock! :)

[deborah_r]

Just recently. And the "why" made me chuckle...why is because he grabs the spoon from me, plays with it, and flings it to the dog. I read in Child of Mine (I think) that I should let him have the spoon if he wants it, so I do let him have it, even though I want to wrestle it from him and feed him myself!

I can still sneak in a spoonful here and there in between his finger food mouthfuls.

[deborah_r]

That will also happen with other fruits and veggies. It's called "carotenemia". You don't want to feed too much of the following: dark green and deep yellow vegetables and fruits, like broccolli, sweet potatoes, carrots, squash, apricots, watermelon, and peaches. Carotenemia is caused by accumulation of the yellow coloring carotene in food that the body converts to vitamin A.

I got that info from Child of Mine. She says to try to give those foods only every other day or so.

[Vajrastorm]

You are so much braver than I LOL. I never allow Aine the option of eating that much. I'm always worried it will upset her tummy, or cause constipation, and make her poo stink (the selfish reason!).

I rationalize my stinginess by saying solids are just for practice and not nutrition ;) Poor deprived Aine ....

Edited to say - The most I've allowed her at one time is an ounce of banana.

[nitaghei]

Rashmi,

Trust Leela! She will stop when she's full. If you're worried that she's eating too much solid food, make sure to nurse her about half an hour before the solid food.

Neel loved sweet potato, too - and ate more than half at one sitting at about that age. He also ate an entire avocado at one sitting - more than once, when he was 8 months or so. And almost a whole banana - well you get the idea!

There are still times I'm amazed at how much food he can put away.

This is his normal breakfast (really!)
4 oz yogurt
4 oz applesauce
1/3 cup oatmeal cereal
1 piece buttered toast or waffle or muffin.

None of his other meals are anywhere near as big. And he's still tracking 10th percentile for weight!

HTH
Nita
mom to Neel, January 2003
dog mom to a cocker and a PWD

[papal]

Wow.. that is quite a huge breakfast Nita!!! I can't believe that little Neel can eat all that in one sitting! Amazing.

I had nursed Leela an hour before giving her the sweet-potato, so she should not have been all that hungry... and it is not like she has cut down on any nursing sessions. It is really amazing to me that she eats so much.. i mean her tummy must be the size of a thumb.. where does everything go?!!

[nitaghei]

As long as she's not cutting down on nursing sessions, there's nothing to worry about. Let her eat as much as she wants.

And I wonder about where everything goes too! Sorry - can't help you with that! :)

Nita
mom to Neel, January 2003
dog mom to a cocker and a PWD

[713abc]

I am happy if my 10 month old eats 1/2 a jar of baby food (2 oz) per meal! He is not a big eater at all. He has eaten a whole jar of fruit on occassion, and eats about 3 tbsps of cerial (measured dry) at a time. Still drinking about 25-30 oz of formula a day. He's been 25% in weight during his last few visits.

We are dealing with gagging issues when he eats food that is not pureed, but has been doing well on cheerios these days. Progress!

With his 1st b-day approaching, I am already anticipating moving to cow's milk and away from bottles in the near future. Can't wait for that challenge!

Mom to Max, 05/28/03

[cinrein]

We've had those "how can she possibly still be hungry" meals too! Sometimes it seems like Anna is a bottomless pit. I think it's very normal and as long as you're giving Leela healthy food, she'll know when to stop.

Just wait until she's older and eating more solids and has a growth spurt. I would swear that Anna ate more than I did some days!

Cindy and Anna 2/11/03

[nwaddellr]

I wonder the same thing some days - how can you still be hungry when you've nursed just an hour ago and you're still packing away the food. I've worried about the stomach ache, but it hasn't happened yet, so I just let Isaac regulate it himself. One thing I will do is offer more of the less delightful things (like plain cereal or beans instead of yogurt) if he's still hungry when we've finished the first round of everything.

[essnce629]

My son Conner eats a lot too. He just turned 8 months today and he was ebf up until 6 months and he now bf's 4 times during the day. He's about 18 1/2 lbs and 28 inches long. His daily meals go something like this:

* I make all his baby food so everything is measured in squares (ice cube squares). Each square equals about 1oz of food.

Breakfast:
3 squares of fruit (he loves banana and blueberry mix...YUM)
1/4 c. oatmeal cereal

Lunch:
3 squares of vegetables
4 oz container of baby yogurt mixed with 1 square of fruit and oatmeal cereal
1 wagon wheel or biter biscuit

Dinner:
1/4 c. barley cereal
3-6 squares of vegetables
2 squares of fruits for "dessert"

[KGoes]

DD started out eating lots of sweet potatoes and apple sauce. She has days where she eats lots and days where she doesn't want solids at all. I have always listened to her.
Leela may be going through a growth spurt - DD had one at about 6 months - and that may be making her hungrier.
At eight and a half months, DD consumes two 3.5 ounce containers of veggies and 1 container of fruit - and possibly a few cheerios. She shows no interest in feeding herself.

Kelley
DD born 7/03