Quantity?

[phillipap]

We are going great with our BLW so far, mostly finger/hand held foods and some spoon Fed where ds holds and puts it in his own mouth.
What I am finding tricky is, he seems to want to eat a lot more than I thought he would! Especially at the end of the day and I don't want him too full of solids for sleep time case of tummy troubles. Tonight he had some fruit and veg before our dinner and he was almost crying and it took us some time before we realised he wanted what we were eating! He ate 3 teaspoon-ish sized slices of silverbeet quiche and prob would have had more but I didn't offer. I am keeping the offers of breastmilk up, any tips for hungry babies? Dd1 was such a tiny eater and breastmilk was great for a long time. DS is 7.5mths and 10.3kg lol.

[MelissaK]

It's tricky, isn't it? My DD hardly ate a thing, but DS would eat and eat and eat! Still does! He would eat more than I thought was neccesary and I didn't want him to have tummy troubles either, but I think that it's an important part of BLW for them to understand what happens to their own bodies when they eat too much, or go beyond their full signals.

DS was mostly excited by eating and tasting which is why I think he ate so much, but I let him go for it and he learnt over time how to regulate and what he liked best etc. Hope that makes sense

[kimbermama]

Is he still having a milk feed before you offer him solids? It's worth keeping in mind too that BM is much more energy dense than solid food, so "a lot" of food isn't actually that much compared to a big BF. We found with DD that her hunger came and went - and still does. Some meals/days/weeks, she would eat heaps and then suddenly she would barely eat a thing. I think if you continue to offer a variety and aren't replacing the BF, then he should be fine. If you're worried he's having too much quiche, then change to something else because if he's still hungry he'll eat it.

I think the only thing to watch out for is that the food you are offering isn't overly salty or sweet, as those flavours can sometimes mask the satiety signals from the brain. It's that "I'll just have one more handful of chips/tiny slice of cake even though I'm absolutely stuffed" thing... This can also happen with "good" things like fruit - I'm sure we've all enjoyed dealing with the consequences of our lovely children eating too many blueberries, plums, apricots, etc.!

[phillipap]

Thanks kimbermama - those are good things to keep in mind.
I am not much of a 'box-ticker' and don't keep too close an eye on when he bf's (we just go on demand, but he isn't particularly demanding lol) so there may be times when he has food before bm. Must keep offering bm plenty as nosey Mr 7.5 mths needs to be persuaded to stop and drink...