Is my baby overeating?

[@llli*rochellebelle]

I have 6/almost 7 month old twin girls. We started them on solids a few weeks ago and they're doing pretty good. They eat fruits/veggies and cereal twice a day with breast milk (from the source or expressed) every 3 hours. Twin B is a little less enthusiastic about the solids, but we offer the food until she makes it clear she's had enough and then stop. Twin A, on the other hand LOVES fruits and veggies and will keep eating as long as you keep spooning it for her. I usually make 1/4 cup of cereal (measured dry - oatmeal or brown rice), 2 ounces of a veggie and 2 ounces of a fruit per meal for the two of them to share. If I had to estimate, I'd say B is probably eating about 2-3 ounces of fruit/veggies and 3-4 prepared tablespoons of cereal a day. Twin B eats everything that's left - so 5-6 tablespoons of fruit/veggies and at least a quarter cup of cereal. Some days, she even acts hungry after eating all of that, so I'll give her another ounce of one of her favorite fruits. I do childhood obesity prevention for a living and I've always read that babies will tell you when they're full, and I wait for her to turn her head or lose interest, but she never does. Her weight is just fine (she's actually kind of on the slim side - as was I as a baby, so I'm not worried about that), so that's not the issue. Part of me says to keep feeding her until she stops, but I don't want to stuff her until she's sick or make her too full for her evening milk feed.

What concerns me is that the last two nights, as we're putting her to bed, she's thrown up EVERYTHING she's eaten right before going to bed. Last night it happened after I had breastfed her, so we both ended up covered in sweet potato, apple and milk! Then tonight, she did it again - luckily, before I breast fed her and I saw it coming this time, so it ended up on the hard wood floor, not me. And good lord, it's a lot of puke! But I'm not sure if it's overeating. On one hand, she's always been a pukey baby, but it's been getting better, so I'm hoping she's outgrowing it. On another hand, she got her 6 month vaccines yesterday, which included her third dose of rotovirus. But she didn't get sick after the last two doses, so that doesn't seem like the likely culprit. And she's been on antibiotics for an ear infection lately, so it could be that (we give her the last dose right before bed), but she's been on them before and didn't have this problem. Maybe it's a combination of all of the above? I just don't know! So, folks, weigh in on this for me - is it overeating? Antibiotics? What do you think?

[@llli*mommal]

Since baby A is eating so much and also throwing it up, I am thinking that she probably is overeating. Maybe she's so thrilled about the new experience that she just doesn't know when to stop? Or perhaps- and please don't think of this as a criticism!- she's so eager to please you and take what you're offering that she keeps going even when her tummy is full?

Are you familiar with the baby-led solids approach? Allowing your kids to self-feed might encourage better self-regulation, particularly if baby A is thinking of solids as a fun game that she's playing with you, one which she is reluctant to end even when her tummy is telling her that it's time to do so.

Of course, it's also quite possible that she really is hungry for what she is eating, and the throw-up events are just her digestive system not being quite as ready for solids as her appetite is.