big eaters! anyone else?

[torontotwinmom]

okay, I think my guys are big eaters!  They are 9.5 months old (8.5 months adjusted), and based on what I've read about 'average' amounts of solid foods, I think they are 'overachievers' lol.

- do you need to feed them until they refuse food?  my guys will slow down sometimes, but they very rarely refuse food.  They might get tired of a particular dish, but if I switch it to something they love, they eat with renewed energy!

- should I be limiting the quantities of any one food? I can't believe a whole bunch of any one kind of food won't hurt their tummies. Like - how much banana could I feed them in one sitting?  I try to limit it but it means that I go through a number of different kinds of food each meal - it's a lot of work to prepare!

This morning, they nursed when they woke up, then ~30min later they each had 7tbsp of cereal + 3oz breast milk, plus a pureed pear each, plus half a banana each.  And to be honest, they didn't seem particularly full at the end of it - I had just run out of food!

Thanks for any advice!

[Hester]

lol, I had the same problem. my kids just love food. When they are little they should be able to signal when they are full. They are still very in tune with their bodies.
So, how much do they weigh? Are they very heavy? I think if you are concerned it's always good to talk to your dr., there are things that can cause a big appetite, but 99% of the time, it's just that, a big appetite.
Your babies are growing like stink and need the food that goes with that.

[~inbalance~]

Great that they love to eat so much!  As long as they are still getting all their milk, then I think it's fine that they have hearty appetites.  Maybe now that they're older, try offering more finger foods instead of purees.  Some babies can sit and eat and eat purees, but they're not really getting the whole eating experience, kwim?  They also don't know how to learn how to feel full on their own.  If you give them a good, healthy variety of foods including finger foods they will enjoy exploring and experimenting.  Giving them more control over what they eat will help them develop healthy eating habits and hopefully deter any predispositions towards overeating in the future.

As for limiting certain types of foods, I would be inclined to maybe limit some fruits and vegetables.  I know for me personally, if I eat too much fruit my tummy hurts!  Something like banana could be constipating, so maybe let them have one banana each.  Banana would be a good one to offer as a finger food!  Too much of any one thing is rarely a good idea.  It's good too if you offer different variety each day, so they're not always eating the same things.

What I would do is prepare what you normally would for their meals, if you are doing purees still.  Then instead of offering several different types of purees, maybe offer one puree and then a variety of finger foods to choose from. 

While it's ok to let your kid's eat a lot if they want, they should be getting all their nutrition from their milk still.  So with that in mind, they won't go hungry if you do decide to limit it a little bit.  Quality is more important than quantity.