7 month old eating too many solids?

[@llli*lizfairchild]

I started my daughter on solids at 5.5 months and she is now a little over 7 months old. She LOVES solids and not once has ever shown signs of filling up on them. I have been getting progressively more and more worried that she is eating too many solids and this morning was the final straw. I nursed her until she drained both sides at 6 am then nursed her again on both sides at about 8:30. She didn't take as much at 8:30 but still took a lot and seemed to be finished. About 30 minutes later I fed her solids and she ate, no joke, an entire banana, 3/4 of an avocado, two tablespoons of yogurt, and two ounces of pears. She wasn't acting full either, but at this point I wasn't prepared to give her anything else. She played for another twenty minutes, nursed for only 30 seconds or so and took a nap. She is still nursing 5-7 times a day but I am giving her solids 3 times a day too, mainly because she loves them so much. Do you think the volume of breast milk she is getting is not enough? I always nurse her before giving solids and I usually nurse after too, but she doesn't take that much afterwards. I still have a lot of milk and I only feed her fresh food and usually very fatty foods. I do not give her any grains or any extremely starchy foods either. I intend to nurse well into toddlerhood and don't want the risk of my supply going down.

[@llli*satin.mama]

I have been waiting for someone more knowledgeable to post a reply too, but my first thought was about your last sentence, that you "intend to nurse well into toddlerhood." I think it is a great attitude to be willing to nurse into toddlerhood, and I loved doing it with my first daughter, but reading that, I had the thought that if your baby doesn't have the same intention, there's not much use in forcing it! Do you know what I mean? If she really loves solids and just naturally weans herself earlier than you might have planned had it been all up to you, that might just be what she naturally needs. I don't know for sure though, and I don't want to encourage weaning, so I just wanted to share that thought and I hope that others will answer too! I guess, would there be anything BAD about her eating lots of solids?

[@llli*djs.mom]

At 7months old 5-7 times a day is on the low side. You should be nursing your child at LEAST 8 times in a 24hour period. So I would DEFINITELY reduce the amount of solid to the point where she IS nursing that much. If it means she missed breakfast or lunch so be it. Your child should getting ALL her nutritional needs met by YOU until the year point. Solids at this point are only for fun and exploration. So if they are in fact affecting how much she is nursing, you pull back. Because even though nothing you listed sounds bad (they all sound like WONDERFUL 1st food choices,) nothing listed is anywhere NEAR as complete in nutrition as your milk. And so if your child nurses less..... it's like you have substituted two of her feedings a day with solids. And really it should be she nurses at least 8 times a day and if she is still interested in solids you let her play with them.

[@llli*auderey]

I intend to nurse well into toddlerhood and don't want the risk of my supply going down.

I had the thought that if your baby doesn't have the same intention, there's not much use in forcing it! Do you know what I mean? If she really loves solids and just naturally weans herself earlier than you might have planned had it been all up to you, that might just be what she naturally needs.

i agree with djsmom about getting in more nursing sessions, but i also want to say just from my experience: having a baby who loves solids has absolutely nothing to do with when they wean. DS also loved food right away and still eats a mindboggling amount in a sitting. around 7 months he ate a whole avocado (and then puked it up on me!). but he is still going strong at almost 16 months with no signs of stopping nursing. in other words: just because a baby gets into food early doesn't necessarily mean anything about when he'll wean. i think a lot of moms use that as an opportunity to wean, but that's not necessarily the best for either of them, or what the baby actually wanted or needed.

[@llli*deenamathew]

The solids food will make her less hungry for breast-milk. Even if she is still nursing, she likely won't be taking in as much with a tummy full of solids. The breast-milk or formula milk is necessary for proper brain development during the first year.