How much does your 9(ish) year old boy eat?

[yurt1]

No idea if this is the right topic or not...

Ds1 has started waking in the middle of the night. And then is up. Whether it's 4am or 2.30am or somewhere inbetween . This has been going on for a month or so.

Recently he's started signing for food when he wakes and his tummy rumbles so I am trying to work out whether he could be hungry. (He might just be asking for food because he's bored or because he wants to go into the kitchen which we lock at night).

He eats better than he has for years but I have no idea how much other 9 year old boys eat.....

[octavia]

My Ds is having a growth spurt at the moment and is shooting up like a runner bean plant !
He eats

Breakfast

ready brek
banana/grapes
juice

snack

cheese + apple

Lunch

pasta
veg sauce
cheese

yogurt
fruit

snack

biscuit or cake

Dinner

roast lamb
potatoes
broccoli/carrots/butternut squash/swede

apple enda + ice cream

supper

rice cakes + philidelphia

Then I bet in a few weeks time he wont want the snacks or a supper

[TheOriginalXENA]

My DS is 10 and he would eat rounds of sandwiches as snacks... He eats like a horse (and is stick thin!)

[yurt1]

OK thanks. He is eating more than ds1. I don't really know how much ds1 eats at school. I might ask them to up his portions. It's still difficult to get a lot of food into him although he will eat potatoes by the bucket load and some forms of meat.

Ice cream would be good but he'll only eat that at respite

[yurt1]

I might try giving him cornflakes before bed....

[cory]

Very likely that it's a growth spurt, dd started eating a lot at this age, too.

[tigermoth]

My 8 and a half year old ds2, has always had a huge appetite. He is not overweight. He loves carbs and often says he is hungry even after a large meal.

This is an average day's food intake for him:

1 bowl of rice crispies and milk

school dinner - I think he eats as much as he is allowed ie first course and dessert.

After school snack I (he is starving at 4.00 pm) of cheese sandwich, tangerine and a piece of cake.

6.00 snack at home - another bowl of rice crispies, another sandwich and will stilk ask for more!

supper - Meat and two veg (adult portion) ice cream and fruit.

Will also try and supplement this with any sweets he can acquire.

HTH

[yurt1]

Yes, helpful thanks everyone. Part of the problem is that although ds1's eating habits have improved enormously they're still variable, so if I dish up something that he doesn't like (which can be bizarre- he'll eat cottage pie but not lasagne or spag bol for example) then he refuses it.

He's gluten free as well which makes things like a round of sarnies hard. Extra toast perhaps.....

[allytjd]

Yup. DS! (9+) is a bottomless pit and skinny like my sister's whippet. He is basically hungry as soon as he is finished eating. I give him adult portions now.

[nametaken]

My 10 year old eats as much as me, doesn't have child size portions anymore and is still underweight for his height!!!!!!!!!!!

Agree with giving cereal and toast before bedtime, especially if they have their tea about 5ish

[yurt1]

Thanks all. I tried to stuff him with more food before bed. Although of course there's a storm tonight so he'll prob be up with that......