Portion Sizes for Children

converted-lurker

Totally agree about moderation - this is the most important thing.

Both my kids 4 and 6yrs are big eaters and eat about half an adult womans portion for dinner. At lunch they eat a full sandwich (2 slices of bread) and often finish it off.

They eat healthy meals and get one treat a day (eg fun sized chocolate bar or corner yoghurt). Rarely would they ever get a whole bag of crisps or full sized choc bar to themselves (I think its asking for trouble to give an adult portion of a treat to a child).

They both burn it off and are in the normal range according to government weight targets. Some of their friends eat tiny portions compared to them - it just depends on the child and what they burn off through activity.

I think some kids are just hungry and some are not. For the hungry ones you just need to keep the food healthy and the activity levels up.

wannabee_in_credit

Day 2 of smaller portion - no leftover chicken dinner.
She had a yoghurt for dessert. Cannot believe it in all honesty.
Thankyou again. :D:D:D:D:D
That story is terrible and total opposite to me - I worry mine are not eating enough, when they very obviously are.

Kaz2904

Blimey, I'm horrified about the woman jojo was telling us about.
I'm always telling my friends that they should look at their hands to get an idea of portion size. It's dead easy and we always have them with us! I am now in the habit of only serving a small amount and if people are still hungry, they are welcome to have something else after tea.
My DD is (just) 10 and is always wanting to eat. A lot of it with her is boredom I think although she is quite active too. I give her a portion about the same size as I have at tea because she IS hungry then but when she still wants food after tea (usually junk) she is offered fruit or a piece of toast. I know then if she's actually hungry or not because she won't eat the healthy stuff and will just whinge for junk. She doesn't get it though.
DS is the polar opposite. He is stick thin and barely eats enough to keep a sparrow alive. I've had to have a word with his school and get them to check his lunches because he wasn't eating anything at all. They started keeping him in until he had eaten at least one full thing, so one sandwich or all of his fruit/veg or his (home made) cake and a piece of veg. Eventually we got him eating most of his lunch. He usually moans all the way through tea time that he doesn't like it or he's too full but he has to eat a reasonable amount and gets no pudding if he's not eaten his tea. There are times where he will go for a week or so eating everything in sight. He'll eat his tea, want more, have a second portion of tea, then want fruit and then want toast. He'll then be up really early in the morning having porridge and wanting toast before we go out of the door to school. He'll then come running out of school with no lunch left professing that he's starving. About a week after that, I'll notice that his trousers are suddenly about an inch too short, seemingly overnight :eek:.
I remember eating loads as a child, I was always hungry but after puberty, my appetite reduced and I don't eat lots now. I struggle with large meals and am more of a grazer. My BMI is healthy so I'm obviously doing ok.

katiecoodle

hello - i just wanted to chip in with sympathy for OP. Isn't it hard to work some things out? I mean, my daughter eats tonnes (more than her dad who works physically every day) and she is only 8. She is very tall (her trousers are age 10 - 11) but very slim (wears size 4 - 5 knickers still!) and very lean. If she weren't that slim I'd be adamant that I was feeding her too much - it honestly doesn't make sense that she can eat what she eats, and is still so slim. I guess there's lots of factors in there - exercise, growing, hormones, genetics - but anyway - I just wanted to express to OP my sympathies cos who'd ever think that feeding children could be such a minefield!

JulieGeorgiana

wannabee_in_credit wrote: »

Day 2 of smaller portion - no leftover chicken dinner.
She had a yoghurt for dessert. Cannot believe it in all honesty.
Thankyou again. :D:D:D:D:D

:T:j:T:j:T:j:T:j:T:j:T:j:T:j:T:j

megrim

I have two boys, aged 13 and 6, who have totally different eating habits.

The eldest would always eat everything on his plate, no matter the portion size, although we did go through a fussy stage when chicken nuggets and chips was the only tea he would eat (he was 4). He now swims 6 days a week, has a 6 pack Peter Andre would be jealous of and follows his body's needs as to what to eat / how much to eat depending on his training programme (lots of lean protein and carbs and bananas).

The youngest is very picky, and I quickly learned that too much on the plate was just overwhelming for him - much better to give him a small portion and he can ask for more if he likes.

I was brought up to always eat everything on the plate, and I still find it hard to leave food. I have always told my boys to eat what they want and leave what they don't want. As the guy that wrote the Toddler Taming books said, kids won't starve themselves.

pinkteapot

redlady_1 wrote: »

Jesus!! Even I dont wear a 14 and I am 42!! That is so wrong.

I get angry in the supermarket when I see a family with overweight children and a trolley full of junk food. :mad:

ragz_2

JulieGeorgiana wrote: »

I mentioned that a 5yo needs 8tbs in a 48 hour period.

However I looked this issue on NHS, and an adult portion of pasta/rice is 75g and a child's portions is half that size.

However, to make this so much easier because weighing food is a pain...

the carbs portion should not be larger then the size of your childs palm. Carbs should be 1/4 of the meal, proteins (lean meats/eggs/lentils) should be 1/4 and veg should be 1/2 of your meal.

Good Luck with your daughter x

This all sounds right in principle but... How do you get those proportions in a sandwich or for something like bolognese? If I served veg on the side DH would think I was crazy! For my kids' packed lunches (4&5) I give them a sandwich, with two slices of bread (one of them eats the crusts, the other doesn't) and that must be a lot more carbs than a palm sized amount... maybe I should only give them half a one each?

JulieGeorgiana

ragz wrote: »

This all sounds right in principle but... How do you get those proportions in a sandwich or for something like bolognese? If I served veg on the side DH would think I was crazy! For my kids' packed lunches (4&5) I give them a sandwich, with two slices of bread (one of them eats the crusts, the other doesn't) and that must be a lot more carbs than a palm sized amount... maybe I should only give them half a one each?

With regards to bolognaise I add lentils and veg in mine and it's easily 5 portions of veg. plus I always add a side salad of lettuce and grated carrot.

Sandwiches... I used to give my son 2 slices (plus yogurt, fruit, drink and HM Snack), he said he was hungry so now he gets 3 slices. I think you should use common sense, if your children are happy, healthy and don't eat a ton of junk food... leave it be!

Guidlines are just that... guidelines. My DS eats 50g of pasta per serving (same as me) yet an adult portion is 75g and a child is 35g!

My DS is on the 26th percentile for his hight/weight ratio which is the lower end of normal, i use this NHS Calculator. he is healthy and active!

I think if you child is unhealthy, overweight or underactive then you should worry about cutting down food. If you are worried if your child is eating enough then looking at guidlines is a good way to calculate if they are undereating.

As PinkTeaPot said... it's those who have trollies full of junk food and both parents and children are overweight which is sad. This is when the guidelines should be considered more carefully.

My son had a toffee at 7.30pm last night... maybe i'm a bad mum, then again... it was just one and I use common sense above everything else.

ragz_2

I think if my hubby would eat more veg I'd find it easier to get it in the kids! I guess my bologneses do contain veg, just made meatballs in hidden veg sauce so I guess they count. I'd try the carrot and lettuce but only I would eat it!

I let mine have a treat a day, if granny is around they get a LOT more. Never would give mine a whole packet of crisps, I split one between them, though my SIL dishes out whole packs to her 2 and 4 year olds and wonders why they don't eat their veg (but then, she's dangerously overweight so...) hmmm