Over Eating?

[BabyDragon]

Can babies over eat?

I keep reading that babies can't over eat...

But I don't think whoever wrote that met my LO!

My LO will literally eat until she gets sick and throw up... She LOVES food. Yesterday we went to a function, and when I got home, and posted pics up, I realized in every picture, LO is shoving food in her mouth or reaching for food! Well, actually, someone commented that LO is too busy stuffing her face.... lol

Even if she doesn't like a particular food... She'll still eat it...

So, can babies over eat?

 

[sillysapling]

"until she gets sick and throw up"
That is overeating. It sounds like your baby is having trouble self-regulating. Have you talked to her pediatrician?

My non-professional thoughts are that either she isn't getting the "I'm full" signals (which sounds like a real concern) or she just ignores them and doesn't mind throwing up. Or it could be something else.

Does she have any teeth? Throwing up often can cause cavities- just something to be aware of.

 

[summer rain]

My second eldest was like this, he would eat and eat until he was sick until he was at least 3 years old. It would be especially bad at other people's houses as he would pretend to different people that he hadn't eaten anything. Poor OH's car suffered the most as he'd throw up on the way home. We just had to limit what he was eating a bit and also warn people when we went to their house that he did overeat and to keep an eye on him. Eventually he learned to self-regulate what he ate and started to feel full after eating a sensible amount. It takes 20 minutes for the 'full' signal to register if your baby is a particularly fast eater this may mean that she is filling herself up too much before that can kick in xx

 

[BabyDragon]

Thanks so much ladies! Those are some good food for thought. Yes, she has 8 teeth.

She has reflux and I used to regulate her milk intake, in terms of less milk, but more frequent bottles.

I didn't even think of having to regulate her solids as well.

I have been starting to cut her off at meal times...because if she enjoys something, she will shove it all in her mouth as fast as her little hands can make it happen..

Like at thanksgiving. I cut her off midway through dinner because she was enjoying it a it too much, so she started reaching over her cousin's highchair and helped herself! Then her 15m old cousin started handing her her food since she has the complete opposite problem and will refuse everything after a bite or two. It was cute though...lol

But yeah...

It's just hard to gauge when enough is enough.

 

[sillysapling]

You should try only offering her smaller portions. Figure out about how much you think she needs at each meal, make sure it's not more than she can eat without throwing up. You could tell her that if she's still hungry she can ask for more later (find a time limit that works- 10-20 min to make sure her body has time to process "full" but not so long that there's a problem if she's really still hungry) and then get her involved with playing something else. If in 20 minutes or so she's really fussy and clearly wants food, again give her a small portion (possibly smaller than the first).
My mom would do this when I was a kid if I asked for seconds. If I was really hungry, I'd ask later- but other times by 15 minutes/half an hour I'd have totally forgotten about it because my brain caught up with the "I'm full" messages. I hope that helps some.