How much food should/does a 2 year old eat in an average day?

[mumblecrumble]

I'd be grateful if you could pop on here what your 2 year old ate today/yesterday/typical day

Thanks

[Tinkjon]

B'fast - Half a sice of toast with butter & marmite.

Lunch - 2 fish fingers and 1.5 waffles with peas and sdweetcorn.

Tea - 1 slice of French toast with carrots and green beans.

In between he had an apple and a bit of cheese. And a few glasses of milk.

[Washersaurus]

My 2 year old eats barely anything some days and fills up with loads of food on others.

Today he has eaten:

1 weetabix with milk and a spoonful of nutella

a few pieces of apple

1 bite of granary bread (discarded rest of sandwich)

1 fruit smoothie (does that even count as food?)

Several small slices of pizza

Half a pot of Organix fruit pot

half a cup of milk

[girlsyearapart]

dd is 2.1 and eats more than I do most days even though only on 25th centile!

b fast 2 slices brown toast w butter and marmite 2 bananas,a strawberry, diluted OJ.

Apple slices, 3 homemade raisin cookies, breadsticks.

Up in the night so went to sleep through lunch.

Dinner- roast chicken, roast pots, broccoil,peas. Roast sweet pots but didn't eat it as was 'yucky'..

Yet another banana..

[rodgershawk]

20 month old DS:
Breakfast: one bowl oatmeal, two slices toast and marmite, grapes (about 5)

Lunch: Pasta with sweetcorn and peas, fruitpot (apple sauce)

Dinner: fish fingers, smiley face potatos, cucumber, tomatoes and red pepper

He has a snack pot of cucumber, tomatoes and red/yellow/orange pepper on hand which he munches on all day and normally has a small box of raisins too.

Seems a complete veggie lover which is good!

[jumpyjan]

DD 2.8:

Breakfast - 1 pot of cheerios (given at 5am ish due to clock change!)
2 x weetabix
1 slice toast with honey

Snack - 1 biscuit and cup of OJ

Lunch - 2 x sausages and largish helping of cauliflower cheese, 1 yoghurt

Afternoon snack - chocolate milkshake

Tea - 2 rounds of french toast with honey.

She would normally have some fruit in the afternoon and after tea but did not fancy it today.

[mumblecrumble]

Nice one, this is really useful, thanks.

Am thinking our friends little girl who is who we eat with the most out of our friends has a vey small appetite!

I was worried that our daughter, who seems to eat TONNES compared to friends' daughter, was eating too much but she seems mega normal compared with the menus above.

Also wondered about how many sausages, how many bowls of cereals etc etc.

I think main reason is because DH and I are on the heavy side and I didn;t want DD to be unhealthy becasue of us if that makes sense.

ANy tips in terms of portion size?

[PotPourri]

I wouldn't worry so much about portion size and more about what it is. They can't get too much fruit or veg. But 5 sausages, and sugary cereal are not healthy - so stick to mega healthy foods with a few treats and just go with her appetite from there.

[ShinyAndNew]

Yesterday

Cheerios with banana and milk
lunch A bite or two of pizza
dinner nothing

lots of drinks.



Today

Porridge and raisins
2 fish fingers sweet corn and a pear.
A banana
lots of drinks

[GladysFox]

Yesterday DD had:

Weetabix, raisins and milk

A cake
Half an apple

Pasta / pesto and veg
Yoghurt

Piece of toast with butter and marmite

Sausage/mash/gravy/carrots
Chocolate mousse

And about 1/2 cup watered down apple juice to drink.

[meep]

yesterday dd had

Cup of milk
1 Bowl of shreddies
handful of raisins

half a scone and butter with a glass of milk
3 cubes of cheese

2 tiny bites of sausage, mash & peas - normally gets one sausage as this is all she'll eat
watered down apple juice

handful of dried cranberries

mashed banana on toast (one slice)
fromage frais
3 grapes!

Cup of milk

Can eat a lot less some days though!

[BoredWithWork]

Hi
On average:

2 weetabix with milk and some toast

fruit bar or biscuit or raisins

about 200g meal (thinking of Annabel Karmel meals you can buy)
yoghurt
fruit

2 fishfinger / peas / couple spoonfuls mash.
pureed fruit / raisins

he has been known to eat much more than that and sometimes not much at all. He was a very big baby at birth and carried on eating lots (95%centile if you track that). Eats more than others of the same age.

[missmapp]

ds2 is 2.1 and had;

one piece of toast and marmite
one yogurt
cup of milk

one banana

three fishfingers, spaghetti hoops
raisins
cup of milk

bowl of macaroni cheese
apple crumble and custard

and lots of water, he is a far better eater than ds1 who I made al my mistakes on!!
cup of milk

[missmapp]

oh yeah, he is on the 0th percentile ( like ds1) so is v. small for his age

[luvaduck]

ds 2.2 yesterday had

oat puffs and raisins (toddler tommee tippee size full)
a plum

toasted cheese and ham sandwich - 3/4 of adult size
10-12 grapes

some carrot cake - small slice

chicken and veg wih rice - again tommee tippee bowl portion
half apple
little rachels yoghurt
oatibix

he is on 50th centile for weight but 75th for height and quite lean, think he prob eats quite a lot compared to others on here!

[BeckDitto]

Hi all, I know this is an old thread now, but so worried about my lil man - 23 months. Today he has eaten:
1/8th of a piece of toast and one shortbread biscuit.
Yesterday he ate the same for b'fast, one bite of toast. A 1cm cube of ham for lunch and refused supper and any snacks. He has never been a great eater, though is big for his age (98th centile for height and weight) but lately, just doesn't seem even vaguely interested in food. This has been his typical food intake for 9 weeks now.
Doctor says it's a phase and HV says not to worry too much, that he won't starve....but he must be hungry, mustn't he? He doesn't eat more than 100 calories a day of solid food....and we offer him lovely food - fish, potatoes, sausages, cereal, baked beans, green beans, peas, carrots etc. He even declines chocolate :-(
Any advice greatly received. I'd love to see him tuck in to what you ladies say your little ones eat.

[nannynick]

Look at food intake over a week, not a day.
Children have days when they barely eat anything, then eat loads another day.

What does he drink?

Are you keeping a food diary?

Keep offering things are regular times of the day. Keep it quite simple in terms of things to eat - so toast cut into small pieces (with various toppings), small bits of veg, small bits of fruit.

[BeckDitto]

Yes, I have a bit of a diary going as am pretty upset by him not eating and no health people very interested in him. He asks for food, then refuses it when I prepare it. He drinks about 4 x 7oz milks a day, maybe 5. He might drink about 5 oz of juice/squash/water during the day. He is skinny and we think he's pale, but doc and HV not worried at all.

[nannynick]

28oz of milk sounds quite high - though if he's not eating many solids, then he is replacing that with milk intake.

When he asks for milk, try offering it with food. So milk and bread sticks, cucumber sticks.

Your Doc and HV are not worried, so stick with keeping the food diary. Offer food in small portions - 1 tablespoon quantities.

[Fiddledee]

My son is 20 months and has zero, yes zero milk a day to drink. That is way too much milk, like a baby sorry. Think most children are down to one lot of milk before bed if that. I have milk hating children but they seem to grow fine. He could well be aneamic as the iron in formula milk is not easily absored please ditch the milk and give him normal family food.

[BeckDitto]

What? No milk?? Why has no-one told me this before? I had no idea I should have him off the milk by now...I was taking his cue from it. I feel a bit daft for not knowing this!
Why don't they come with manuals? I am going to try and wean him off the milk and maybe try watering it down and do it that way, or just offer him smaller amounts, like 3oz at a time just to satisfy his enjoyment of drinking milk. Will update you soon ...thanks for your wisdom.

[nannynick]

I wouldn't remove milk completely. Certainly DO NOT water it down. Instead reduce the quantity, use a smaller beaker. Use full fat milk ideally, otherwise I think semi-skimmed is ok from around 24mths.


During the day, if he asks for milk, offer water. If he is tired, offer milk... it can be a comfort drink. Also have milk with breakfast, unless having cereal with milk.

It does get replaced by milk products - cheese, yoghurt etc.

I would start by offering milk at breakfast, morning snack, afternoon snack and before bed. Reduce quantity to around 5oz. The TommeeTippee First Cup beaker is around 6.4oz, so that can be a good starter size for reducing quantity - they are also cheap to buy (about £2). Aim to get milk intake down to around 16oz a day... but start with aiming for say 20oz as he is very reliant on it at the moment.

If he asks for milk at other times, then give him something to eat and offer water. Once you have milk times more in a routine, you can then phase out one... such as the afternoon snack milk. Offer food and water at the time.

Offer food in small quantities, frequently. So say Breakfast 8am, snack 10.30am, Lunch 12.30pm, afternoon snack 2.30pm, tea 5pm.
Milk at bedtime winddown 6.30pm.
Adapt to fit your usual routine. Afternoon snack I find tends to be later as we do a school collection, so it's once we get back from school and is then often a combined snack/tea.

Does he have a bottle, or are you using a beaker? If using a bottle... may be time to ditch the bottles. Take him shopping for some beakers. Then as he gets older, use the beaker without the lid.

Rice cakes, bread sticks, fruit cut into small pieces, raisins, carrot sticks, cucumber sticks, soft-cheese (useful as a dip for veg sticks) all worth trying. Marmite on toast or rice cake is also liked by some toddlers.

[BeckDitto]

Hiya....
well, so far so good. Christmas eve, reduced the milk intake by offering bottles of only 3 or 4 oz instead of 7oz at a time, and he's ahppy with that amount. More room in the tummytum, so my little muchkin has EATEN MORE!!! Christmas day, he ate all before him and today, Boxing day, he has has 3/4 slice Marmite toast, some dry cereal, a chocolate santa and 3 satsuma segments!!!
HURRAH!! I know it's early days, but thank you ladies for your wisdom and advice.
Nannynick, may I ask why not to water the milk down? I haven't, but just curious as to why not. I guess it would mean he can't assess when he's had enough milk rather than just fluids.........but a friend says it should be ok to water it down, so want to get to the nuts and bolts of why.
Anyway, thanks again and hope you had a lovely Christmas.

[nannynick]

I feel it's not a good idea due to:

Harder to quantify how much milk he is having.

Possibly confusing him between drinking milk and water. Offer both in separate beakers so he can associate the taste of each.

Possibly resulting him in not liking milk as watering down I feel would affect the taste.

Just seems a daft thing to do given he drinks milk, so no need to add things to it.

Someone medical may know of other reasons

Good to hear that your son is eating more.

[BeckDitto]

They seem like sensible ideas
He seems happy enough with me just giving him 3 or 4oz at a time and that doesn't seem to be filling him up, so will continue with this for a while and cut down in a couple of weeks and see how we go.
Thanks again.