Portion Sizes for Children

wannabee_in_credit

Brilliant.
I'll pop in the bath then look for the challenge once I'm done.

beautiful_ravens

I once heard on a foodie programme that a 'portion' for a child was approx as much as that child could hold in their hand.

imogen-p

Only 8 tablespoons of food in 48 hours for a five year old? That's 4 tablespoons a day. So what 1 tablespoon for breakfast, one for lunch, one for tea, and one divided into snacks and pudding?

A tablespoon only contains three teaspoons. A five year old child should be able to live well and grow on just 12 teaspoons of food a day?

That seems like a truly tiny amount of food. I know my son would be hungry if he only had that much, and he only 2. Nor is he anything like overweight. (what he is about 3ft 2 and a little over 2 stone.)

I'm probably going to get a load of comments now about how I'm over feeding him, but if I followed this all I'd give him this to eat each day it would be: three teaspoons of porridge for breakfast. 1 teaspoon of raisins for snack. 2 teaspoons of soup and a a very small piece of bread for lunch. One small chunk of banana for afternoon snack. Three teaspoons of risotto for tea and then one teaspoon of yogurt for pudding.

And presumably just water to drink - as milk too fattening.

I know my son, and he's be truly hungry on that. He likes his fruit and veg, and if we wants to eat a whole banana (which would fill up more than a tablespoon, maybe even two) for a snack, then I'm going to let him.

SpikyHedgehog

imogen-p wrote: »

Only 8 tablespoons of food in 48 hours for a five year old? That's 4 tablespoons a day. So what 1 tablespoon for breakfast, one for lunch, one for tea, and one divided into snacks and pudding?

A tablespoon only contains three teaspoons. A five year old child should be able to live well and grow on just 12 teaspoons of food a day?

That seems like a truly tiny amount of food. I know my son would be hungry if he only had that much, and he only 2. Nor is he anything like overweight. (what he is about 3ft 2 and a little over 2 stone.)

I'm probably going to get a load of comments now about how I'm over feeding him, but if I followed this all I'd give him this to eat each day it would be: three teaspoons of porridge for breakfast. 1 teaspoon of raisins for snack. 2 teaspoons of soup and a a very small piece of bread for lunch. One small chunk of banana for afternoon snack. Three teaspoons of risotto for tea and then one teaspoon of yogurt for pudding.

And presumably just water to drink - as milk too fattening.

I know my son, and he's be truly hungry on that. He likes his fruit and veg, and if we wants to eat a whole banana (which would fill up more than a tablespoon, maybe even two) for a snack, then I'm going to let him.

I think it's 8 tablespoons a day, & I took that to be 24 hours? I don't think that's too far off, my 8 1/2 year old has 2 tablespoons of porridge in the morning plus a bit more milk as he likes it runnier than DS1 or I, for lunch he'll have 2 slices of hm bread & 1 slice of fruit loaf or similar plus 2 pieces of fruit or veg (carrots are favourites at the moment & I aim to put one piece of fuit & 1 piece of veg in his lunch box). So that's about 3 tablespoons, if I squidged up the bread. Then 3 more at dinner time. He does have more, snack after school, but he's an active 8 1/2 year old with a mile walk to school & back. (Well, I know he would happily eat more, but that's another story...)

valk_scot

SpikyHedgehog wrote: »

I think it's 8 tablespoons a day, & I took that to be 24 hours? I don't think that's too far off, my 8 1/2 year old has 2 tablespoons of porridge in the morning plus a bit more milk as he likes it runnier than DS1 or I, for lunch he'll have 2 slices of hm bread & 1 slice of fruit loaf or similar plus 2 pieces of fruit or veg (carrots are favourites at the moment & I aim to put one piece of fuit & 1 piece of veg in his lunch box). So that's about 3 tablespoons, if I squidged up the bread. Then 3 more at dinner time. He does have more, snack after school, but he's an active 8 1/2 year old with a mile walk to school & back. (Well, I know he would happily eat more, but that's another story...)

If I'd fed that little to either of my kids when they were eight and a half they'd have been eating the furniture tbh. Neither of them are fat, you can see their ribs (this is a good thing, btw, it's when their pelvic bones stick out they're too thin) and they both do a great deal of sport. DD (now 10) has a long lean swimmers build, DS (now 15) is a rugby prop forward and is basically a bulldozer of solid muscle.

Don't forget you've not only got to cover their calorie requirements for the day, you've got to provide enough good quality foodstuff to build more bone and muscle when they're growing. It's a great thing to provide healthy foodstuff and restrict junk but I do think the media go a bit overboard on what's "not healthy", a prime example being full fat milk at only 4% fat, and their emphasis on preventing childhood obesity by restricting portion size. If a child is active and not overweight they should be allowed to eat as much as their appetite demands of healthy bodybuilding foodstuffs, I think. Otherwise how can you know they're reaching their full growth potential?

JulieGeorgiana

imogen-p wrote: »

Only 8 tablespoons of food in 48 hours for a five year old? That's 4 tablespoons a day. So what 1 tablespoon for breakfast, one for lunch, one for tea, and one divided into snacks and pudding?

I am right... when I orginanally mentioned it on another thread it was more in context. The OP was worried about Bulemia and apparently you shouldn't worry about a child who won't eat because 8tbsp in 48 hours is how much the body NEEDS to SURVIVE.

This is not to say that such a small amount of food is how much a child of 5 should eat, and rightly so a normal child would eat more then this. However, when a child doesn't eat, parents get very worried, and the child uses food as a way to control their parents.

So if your child refuses to eat they are not going to starve if you do what I do and say... ok, you don't have to eat! If they are hungry later they can eat it cold. While most parents pander and give their child what they want to eat (even if it's not good for them!)

This is how many people get into the habbit of making 3 different meals a day (I know people who actually do this, so their babies won't starve! Their 9 year old babies are overweight!)

The point it not to make a big deal of food, because the body can survive on much less then the 'average' portion.

I hope that cleared up any misunderstanding.

Ps. It sounds like your son is a perfectly healthy child... and I also feed my son much more (ie. He easily eats 50g of Rice or pasta which is more then a childs portion, less then an adults portion...!) my son is as skinny as a rake!

wannabee_in_credit

Just to back up JG above - it was me posting, stressing about my daughter and worrying about her never eating. She was putting it all into context for me, and made me think that I might be trying to force her to eat more than she wants or needs for fear of not giving her enough.

It actually put my mind at rest - she eats more than this, and my ds who is 3 eats WAY more than this, but he just asks when he's hungry.

JulieGeorgiana

wannabee_in_credit wrote: »

Well, I halved her portion size with the chilli - then she had flapjack for pud. All food gone and not an argument in sight! Thanks SO much.
I cannot believe how much my life has changed in 5 short days since I started posting on here.
All for the better.

This is what happened to me too. DS is eating much more since I started giving him smaller portions. It goes to show that your DD might have been struggling rather then 'playing up' which is great
because you can rest assured about 'eating disorder'

I am really pleased for you x

Diflower

wannabee_in_credit wrote: »

Well, I halved her portion size with the chilli - then she had flapjack for pud. All food gone and not an argument in sight! Thanks SO much.
I cannot believe how much my life has changed in 5 short days since I started posting on here.
All for the better.

Wow that's brilliant news, well done you:T

JulieGeorgiana

I agree it's a terrible story. I like to make sure DS eats healthy and not too much... but I let him eat both fruit/veg and sweets/cake in moderation.

I let him have HM Cake (sometimes scones or mincepies!) everyday in his lunchbox... but never a chocolate bar or crisps (they are reserved for treats and grandparents!).

People forget it's all about balance... let them have a WHOLE sandwich, but give them wholegrain bread and healthy fillings!