MIL knows best? another Long one.
I recently posted about DS being an eating machine- he'll basically shovel anything you put in front of him in his mouth and demolish it in 2 minutes. I have to tell DS "no more, all done" after he has had PLENTY. He is in the 50th percentile for weight and 60th for weight to height ratio. So, I'm definitely not starving him.
MIL was watching him the other day. I gave her a couple fruit pouches so she could choose which ONE she wanted to give him. I gave her some formula and puffs, the basics. She was only watching him for about 2 hours. When i came to pick him up his belly was huge. I commented on it and she said "well you know, he just gobbles everything up SO fast." She gave him both fruit pouches (3.5oz ea) the entire little container of puffs. & she said "He ate a bowl of rice cereal & a WHOLE bottle too!" and she was so proud. and that is an 8oz bottle. & i have seen her bowls of rice cereal she makes-they're about 4 tablespoons. I give you a reserve serving for a reason woman!!
It's not like she hasn't seen me feed DS before. She always acts like I'm starving him. He is MY baby, i don't want him to be obese like DH was when he was 1yr old! (seriously, I've seen pictures) I should confiscate her rice cereal and formula she keeps at her house.
DS was so uncomfortable & cranky that night. I was so mad.
Thanks for reading my novel.
ETA: DH and I are going to our friends wedding today. FIL and MIL will be at our house watching DS. I already had DH make it clear that we will feed DS before we leave for the wedding, so all they will need to do is give him a bottle before bed. Im thinking of hiding all the fruit pouches and baby food.
Re: MIL knows best? another Long one.
my kid eats a hell of a lot more than that and she isn't obese. when she was eating purees she was eating 12 oz just at dinner. your baby know when he/she is full. i would never deny my kid food if she was still wanting more. they are developing at a rapid speed and need food to fuel themselves. ESPECIALLY once they start crawling/walking. they are moving around so much so they burn it faster.
if your kid eats all that than clearly he's hungry. IMHO
ETA: her appetite changes depending on what she's doing. sometimes she eats A LOT and other times not so much. i follow her cues and she tells me when she's done. she usually waves her hands when she's done. sometimes it's 1 pouch, sometimes it's 3 (if she's eating pouches at that meal obviously).
Zoey Emma 08.18.10
Holy potatoes! I think my kid eats like 3 oz at meal. lol
I think if your LO wants to eat, then feed him. Sometimes DD eats a REDICULOUS ammount, like an entire sandwich, or a whole enchilada (DH only eats 2!!). So she regularly eats about 1/2 of what we adults do in one sitting. She's only in the 15th percentile though and her energy level is very high so she burns it all off.
Being "obese" at 1 is rarely an issue. Babies have baby fat.
I definitely wasn't saying DS was obese...?... I did point out that he was in the 50% percentile for weight, right? I'm getting the feeling some of you guys are OK with someone feeding DS to the point of his discomfort, which worries me.
I don't know what PP is saying "babies cannot be obese at 1..." What? Yes, they can. No, DS is not. My H was, which I was only referring to because MIL overfed DS.
I had some extra food in my diaper bag because I like to have a "just in case" amount of food for DS if my errands take longer than expected.
It's not like I rip fruit pouches out of DSs hand and say "no more, fatty!" I stop feeding him after I know he's full. I have had bad experiences with over feeding him- bloated tummy, discomfort & crying, throwing up. He doesn't quite know yet when he is full so I have to moderate it. I don't starve my kid.
& I'm a strong believer in "You don't tell me how to raise my kid & I won't tell you how to raise yours." Because every kid is different. There's a lot less confrontation that way. Juuuuust saying.
He's perfect in weight & height, and in weight to height ratio. So, I know I'm not doing anything wrong.
So was the question in your post title rhetorical? If you think your son doesn't know when he's full then how do YOU know when he's full? Do you ever have days or moments where you are hungrier than other times?
You asked a question (rhetorical or not) and clearly we all think that your MIL perhaps does know best because we all feed our babies until they tell us they don't want anymore.
Zoey Emma 08.18.10
Against popular opininos I agree with OP. Jay would drink formula unill everything comes back up, literitlly just about everything. If he wants 12 or more oz of formula at a time are the rest of you saying I should give that to him? My pedi thinks we are just fine giving him 6oz per feeding sometimes 8.
Second, who feeds their kid 12oz or puree's at one feeding. I'm sorry but wow!
Sometimes Jay could eat more but that doesn't mean I feed him more. He is not starving and is content not begging for more food. He gets 1.5-4 oz of puree at a feeding. If he only eats 1.5 oz of puree he also gets 2 tablesppons of some kind of cereal. I also only give him several puffs at a time. He is only 6 months though so he plays with them more than he eats them.
I think OP is doing a great job with her LO and does not need to feed him more. Her MIL should respect that she doesn't want her LO over fed. If she only wanted him to have one pouch then she should have only given him one pouch. Letting a baby eat untill they are very uncomfortable, cranky is not the right thing to do.
if my kid is crying and wants more food you better believe i give it to her. 12 oz or not. sometimes she eats 2 oz and that's all she wants. she's not overweight, she doesn't get sick and she was BF up until 2 days ago. perhaps she was getting something from the solids that she wasn't getting from my BM. how do i know? all i know is that she tells me when she's done. that's the only point i was trying to make. obviously if her MIL is feeding the kid and he's getting sick that's a different story but you don't not feed a baby that's hungry because you are scared that he's going to be overweight like his dad was.
Zoey Emma 08.18.10
I don't think that is what she is doing. I don't think she lets her LO scream because he is hungry. She knows that he is content and stops giving him food. She doesn't let him eat untill he can not handle one drop more.
This. If he were crying in hunger of course Im going to keep feeding him, Im a mom not a monster. Im not scared of him becoming obese (or a really really fat baby), I just don't want him to be uncomfortable & in pain from eating too much. I just said that little fact about DH to emphasize my point of MIL not knowing when to stop feeding DS. He is always happy after I feed him, without cracking open 4 fruit pouches.
ETA: Of course it was a rhetorical question. Its a MIL vent.
My DS will eat a whole jar of veggies and a whole jar of fruits plus rice ceral....That works out to about 12oz. Your son is 6 months (which makes your point completely moot) and most of ours are 10-12 months. Obviously a 12 month old will eat considerably more than a 6 month old. Feel free to read up on serving sizes and recommended guidelines for children of appropriate ages before passing judgment!
YES!!! I was told that BF babies are more prone to KNOW when they are full versus kids who were primarily FF. I learned this in the hospital when I thought my kid was still hungry (milk had not come in yet) and he drank formula til he was uncomfortable and cried. I don't think she is starving her kid, but since she KNOWS her kid will eat til he is uncomfortable, she fills up his little tummy and stops him. Makes perfect sense to me.