Portion sizies

[Abz1982]

What do you class as a portion size?

I am going by this at the moment:

https://www.monkeysee.com/play/1861-baby-food-how-to-determine-your-baby-s-portion-size

Als, I am noticing that it all says - go by your baby - but what if someone has a baby who is a bit too keen and so letting them decide portion sizes is not a good idea. Surely we should be setting an example to them about this from an early age?

I cant find anything in the literature I have been given by HV that mentions portion sizes etc.

 

[indy and lara]

Am interested in knowing this too!

 

[Lisa1302]

I expect there are some babies out there who will eat too much.
I haven't really worried about this as Izzy just closes her mouth and refuses to eat once she feels full - there is no way I could force feed her even if I wanted to. I always say this though - she has always been on the 50th centile for weight and height, so is obviously eating the perfect amount that her body needs - and that is of her own doing, I feed her what she wants at meals times and she has milk when she wants at the other times. I do not give her snack food between meals, the only snack food she will have is like a breadstick while she waits for me to prepare dinner, or a biscuit afterwards instead of yoghurt.

A portion size is just what they eat - I cant see how anyone can tell you how much that is! At the start its hard to know what that is, but after a few piles chucked in the bin...and emergency defrosting cos they are still hungry...you get the idea of what they are eating.
I have always prepared about an ounce more than she ate the last time, that way if she has increased her appetite a bit I am not left scrabbling round to fill her up.
As a guide though, after Izzy had tasted a few things, just a few mouthfulls - when she was eating a decent amount it was about 50g of puree, or a whole banana, or porridge made with 3oz milk. That was at 5 months.
At 9 months now she has she has about 6oz (just less than 200g) plus a fromage frais.
She has porridge made with 5oz of milk now.

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

I think we have to trust our LOs to know their own appetites. I'm not sure how this works with spoon feeding cos I've never done it, but I guess when they're turning their head away, not opening their mouths etc, they've had enough. I think if left up to them babies don't eat too much, unless they have been previously cajoled into eating 'just more spoonful' etc in which case they may have learned to override their sense of being full and not recognise it now.

 

[JayleighAnn]

As far as I know babies won't over eat it's a problem we have as adults, not babies?
They reckon your LO's tummy is as big as their fist so a portion about that size?

 

[faille]

As Claire said, babies won't overeat themselves but they can be made to eat more (even accidentally) by the parent who tries the whole 'one more spoonfull' or 'here comes the aeroplane' etc etc to try and get them to eat just a little bit more because we as adults don't see what they've already had as "enough", despite the baby might actually be full but they can be "tricked" into taking more than they want.


Anyway.. Back to portion size.. One portion for adults is about the size of your fist so I'd take that approach to babies as well? (lol their fist as a portion)

But in all honesty I think the best way is like the other ladies have said, offer slightly more food (or keep some aside as back up) and let them decide when they've had enough. Some days they'll eat more than other days, just like we do.

 

[Abz1982]

OK. My friend was told by the HV that at 6 months milk should be supplementing food, not the other way round.
And that its about 600ml of milk a day they need, the rest should be food.

However.......

Emma will have 1.5oz cereal in the morning. 2oz for lunch with a youghurt and the same at dinner. She will not eat more than that but she still wants 5 x 210ml bottles a day and is now sleeping LESS.

So I was wondering if I was feeding her too little.

 

[Blah11]

Amelie eats half a stage3 jar at a meal and has a yogurt afterwards We buy the little loafs of bread and she'll eat half a slice for lunch or 2 oatcakes with cheese and maybe 1/3 of a banana. She's quite small though and will spit it back out if she's had enough or throw it off her highchair tray LOL

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

OK. My friend was told by the HV that at 6 months milk should be supplementing food, not the other way round.
And that its about 600ml of milk a day they need, the rest should be food.

I really don't think this is true. Everything I have read and been told is that milk is their main source of nutrition until age one.

 

[JayleighAnn]

OK. My friend was told by the HV that at 6 months milk should be supplementing food, not the other way round.
And that its about 600ml of milk a day they need, the rest should be food.

I really don't think this is true. Everything I have read and been told is that milk is their main source of nutrition until age one.

I agree, everything I've read says breast milk/formula is their main source of nutrition and has more calories than food as well as they do a hell of a lot of growth in the first year

 

[Lisa1302]

I go by the milk is more important now thing..without even realising it!
If she doesnt eat all her dinner, I am not worried. Yet I count every oz she drinks through the day to make sure she gets the right amount!
The thing is milk has everything they need, whereas I wouldn't say Izzy is on anything like a balanced diet from food right now...so that is why I still rely on the milk for that bit.
Its also why currently I am sticking to 2 meals and the rest milk - because I tried 3 meals and she reduced her milk intake to less than the recommended minimum, which I just didn't feel happy doing - however much I hear that at 9 months she should be on 3 meals! She isn't ready!

 

[Abz1982]

OK. My friend was told by the HV that at 6 months milk should be supplementing food, not the other way round.
And that its about 600ml of milk a day they need, the rest should be food.

I really don't think this is true. Everything I have read and been told is that milk is their main source of nutrition until age one.

I agree, everything I've read says breast milk/formula is their main source of nutrition and has more calories than food as well as they do a hell of a lot of growth in the first year

AHH, she is BFing and has been told that she can give a morning feed and an evening feed and thats it, the rest is to be proper meals.

Even the CLB book points more towards them getting like 60/40 food/milk.

The main thing I am finding is that the more food Emma has the more awake she is and the less sleep she seems to need.

 

[Blah11]

If you rea dthe back of a baby jar, they've only got like 60cals in them Most of the fat they need comes from milk.. Milk is important ;o

 

[Blah11]

OK. My friend was told by the HV that at 6 months milk should be supplementing food, not the other way round.
And that its about 600ml of milk a day they need, the rest should be food.

I really don't think this is true. Everything I have read and been told is that milk is their main source of nutrition until age one.

I agree, everything I've read says breast milk/formula is their main source of nutrition and has more calories than food as well as they do a hell of a lot of growth in the first year

AHH, she is BFing and has been told that she can give a morning feed and an evening feed and thats it, the rest is to be proper meals.

Even the CLB book points more towards them getting like 60/40 food/milk.

The main thing I am finding is that the more food Emma has the more awake she is and the less sleep she seems to need.

wow that's really bad advice your friend received! Amelie was still on about 5 feeds a day plus night feeds at 6 months old. Now she's 11 months and has 3 feeds a day (sometimes 4) and night feeds.

 

[Abz1982]

If you rea dthe back of a baby jar, they've only got like 60cals in them Most of the fat they need comes from milk.. Milk is important ;o

Follow on milk is about 68cals per 100 ml. Most of the jars I have are 60-70cals ber 100g.

Themilk is 3.2g fat per 100ml, 1.5g of those saturated.

And on the jar I have right now its 2.8g fat oer 100g, 0.5g saturated.

 

[mamalove]

It's difficult to know how much they've eaten when i give them home-made food.

But if they have jars they'll have
160g jar + 2 yoghurts + small piece of fruit between the two of them.

they have 3 bottles of milk.

 

[kirsten1985]

OK. My friend was told by the HV that at 6 months milk should be supplementing food, not the other way round.
And that its about 600ml of milk a day they need, the rest should be food.

I really don't think this is true. Everything I have read and been told is that milk is their main source of nutrition until age one.

I read a quote in a parenting magazine the other day (in a section written by a paediatrician) that you should give your baby MAXIMUM 600mls/18oz mlk a day between the ages of 6 months and one year. I thought it was awful that such advice is being given out in a magazine.

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

OK. My friend was told by the HV that at 6 months milk should be supplementing food, not the other way round.
And that its about 600ml of milk a day they need, the rest should be food.

I really don't think this is true. Everything I have read and been told is that milk is their main source of nutrition until age one.

I read a quote in a parenting magazine the other day (in a section written by a paediatrician) that you should give your baby MAXIMUM 600mls/18oz mlk a day between the ages of 6 months and one year. I thought it was awful that such advice is being given out in a magazine.

Yeah that is awful because some people just believe what they read if it is from a credible seeming source. It is actually directly contradictory to what the World Health Organisation say on the matter. So this paed is effectively saying that I should force feed my baby solids and refuse to give her 50% of the milk she wants? As if I'm gonna do that
I have ditched parenting magazines because the advice tends to be rubbish!

 

[indy and lara]

OK. My friend was told by the HV that at 6 months milk should be supplementing food, not the other way round.
And that its about 600ml of milk a day they need, the rest should be food.

I really don't think this is true. Everything I have read and been told is that milk is their main source of nutrition until age one.

I read a quote in a parenting magazine the other day (in a section written by a paediatrician) that you should give your baby MAXIMUM 600mls/18oz mlk a day between the ages of 6 months and one year. I thought it was awful that such advice is being given out in a magazine.

L agree. Terrible advice. We were told in our BF group that milk is the most important food for quite a while passed 6 months. That is why with BLW it makes no difference if they eat very little for ages. They still taking all the milk needed.

 

[kirsten1985]

OK. My friend was told by the HV that at 6 months milk should be supplementing food, not the other way round.
And that its about 600ml of milk a day they need, the rest should be food.

I really don't think this is true. Everything I have read and been told is that milk is their main source of nutrition until age one.

I read a quote in a parenting magazine the other day (in a section written by a paediatrician) that you should give your baby MAXIMUM 600mls/18oz mlk a day between the ages of 6 months and one year. I thought it was awful that such advice is being given out in a magazine.

Yeah that is awful because some people just believe what they read if it is from a credible seeming source. It is actually directly contradictory to what the World Health Organisation say on the matter. So this paed is effectively saying that I should force feed my baby solids and refuse to give her 50% of the milk she wants? As if I'm gonna do that
I have ditched parenting magazines because the advice tends to be rubbish!

Yeah stupid isn't it! 18oz is hardly anything, Freya drinks that just through the night I don't usually read magazines as I end up getting mad with them, I bought this one as it had some good free stuff! Lol.

I think an awful lot of people must follow this sort of advice, I mean some people don't use the internet and their brains, lol, so just think how many babies are being deprived of milk?!