Portion sizes and self-regulation

There are no set portion size guides for babies. This is because all babies eat different amounts to each other and because the amount they eat will vary from meal to meal and day to day.

It is recommended that you avoid focusing on how much your baby eats – though we know how difficult that can feel at first. We tend to have preconceived ideas about how much babies should eat, or worry if babies only eat tiny amounts, but try not to! Try to think about variety over volume. How much variety your baby gets throughout their weaning journey is more important than how much they eat at each meal.

Maybe you will feel more comfortable with your baby eating different amounts each time if you know that babies are born knowing how much they need to eat. When we let them take charge of the process without getting involved ourselves, they tend to do it very well, but they do it across a number of days rather than meal by meal. In practice this means that some days they’ll eat more, others less. During growth spurts they’ll be particularly hungry, when they’re ill they might eat less, but afterwards the appetite will increase to make up for it.

This process is called ‘self-regulation’ and describes the process of babies regulating their food intake to ensure that they are growing properly.

How do we know they can do this? Breastfeeding is a great example. Even the tiniest of newborns will indicate that they are hungry by rooting around for the breast or crawling on the chest during skin to skin with Mum. They feed until they are full and then when they have had enough, they just stop. They unlatch from the breast or they fall asleep. Either way, they tend to be happy and content, which tells us that they’ve had enough to eat.

Breastfeeding is a perfect example of hunger and fullness as we have no idea how much milk they are taking each time, so we have to put our trust in the process and in our baby’s cues. Bottles are slightly different because we can see how much milk has been taken – for this reason parents tend to get into the habit of thinking in ounces or mls and encouraging babies to finish if they have some left. When we can’t see, there’s nothing to go on except the cues our baby communicates with. It’s good to think about solids in the same way as a breastfed baby. Just let your baby tell you with their actions when they are full.

If trusting cues doesn’t feel enough to go on, there are other things to look at too.

Are they growing well? Make sure you have your baby weighed and check that they are following their growth curve; if they are then you know that they are eating the right amount.

Are they satisfied after meals? It doesn’t really matter whether your baby eats a few mouthfuls or a whole bowl of food. The most important thing is that they are happy and satisfied with the amount that they have eaten, and there is no encouragement to eat more or stopping before they are satisfied.