Children that are allowed to eat/graze constantly?

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

JemmaM91 wrote: »

I feel like I'm starving my son now lol

He is 15 months and all he will eat for breakfast is either 1/2 a bowl of porridge (if that) or a slice of toast.

I've tried giving him lunch around midday but he won't have none of it

And for dinner he'll have 1/2 a jar of baby food. Half a small bowl of what we're having or on the odd occasion fish fingers/chicken nuggets and smilies (the only meals he will actually finish )

For snacks he'll eat maybe 1/2 a biscuit, he won't touch fruit.

He drinks around 3-6 bottles of milk a day.

I just can't get him to eat. Although he is quite chubby (91st centile).

I think I have the opposite problem to everyone else/

Echoing the others, how much in volume is that in milk? If he's having 8oz bottles, for example, that's quite a lot for a small tummy - and it's always easier to drink calories than eat them.

Loz01

I cant believe some people's 3 year olds eat more breakfast than me!! :eek: 3 or 4 weetabix, I only have two and I'm 26!

Gillyx

My LO sleeps 13-14 hours at night, so it can be 15 hours between dinner and breakfast, so I can understand why he wakes up ravenous in the morning I'd be starving after that amount of time too.

pigpen

Loz01 wrote: »

I cant believe some people's 3 year olds eat more breakfast than me!! :eek: 3 or 4 weetabix, I only have two and I'm 26!

I've never eaten a Weetabix in my life, they just look disgusting.

At 8 months old my now 15 y/o would have.. JUST for breakfast.. 3 Weetabix.. mixed to a pulp with milk, 2 yoghurts, 2 slices of toast, a banana and then scream for more!! My friend didn't believe me until she came round early one morning and volunteered to feed her!

She would also have pasta and something, usually chicken for lunch and a cooked dinner on top of breastfeeding 5-6 times a day.. That child was a legend!

DD2 is now 5ft 3 and 7.5 stone.. so she didn't pop, isn't obese and is perfectly healthy in every way possible. She has visited the GP twice in her entire life (she had bronchiolitis at 9 months and dx with migraines at 5)

I think I breed dustbins! lol I barely eat a thing compared to this lot.

Gilly.. I think that is partly why Squeak eats so much breakfast, she picks at her evening meal then sleeps 13+ hours and eats like all 3 bears at breakfast time.

Buttonmoons

My DD 7 has always been a grazer and a fussy one at that :-/

Now she will have bowl of cereal in the morning, usually not finished. Breakfast club I know she always takes a bowl of shreddies.

Snack at playtime - banana or apple, sometimes a packet of crisps.

Lunch - Picks at school dinners, eats the bits she likes, leaves everything else. Packed lunch will eat a tuna wrap, some berries and her drink, eats the biscuit.

If she has went packed lunch she isn't hungry after school, usually she will last till I get supper on the table. School dinners then she is hungry and she gets some toast, or some dry cheerios + a glass of milk. She doesnt eat a big meal even if she is "super starving" but can always make room for pudding.

Glass of milk + fruit/yoghurt/whatever before bed usually.

She gets treats too, too much of lately i think so need to cut back

Aimless

Lola888 wrote: »

She loves pretty much anything, but her favourite are small items like raisins, peas, sweetcorn. She will systematically eat every pea on the plate before she moves on to the "real" food!

Sigh, we've just hit the 'urghhh, vegetables' stage! He used to love peas, today he put a few in his mouth one at a time, rolled them round thoughtfully, then spat them out, and fed me the rest one by one. I did think going 'peas, yum' every time might convince him, but no, I got the lot

pigpen

JemmaM91 wrote: »

I feel like I'm starving my son now lol

He is 15 months and all he will eat for breakfast is either 1/2 a bowl of porridge (if that) or a slice of toast.

I've tried giving him lunch around midday but he won't have none of it

And for dinner he'll have 1/2 a jar of baby food. Half a small bowl of what we're having or on the odd occasion fish fingers/chicken nuggets and smilies (the only meals he will actually finish )

For snacks he'll eat maybe 1/2 a biscuit, he won't touch fruit.

He drinks around 3-6 bottles of milk a day.

I just can't get him to eat. Although he is quite chubby (91st centile).

I think I have the opposite problem to everyone else/

This was half our problem with DS3 as a baby (the one who eats like ten men now)

He would drink milk until it dribbled out of his ears.. it was soya milk as well.

We gradually (with discussion from the dietician) reduced his milk intake 1oz at a time. He was offered a beaker of juice (very very weak squash because water made him retch) with each meal and before he was given milk.. if he was thirsty the juice did the job plus it filled him with water rather than calorie heavy milk. In the end it was simply a case of stopping individual bottles of milk and just putting up with the complaining and distracting him.

He was lactose intolerant and had severe reflux so we assumed the milk was helping with the soothing of the reflux (feels like heartburn apparently) so he associated food with vomiting and pain and milk with feeling better.

and jars of food have very little nutritional value for toddlers, and it is much cheaper to make some little jars of your own food and freeze it if necessary. I used to wash and reuse the glass jars from the baby food.

weight on the 91st centile is fine.. so long as they aren't on the 10th for height lol.

I just had this same discussion with my DIL this morning about my GS.. he was 2 months early and put on prem formula and is the size of a house but so very short and he won't drink water etc.

If you feel it is a problem ask the HV for a referral to the dietician they are much more use than any rhubarb the HV spouts.

mumps

JemmaM91 wrote: »

I feel like I'm starving my son now lol

He is 15 months and all he will eat for breakfast is either 1/2 a bowl of porridge (if that) or a slice of toast.

I've tried giving him lunch around midday but he won't have none of it

And for dinner he'll have 1/2 a jar of baby food. Half a small bowl of what we're having or on the odd occasion fish fingers/chicken nuggets and smilies (the only meals he will actually finish )

For snacks he'll eat maybe 1/2 a biscuit, he won't touch fruit.

He drinks around 3-6 bottles of milk a day.

I just can't get him to eat. Although he is quite chubby (91st centile).

I think I have the opposite problem to everyone else/

I have 4, all grown up. One of mine just had no appetite but didn't like milk either, She was seriously under weight and at one point the Dr said if she lost another .5 lb she was going into hospital. He told me to give her chocolate, biscuits anything to put some weight on and get her used to feeling full. People would say to me that she was fussy and I should just make her eat but she honestly had no desire to eat. She is now a healthy adult with no issues with food.

I had another one who just wanted breast milk, all day every day, until he was 3. He would eat solids but not alot. He is 6ft 4in and a healthy weight, he is a great cook and has a very healthy diet on a student budget.

My other two would just eat normally no problems. Looking back on it I am glad I never made an issue of food but different things work for different families, I know two families with kids who were friends of my kids. One was vegetarian and at about 14 child was in an anti everything mum said phase and started eating meat. Mum despairs at bacon butties dripping in fat and take away food but he will probably outgrow it. The other was very into organic food and disapproved of lots of things. Similar result in teenage years. I think if you make a big issue of it then it can become something that becomes a control issue.

A tip I was given as a young mum was never offer the "bad stuff" as a treat because we are making it more desireable. So if they were going to have a snack after school I might offer chocolate from one shop or a little bag of cherries from the greengrocer nextdoor. They would choose the fruit more often but on the occasions they chose the chocolate that was fine.

It is really difficult not to worry and other people always seem to have kids who are perfect but try to enjoy this phase, when he is a teenager with hollow legs and costing a small fortune to feed you might look back fondly on this stage.

busiscoming2

My family is the same as yours OP. Three good meals a day with a snack in between, usually fruit or yoghurt.

Years ago one of my friends knew a mother who would give her child something to eat every time he cried. Suffice to say by the time he was about two he was grossly overweight. I dread to think what impact that has had on his life now he is an adult.

teagan1966

flutterby_lil wrote: »

No you are difinitely not in the monority, same rules in our house too.

I have a 1 year old so sometimes if I am cooking and she is screaming, a few raisins so the trick, but only a small handfull.

iv just read your replie , it made me smile lol , try saying to a 16 year old boy here have a few raisins, think ww3 would break out lol