im just wondering as this past week elijah has been eating what i can only describe as humungous amounts of food - often a whole stage 2 jars, a couple of finger foods (maybe a couple of fingers of bread/toast, bit of cheese, carrot stick, baby bikkie etc) and the equivalent of a stage 1 jar of pudding

this seems like loads to me! but he eats it all up and leaves the finger food if he has had enough or refuses more food - he has this amount twice a day and cereal (sometimes cereal and a bit of toast if i haven't expressed enough) in the morning...could it just be a growth spurt and because he is crawling and trying to walk, or is this a normal amount for a 8 1/2 month old? not sure about how portion sizes work!

I haven't given Stephen any jars yet so I'm not sure about the equivalent sizes but I would think that's a normal amount. He's letting you know when he's full and he's burning more calories now with all the moving around. It sounds about the same amount that Stephen has (even though Stephen is a massive baby ) I'd just let him guide you as to how much food he needs xxx

Alfie usually has:

brekkie - slice of toast with butter/jam or a small bowl of porridge or 1 weetabix with a banana cut up

dinner - 1 stage 2 sized jar / sandwiches plus either 2 small petit filous yogs or i mix half a banana with some custard

tea - a bowl of watever we had for tea the night before. plus he gets some desert

he also snacks on baby cookies/rice crackers/breadsticks dring the day

i think eli is doing great and will guide you on how he eats. i sometimes worry that alfie eats too much but hes not overweight and since he moving around more they need more food for energy so i wudnt worry x

sounds about right to me mari, ava ate more as soon as she was active as well, they need the calories to keep them going.

it must be because of the crawling and giddying about like you say, it's quite a big jump from how much he was eating but he cries if i try take his little bit of cheese or anything away now when he was weighed a few weeks ago he was right on his centile line so i guess he just needs quite a bit more - it still looks like loads though when i imagine what size his little tummy must be!