"You can't overfeed a breastfed baby"

[melbgal1]

Okay, that's fine.

But now we're introducing solids, I swear he would eat a whole pumpkin
( or whatever ) if I let him. So it is I that ends the session --- or
should I let him dictate this ??


--
Mummy to Bébé B
Born 20.Apr.2004

[Welches]

melbgal1 > wrote in message
t...
>
> Okay, that's fine.
>
> But now we're introducing solids, I swear he would eat a whole pumpkin
> ( or whatever ) if I let him. So it is I that ends the session --- or
> should I let him dictate this ??
>
>
> --
> Mummy to Bébé B
> Born 20.Apr.2004

I had that problem with #1. Her weight did rise rapidly as I introduced
solids. However at nearly 4 she's about back on the centile line she left.
I generally limited her feeding to approximately the weight of jars
recommended for that age. ie 125g maincourse then half that for pudding for
lunch and dinner from 4-6 months. then I moved up to the 7 month jar size
(whatever that was) I found keeping a couple of empty jars useful as I knew
that was about the right amount she needed. Once she ate finger foods it was
easier.
I just made sure that I watched snacks and didn't give her too much sweet
stuff.
Debbie

[Chookie]

In article >,
melbgal1 > wrote:

> Okay, that's fine.
>
> But now we're introducing solids, I swear he would eat a whole pumpkin
> ( or whatever ) if I let him. So it is I that ends the session --- or
> should I let him dictate this ??

Take a look at whether the breastfeeds are continuing at the same rate and
level -- solids shouldn't take over from bm at this age. If he eats a whole
pumpkin and stays on the same number/intensity of feeds, that would be fine!

Another thing to consider is if it's time to try a thicker texture or finger
food instead. DS went from thin rice cereal to finger food in 7 weeks, and it
would have been sooner if I had understood what he was signalling.

--
Chookie -- Sydney, Australia
(Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)

"Life is like a cigarette -- smoke it to the butt." -- Harvie Krumpet

[Anne Rogers]

>
> Another thing to consider is if it's time to try a thicker texture or
finger
> food instead. DS went from thin rice cereal to finger food in 7 weeks,
and it
> would have been sooner if I had understood what he was signalling.

our DS wouldn't eat anything pureed or cereal like at first, so we stressed
for a while that he wasn't eating (other than whipped cream which he would
nap from the top of our desserts), then he picked up a piece of cheese and
ate that

[Welches]

Anne Rogers > wrote in message
news:1095941883.IJ9eeJbmz/5yFF8/UwcR9Q@teranews...
>
> >
> > Another thing to consider is if it's time to try a thicker texture or
> finger
> > food instead. DS went from thin rice cereal to finger food in 7 weeks,
> and it
> > would have been sooner if I had understood what he was signalling.
>
> our DS wouldn't eat anything pureed or cereal like at first, so we
stressed
> for a while that he wasn't eating (other than whipped cream which he would
> nap from the top of our desserts), then he picked up a piece of cheese and
> ate that
>
>
<grin> the first thing #2 ate without objecting was a piece of pizza crust.
(except paper)
Now she'll eat slop or finger food but not stuff with small lumps.
#1 on the other hand ate anything foodlike (including a lemon once!)
Debbie

[T Flynn]

On Thu, 23 Sep 2004, Chookie wrote:
> Take a look at whether the breastfeeds are continuing at the same rate and
> level -- solids shouldn't take over from bm at this age. If he eats a whole
> pumpkin and stays on the same number/intensity of feeds, that would be fine!

Okay, I'm pretty clueless about this whole Mom thing, but does anyone
have a reliable website that indicates the whole solid/bf volume by age
and or weight or something? DD has had "phase 1" solids and homemade
pureed veggies for about 2 months -- usually at least one jar for lunch
plus another jar for dinner-- and she helped herself to the sitter's
kid's cheerios and kix in the past month, but the sitter is very concerned
that she's not eating more solids and that I BF about six times between
evening/overnight/early morning. DD is 7.5 months.

[Welches]

T Flynn > wrote in message
...
> On Thu, 23 Sep 2004, Chookie wrote:
> > Take a look at whether the breastfeeds are continuing at the same rate
and
> > level -- solids shouldn't take over from bm at this age. If he eats a
whole
> > pumpkin and stays on the same number/intensity of feeds, that would be
fine!
>
> Okay, I'm pretty clueless about this whole Mom thing, but does anyone
> have a reliable website that indicates the whole solid/bf volume by age
> and or weight or something? DD has had "phase 1" solids and homemade
> pureed veggies for about 2 months -- usually at least one jar for lunch
> plus another jar for dinner-- and she helped herself to the sitter's
> kid's cheerios and kix in the past month, but the sitter is very concerned
> that she's not eating more solids and that I BF about six times between
> evening/overnight/early morning. DD is 7.5 months.
>
If you're happy and your dd is gaining weight, active and generally healthy,
then don't worry. It's up to you if you're happy to feed them overnight.
Children have different appetites. For example:
#1 ate at 7.5 months: breakfast: breastfeed + 1 pot of banana porridge
midmorning breastfeed,
lunch: 190g (~7 month jar size) maincourse, followed by either a yoghurt or
mashed fruit (about50-75g I'd guess)
Then breastfeed (to sleep was the idea)
Dinner: Approximately same as lunch.
Extended breastfeed to sleep.
Slept all night.

#2 at 7.5 months:
breakfast: might take a small breastfeed-but probably wouldn't
Midmorning: if didn't have breakfast feed would want a breastfeed.
Lunch: persuaded at length to take about 1-2 teaspoons of babyrice and
breastmilk
Then long breastfeed to sleep.
Dinner: 1-2 spoonful of mashed vegetable/fruit. Might eat a cooked piece of
fingure veg or bread.
Extended breastfeed to sleep.
Fed 1-3 times overnight.

As you can see it's vastly different. If your sitter had children eating
like the first, then I guess she'd be worried over #2.
#2 put on weight (not as much as #1) and was much more active, so there's no
concern for me, she just hasn't as big an appetite.
Even at 11 months she eats nothing like #1 did at 6 months, but I don't
think it's a problem.
Debbie

[Ericka Kammerer]

melbgal1 wrote:

> Okay, that's fine.
>
> But now we're introducing solids, I swear he would eat a whole pumpkin
> ( or whatever ) if I let him. So it is I that ends the session --- or
> should I let him dictate this ??

How old is he? Personally, I fed my kids whatever
they wanted to eat. I nursed separately from solids meals,
so they were still getting plenty of milk. Mine went
through phases where they ate truly appalling amounts
of food, but they are downright skinny at 7 and 9 years
old and my 14 month old isn't even close to overweight.

Best wishes,
Ericka

[Nikki]

melbgal1 wrote:
> Okay, that's fine.
>
> But now we're introducing solids, I swear he would eat a whole pumpkin
> ( or whatever ) if I let him. So it is I that ends the session --- or
> should I let him dictate this ??

I always let Luke eat as much as he wanted. He ate a lot but he was a bit
older. He started at 6 months but didn't rev up to the really big portions
until about 7 months. Unless he was at the sitter I always nursed him
before the solids so I was sure he was still getting plenty of breastmilk.
The large amount of solids did not negatively impact him in anyway.
--
Nikki

[Nikki]

T Flynn wrote:

> Okay, I'm pretty clueless about this whole Mom thing, but does anyone
> have a reliable website that indicates the whole solid/bf volume by
> age and or weight or something?

My advice - don't worry one wit about it. Nurse her and then feed her as
much or as little as she wants. At 7.5 months Hunter ate literally nothing
at all and Luke was eating a bit more then your dd but he increased that
very quickly and by 9 months he was eating two small meals and two very
large meals every day. At 9 months Hunter maybe ate 10 cheerios and 1/2
graham cracker every other day. :-)

They were both absolutely fine. They both nursed a lot. Actually Hunter
was by far the biggest baby and he didn't eat a thing. Appetite is just
such and individual thing.

I was lucky that Hunter was big because when peolpe hassled me about the
food thing (and they did a lot) all I had to do was ask them what exactly
they thought the problem was since he was clearly growing *just fine*. The
only person that didn't hassle me was his doctor, she was a gem :-)
--
Nikki

[Ericka Kammerer]

T Flynn wrote:

> On Thu, 23 Sep 2004, Chookie wrote:
>
>>Take a look at whether the breastfeeds are continuing at the same rate and
>>level -- solids shouldn't take over from bm at this age. If he eats a whole
>>pumpkin and stays on the same number/intensity of feeds, that would be fine!
>
>
> Okay, I'm pretty clueless about this whole Mom thing, but does anyone
> have a reliable website that indicates the whole solid/bf volume by age
> and or weight or something? DD has had "phase 1" solids and homemade
> pureed veggies for about 2 months -- usually at least one jar for lunch
> plus another jar for dinner-- and she helped herself to the sitter's
> kid's cheerios and kix in the past month, but the sitter is very concerned
> that she's not eating more solids and that I BF about six times between
> evening/overnight/early morning. DD is 7.5 months.

I wouldn't sweat it too much, as babies really get
going on solids when they feel like it. Some babies are
eating like crazy at 7.5 months and others are still pretty
uninterested. I don't think 6 nursing sessions per day
is too much. Heck, I still do that many *now* and my
"baby" is 14 months old and eating (solids) like a horse.
My personal opinion is to do little jarred/pureed
baby foods and let the kid forage for him/herself when
ready and interested. I did the whole jarred babyfood
thing with my first--he still had jars of food sometimes
at a year old. My second taught me better ;-) He refused
the slop and went straight for finger food after a very
short transitional period. Same with my third. If
she's scarfing Cheerios and Kix, she can probably handle
quite a few finger foods, as long as you avoid the likely
allergens. I'd probably stop pureeing the veggies and
see what she does with small pieces of veggies steamed
until they're soft (and other similar things).
I'd let her eat whatever solids she wanted *and*
keep up the nursing. That's worked just fine for us. I
don't nurse at mealtimes. Once my kids are eating
significant solids, they eat their three meals a day with
the rest of us and they nurse other times (usually
morning, before naps, maybe another snack sometime,
before bed, and overnight). We've never had a problem
doing this. The kids have all taken easily to solids
and family mealtimes, have continued nursing well,
and have grown well.

Best wishes,
Ericka

[Anne Rogers]

> >
> <grin> the first thing #2 ate without objecting was a piece of pizza
crust.
> (except paper)
LOL, I forgot to mention paper!

> Now she'll eat slop or finger food but not stuff with small lumps.
> #1 on the other hand ate anything foodlike (including a lemon once!)
ds nibbled at a garlic clove a month ago and didn't seem to mind, very wierd

[Beach mum]

"Welches" > wrote ...
>
> Anne Rogers > wrote in message
> news:1095941883.IJ9eeJbmz/5yFF8/UwcR9Q@teranews...
>>
>> >
>> > Another thing to consider is if it's time to try a thicker texture or
>> finger
>> > food instead. DS went from thin rice cereal to finger food in 7 weeks,
>> and it
>> > would have been sooner if I had understood what he was signalling.
>>
>> our DS wouldn't eat anything pureed or cereal like at first, so we
> stressed
>> for a while that he wasn't eating (other than whipped cream which he
>> would
>> nap from the top of our desserts), then he picked up a piece of cheese
>> and
>> ate that
>>
>>
> <grin> the first thing #2 ate without objecting was a piece of pizza
> crust.
> (except paper)
> Now she'll eat slop or finger food but not stuff with small lumps.
> #1 on the other hand ate anything foodlike (including a lemon once!)

and E popped a piece of raw broccoli (quickly removed by me) into her mouth
to let us know that she would not eat baby food. We steamed some broccoli
for her and she ate it herself as her first meal. Aren't babies funny.

What I want to know is that if this is common, and it seems to be relatively
so, why don't any of the baby books mention babies who won't eat baby food?

--
Melissa (in Los Angeles)
Mum to Elizabeth 4/13/03
and ??? due early 3/05

[Jill]

Rachel is almost 5 months old and I tried her on some rice cereal mixed with
breast milk, and she screamed and cried- didn't want anything goopy in her
mouth. She still also doesn't take to a bottle. ::shrug:: I figured since
she's just about 5 months old, I'll back off the cereal and try again at
about 6 months. If at 6 months she still hates it I am probably going to try
her on something different. I am not worried about her not eating solids,
but I do want her to get used to a spoon! She still doesn't have any visible
signs of a tooth, just teething. What little rice cereal I did get in her
constipated her sooo bad. ?? I doubt it was even a teaspoon. I fed her about
a teaspoon on a Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday and that was it- no more. That
was last week. She nurses quite a bit. She watches you like a hawk wen you
eat, staring at the food and your mouth, but just doesn't seem like she
wants any.

She's not 13 pounds yet. But I have noticed something. While she wore her
0-3 months clothes for 4 and a half months, and we are just now moving into
the 3-6 months sizes, it looks like she is going to outgrow her 3-6 months
clothes MUCH faster than she did her 0-3's. She's getting long! (That
reminds me, I need to check her car seat specs).

We passed a baby and mom out walking yesterday, and her 10 month old is 22
pounds and 30 inches tall. To me, she didn't look like she outweighs Rachel
by 10 pounds, because Rachel doesn't look so tiny any more. We now take her
in her stroller without the carseat. Maybe it's my eyes....the mom said her
10 month old is wearing size 18 months pants. Rachel still wears 0-3 month
pants because 3-6 fall off her butt. But they did NOT look all that
different in size to me!! Of course it may have been because Rachel was in
her huge SUV of a stroller, and the other little girl was in a teeny
umbrella stroller?Still I thought it was funny...and sad, Rachel is growing
up so fast!

--
---------
-Jill
Mom to Rachel, May 9, 2004 (A Mother's Day baby!)
See her here: http://tinyurl.com/3nsug

[Marie]

"Jill" > wrote in message
. com...
> Rachel is almost 5 months old and I tried her on some rice cereal mixed
with
> breast milk, and she screamed and cried- didn't want anything goopy in her
> mouth. She still also doesn't take to a bottle. ::shrug:: I figured since
> she's just about 5 months old, I'll back off the cereal and try again at
> about 6 months. If at 6 months she still hates it I am probably going to
try
> her on something different. I am not worried about her not eating solids,
> but I do want her to get used to a spoon!

Why the urgency to just get her used to the spoon? Obviously, your DD, by
her reaction, isn't ready for solids, so relax and wait a while. I started
DD on solids when she was 6.5 months old.

Another Marie
Mom to 7.5-month-old DD

[Circe]

Marie wrote:
> "Jill" > wrote in message
> . com...
>> Rachel is almost 5 months old and I tried her on some rice cereal
>> mixed with breast milk, and she screamed and cried- didn't want
>> anything goopy in her mouth. She still also doesn't take to a
>> bottle. ::shrug:: I figured since she's just about 5 months old,
>> I'll back off the cereal and try again at about 6 months. If at 6
>> months she still hates it I am probably going to try her on
>> something different. I am not worried about her not eating solids,
>> but I do want her to get used to a spoon!
>
> Why the urgency to just get her used to the spoon? Obviously, your
> DD, by her reaction, isn't ready for solids, so relax and wait a
> while. I started DD on solids when she was 6.5 months old.
>
And typically, babies don't like to be spoon-fed by their parents once they
can pick up stuff and put in in their mouths themselves. That's infinitely
more entertaining! The only reason for using a spoon when solids are started
is because the baby isn't capable of feeding him/herself, not because it has
any effect on their choosing to use utensils later in life. Toddlers will
figure out the use of a spoon and subsequent utensils on their own sometime
between 10 months and 18 months old, depending on the kid, even if they've
never met a spoon in their lives before (and for a lot of them, spoon usage
is so fleeting and so early in infancy that they don't remember it any
way!).
--
Be well, Barbara
Mom to Sin (Vernon, 2), Misery (Aurora, 5), and the Rising Son (Julian, 7)

This week's suggested Bush/Cheney campaign bumper sticker:
"Four More Wars!"

All opinions expressed in this post are well-reasoned and insightful.
Needless to say, they are not those of my Internet Service Provider, its
other subscribers or lackeys. Anyone who says otherwise is itchin' for a
fight. -- with apologies to Michael Feldman

[Nikki]

Jill wrote:

> I am not worried about her not eating solids, but I do want her to
> get used to a spoon!

Goodness, don't be worried about the spoon!! She is much to young. Hunter
didn't eat any solids until he was 10 months old and then he used his
fingers and was truly ticked if I tried to spoon something into him. He
still used a spoon very early - like at about 14-15 months. Sometimes the
spoon is the very thing a baby objects to. Luke - he wanted me to feed him
from a spoon because he was so hungry but he had to have one of his own as
well :-) He started solids at 6 months and had all that spoon practice and
he still wasn't very good at it until 18 months....and he is actually a lot
more physically agile then Hunter. Lot of blabbing to say don't give the
spoon any consideration, lol. Just watch her, she'll start hollering for
food or grabbing at it when she is ready for solids :-)



--
Nikki

[Elizabeth Zwicky]

"Beach mum" > wrote in message news:<HzG4d.308$iD6.285@trnddc05>...

> What I want to know is that if this is common, and it seems to be relatively
> so, why don't any of the baby books mention babies who won't eat baby food?

I'm not that fond of Dr. Sears, but he does mention this possibility.
DD is another
anti-baby-food baby (although now that she's convinced us to let her
have real
food she will also eat off a spoon, although usually she insists on
getting to hold
the spoon and no, a different, empty spoon will not do).

As for Jill's question about getting the baby used to the spoon, which
is useful for
feeding the baby later, I'd just let the baby play with an empty
spoon (with
supervision). In restaurants, we often give DD adult spoons --
they're shiny and
cold and good to chew on. It helps to hold onto the end of the spoon
and of course
if she's in a banging mood it doesn't work at all.

Elizabeth Zwicky

[Chookie]

T Flynn wrote:

> Okay, I'm pretty clueless about this whole Mom thing, but does anyone
> have a reliable website that indicates the whole solid/bf volume by
> age and or weight or something?

It doesn't work like that. Sorry!

Here are the current recommendations throughout most of the world:

1. Start solids at 6 months.
2. Don't let the solids take over from breastfeeds. If breastfeeds start
tapering off, reduce the solids (they just don't eat enough solids in the
first year to rely on them for nutrition).
3. At 1 year, the diet should be roughly 50% breast milk, 50% solids.

That means you have a great deal of freedom/wiggle room on feeding solids.
Baby doesn't like rice cereal? Try something else. Baby doesn't like glop?
Try finger food.

For some reason, a lot of people seem to get caught up with feeding children
from jars, and get obsessed with how many jars etc etc. Of course your aim is
to get them to the knife and fork stage, so it seems a bit silly to me to
spend a lot of time on pureed/mushy food. Oh, and babies often gag a bit on
food; this is not a sign that they are about to choke; they are figuring out
how to move food around in their mouths (there was a mother at my playgroup
whose *1yo* was only getting purees because he "kept choking"!!).

--
Chookie -- Sydney, Australia
(Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)

"Life is like a cigarette -- smoke it to the butt." -- Harvie Krumpet

[Chris Craig]

T Flynn wrote:

> the sitter is very concerned
> that she's not eating more solids and that I BF about six times between
> evening/overnight/early morning. DD is 7.5 months.

Oh, well, if the SITTER is concerned, then you better stop breastfeeding!

;)

--
Chris Craig
http://ciotog.net
Life of Siobhana: http://members.fortunecity.com/siobhana

[melbgal1]

Welches says...
> melbgal1 > wrote ...
> >
> > Okay, that's fine.
> >
> > But now we're introducing solids, I swear he would eat a whole pumpkin
> > ( or whatever ) if I let him. So it is I that ends the session --- or
> > should I let him dictate this ??
> >
>
> I had that problem with #1. Her weight did rise rapidly as I introduced
> solids. However at nearly 4 she's about back on the centile line she left.
> I generally limited her feeding to approximately the weight of jars
> recommended for that age. ie 125g maincourse then half that for pudding for
> lunch and dinner from 4-6 months. then I moved up to the 7 month jar size
> (whatever that was) I found keeping a couple of empty jars useful as I knew
> that was about the right amount she needed. Once she ate finger foods it was
> easier.
> I just made sure that I watched snacks and didn't give her too much sweet
> stuff.

I'm preparing all his food myself, from fresh fruit & veges.
So 'defrosting how many ice-cubes' is more relevant to me ;)

thanks.


--
Mummy to Bébé B
Born 20.Apr.2004

[melbgal1]

In article >,
Chookie says...
> In article >,
> melbgal1 > wrote:
>
> > Okay, that's fine.
> >
> > But now we're introducing solids, I swear he would eat a whole pumpkin
> > ( or whatever ) if I let him. So it is I that ends the session --- or
> > should I let him dictate this ??
>
> Take a look at whether the breastfeeds are continuing at the same rate and
> level -- solids shouldn't take over from bm at this age. If he eats a whole
> pumpkin and stays on the same number/intensity of feeds, that would be fine!

that's basically what's happening - yes.
( which is why I was thinking: is he a pig ?! :)


> Another thing to consider is if it's time to try a thicker texture or finger
> food instead. DS went from thin rice cereal to finger food in 7 weeks, and it
> would have been sooner if I had understood what he was signalling.

I haven't taken a lot of care in mashing/straining foods, and he's
managed just fine. I don't like to "baby" him ;)

He's enjoyed some rusks this week too. I love to watch him eat &
explore ;)


--
Mummy to Bébé B
Born 20.Apr.2004

[melbgal1]

Ericka Kammerer says...
> melbgal1 wrote:
>
> > Okay, that's fine.
> >
> > But now we're introducing solids, I swear he would eat a whole pumpkin
> > ( or whatever ) if I let him. So it is I that ends the session --- or
> > should I let him dictate this ??
>
> How old is he?

You must have missed my sig ;) ( 5 months old )


--
Mummy to Bébé B
Born 20.Apr.2004