portion sizes for 6-12 months?

[creations]

OK, I know milk is the main food for little ones, and I've also read that they don't/can't over-eat until they are 2 yrs, but...
anyone know where I can find info on portion sizes and how many portions of each food group for 6-12 months please?

DS is 7 months, he self feeds (mostly but gets a helping hand with porridge at breakfast time) and loves his solids.  He is a petite boy, staying steadily on the same centile line etc.  I try to offer a variety of foods and hope it is a healthy balanced diet, but I just don't know.  What if I'm being carbs heavy and protein light?  What if I am giving too much solid food and he doesn't take enough milk?  It seems to me he really eats a LOT.

Some meals are heavy on the fruit/veg, others are more carbsy, I try to balance over a day/week rather than in a meal.
In one meal he had a full sweet potato (roasted in a smidgen of oil), half a savory muffin (spinach and feta home baked), a full baked apple, a bowl of mixed summer fruits/berries and would happily have continued eating beyond this but we were out and I ran out of food!  He also had 2 other meals in the day.

Can anyone help?

[*Kara*]

You are doing the right thing by balancing over a week's time.

There is a bit of a guide to daily amounts on the US based Gerber site... just go to meal planning and enter bub's name and date of birth... then it asks for developmental stage (sitter, crawler etc)... on the the right hand side, it will give you total daily amounts for each food group

http://menuplanner.gerber.com/

[Buntybear]

Wow, that does seem a a good amount but some babies I guess are just hungry! Does he have his milk feed first?

[creations]

Thanks Kara.  Bookmarked the site and will take a good look over the weekend.

I've been giving his milk at (roughly depending on wake up) 7, 11/11.30, 3/3.30, 6.30 BT, 10.30 DF
and solids at roughly an hour later, 8, 12/12.30, 4.30/5.30

Every time I steam or bake something I think I'll have some for the following day to save on time but it just goes.  There does come a time when he is full, he makes this clear, leans back in his chair, turns his head or starts wiping up his tray and asking for his hands to be washed, but by that time he's eaten just about everything in the house!

Read something last night that portion size is the size of their hand (or an adults hand for adults, I think I'm prob ok with knowing adult portions) but this would mean he is eating way over his 5 portions of fruit/veg in just one meal and has three meals per day...which means i am super over feeding.  But I kind of feel like he's not over eating iykwim.  I really didn't anticipate being concerned about this.

[creations]

Kara, I looked at that site in more detail.  Thanks for posting the link but I'm afraid it doesn't help me (unless i am missing some vital button to click) as it seems to be puree foods in jar/tub amounts and DS is a self feed (or BLW) and eats actual solid food.

I mean, I can see the daily guide amounts of each food group but I'm assuming this also means puree because that's how the weekly menu is set up, for example it says 1/4 cup of fruit but DS had 5 strawberries and half a pear just after his dinner this evening which I think would be more like 1/2 cup and not even counting what he had at breakfast (an entire banana and some summer-fruit mix).  I mean, am I doing something wrong?
Wouldn't a whole banana be about 1/2 cup? (yes I know they come in different sizes, but ykwim)
It says 1/4 cup veg and I think he's had more like 1/2 cup if I stuffed it down hard into a cup.
It also says says 1/2oz of meat/beans and DS has today had a taste (maybe a dice size) of roast chicken at lunch and half a hard boiled egg for dinner, I think the half egg alone weighs in at 3 times the amount of protein in that guide.

If I am giving my baby 3 times what he should be eating this is really bad!

today's meals were:
Breakfast:
4 tsp of dry baby porridge mixed with formula (makes about a 1/2 cup I guess)
1 tbsp yogurt,
3 tsp summer fruits
1 banana

Lunch:
roast potato x 1.5
sweet potato wedge x 2
baby corn x 2
carrot baton x 2
asparagus spear x 1
parsnip mash 4 tsp
cauliflower 1 small flouret
chicken taste (1 dice size)
gravy (low salt) 2 tsp

Dinner:
pasta (regular adult penne) x 8
leak and mushroom cream cheese & garlic sauce (to coat)
hard boiled egg x half
baked pear wedges x 2
strawberries x 5
cheese x 1 dice

anyone help me?  I really don't know if this is ok or not.  I feel a bit more worried now than I was before.

[*Kara*]

I wouldn't worry, as long as he is eating whatever you offer and is still getting his milk intake of at least 20 ozs...

That is just a guide to help you figure out a balanced diet - and yours looks fantastic to me!

He won't overeat and will go through phases where you are certain he is gonna starve to death

And yes, purees have way more in them than actual bits of food... for example - I can puree half an apple plus 1/4 cup of blueberries together and it will total about 2.5 ozs... which is about 1/4 cup

[creations]

Thanks Kara.
I suppose that it would be hard to find a healthy portion size guide for this age group really because of the 'food before one is just for fun' message.  Once he hits 1 I think that there is more info about portion sizes.  I'm not over weight myself but it is so easy to become accustomed to large portions as being the 'norm' when all around people over-eat and I just like to educate myself on all aspects of what is right/good for my LO.

I'm keeping track of his milk because he barely reaches the minimum amount (which is one reason I wanted to find solids portion sizes because I offer until he is full but thought maybe I needed to cut back if I am offering massive portions without realising).  I limit the amount of cheese I offer because of the salt content, he would happily eat more and this would add to his dairy intake rather than milk, but I don't want to go overboard on salt (or him end up with a preference/habit of high fat food rather than fruit/veg, even though fat is ok now I think it wise not to over do it because it is setting habits and 'tastes' for the future).

I think I'll just have to continue as we are. Thanks

[*Kara*]

No worries!  You're doing great momma