Can child eat too much for breakfast?

[Wzzzzzg]

My 4 year old sometimes asks for double portions of breakfast.

My wife and I are split on whether to give it to him.

It is a healthy cereal.

My child has one adult portion of cereal before asking for another.

When my wife has given him a second he does eat it.

I'm of the opinion that one adult portion should be enough for him. Anything else is greed and to be honest I'm not sure if it is healthy for him to have so much.

[Eminybob]

He’s a growing boy. My 4 year old never stops eating. As long as it’s not a sugary cereal I can’t see the problem.

[Jackshouse]

I would try to give him fruit or peanut butter sandwhich as well but the general rule of thumb with children is unless they have weight issues then feed them if they’re hungry.

[catdogcatdog]

Nope. If it's healthy and he's hungry go for it!

[AlwaysColdHands]

I don’t think I’d be giving a 4 year old an ‘adult’ portion of anything.
Perhaps stick to one portion (size down gradually), then a piece of fruit afterwards for a bit more variation?

[MummySharkBabyShark]

Can he have a banana with it? Some toast?

If he is healthy weight I wouldn’t worry about it but I would give him something else to fill him up. If you don’t give it to him is he hungry soon after?

[AlwaysColdHands]

Yes re peanut butter suggestion: most cereals are sugary: add some protein eg Greek yoghurt, peanut butter on toast afterwards.

[happychange]

Cereal is so processed
What about scrambled eggs avocado toast ? Might fill him up more

[Chocolateandcarbs]

My children have cereal/toast followed by fruit (usually a banana or grapes) and a yoghurt most days and something like a sausage sandwich and fruit salad on sundays. They’re always starving in the morning, but don’t eat a large lunch. Could you limit the cereal to 1 bowl and get some foods from the other food groups in? If your child is particularly hungry then would they eat porridge, eggs or maybe some cold meat to really fill them up? My children eat tea at 5pm and breakfast at 7am, so I always expect them to be very hungry at breakfast time as they’ve not had any food in 14hrs. Even limiting morning snack to fruit they aren’t particularly hungry for lunch (maybe a small sandwich with fruit and veg or at very most two thirds of a sausage roll if we’re in town), if your child is also filling up at breakfast time I wouldn’t worry too much.

[PhilipJennings]

It depends. How old is your child? How active? Is your child at a healthy weight?

I have a skinny 6yo who is constantly moving. He'd eat an adult portion of porridge and go back for an Apple ten minutes later. Sometimes two portions. Some days he is more hungry than others, usually when he's growing.

I don't think it's greed, if he is genuinely hungry and isn't going overweight. Children use a lot of energy growing as well as running around.

I think if your child is active and slim, I would not ration their food according to how hungry I THINK they should be. That is only asking for trouble with disordered eating or stealing food later on. Provided there is enough food to go round, "greedy" is a very harsh judgment call to make on something you don't have any evidence for - which is the hunger of another person.

[llangennith]

Let him have a second bowl of cereal. He's hungry after 12 or more hours without food. Getting kids ready to go to school in the morning is hard enough without the hassle of arguing about food or offering different choices.

[user1474894224]

My boys are sometimes starving in the morning. Think 3 or 4 wheetabix followed by egg on toast.

If we have 'fun' cereals with lots of sugar - crunchy nut cornflakes, Coco pops, chocolate granola - they would eat the whole box.....but I limit it to 1 bowl. (Porridge, wheatabix,shreddies they can have a large bowl) But I am happy for eggs, toast, ham sandwich, hoummus on toast, marmalade on toast. If they are going through a hungry phase I try to anticipate it and do some hot breakfasts. It lasts about 6 weeks or so then they reduce consumption - so must be linked to growing. My boys are perfect sizes (slim and healthy). So yes sometimes they eat 3 times what I do at breakfast.

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

If you are trying to limit his food intake now, you are going to be for a rocky ride when he hits the teen years and needs nearly 3000 calories a day.

Agee with the others about offering something different, if only to get a range of nutrients into him. So things like a banana sliced into his porridge, eggy bread, sausage and beans, cheese on toast, peanut butter on toast or blueberry pancakes should help to fill him up.

[FogCutter]

Give him some protein rich food at breakfast . My kids like
Scrambled eggs and brown toast
Omelette
Hummus or cheese sandwich
Cheese and crackers

[Thishatisnotmine]

My four year old and two year old eat loads for breakfast: a bowl of cereal, a bowl of plain yoghurt with some oats, fruit, sometimes a slice of cheese. I'd rather they fill up on breakfast than ask for snacks by 9am. My four year old is nowhere near overweight and if she isn't hungry, won't ask for as much. Maybe try swapping tge cereal or serving it with something else

[itsboiledeggsagain]

Healthy cereal? Really?
Why no give him a smaller portion with a view to a second instead of a large to start. Psychological innit

[TooMinty]

My 4 year old often has a three course breakfast - cereal, toast, banana. Then at nursery frequently has two lunches. He usually eats less at tea time though. He isn't overweight. I don't give adult size portions though, child's bowl for cereal and only one slice of toast if he's already had cereal.

[ILiveInSalemsLot]

My kids often have a good portion of porridge followed by toast on school days.
On the weekends, they’ll always have egg and 2 slices of toast. They’ve been haveing that since very young.

[SoyDora]

My very slim 5 year old DD wouldn’t be full after a bowl of cereal, so we rarely have it. She has things like scrambled egg on toast instead. If she does have cereal she would normally have a bowl of full fat Greek yoghurt with fruit chopped into it afterwards.

[LynetteScavo]

I would never limit my child from eating healthy food.

If they'd had two weetabix and wee still hungry I'd suggest a banana or similar.

[Nuffaluff]

My 4 year old has a bowl of cereal and a slice of toast.
My 8 year old on the other hand! He has lots. A bowl of porridge followed by a small amount of muesli, followed by toast with peanut butter! He is as slim as anything, full of energy. He has to keep going at school on this for four and a half hours until lunch.

[Nicpem1982]

My dd is 4 and healthy weight

She eats a large breakfast most mornings before nursery and a huge breakfast at the weekend

Weekday breakfast is generally

Cereal, seeded toast and peanut butter, 2 pieces of fruit

Boiled eggs cherry tomatoes toast youghurt 1 piece of fruit

Scrambled eggs, spinach, tomatoes, and toast then fruit

Weekends shell ask for extra egg/toast/cereal etc

She also eats a big lunch compared to her peers at nursery but its generally healthy and she is very good at regulating when she is full regardless of what she is eating at the time

Activity wise she has 2 dance classes a week, drama club, skis, and swims multiple times a week and goes to nursery 30hrs so shes pretty active.

[MontyBowJangles]

Is he having 2 x Weetabix then asking for more? My boys sometimes have 3 or 4. Healthy weights. Agree you could chop some banana in there then offer a full-fat Greek yoghurt for after.

If he's a healthy weight, no issues and happy just crack on. Mine always love breakfast and when they were younger and more picky it was their best meal of the day sometimes.

[HJWT]

Id personally be carful with this I grew up being given extra portions when I asked and adult portions and I ended up becoming an over weight child as I got towards teenage years...

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

Is he getting at least 300 ml of full fat milk a day and a daily multivitamin too OP?

[Wzzzzzg]

Thank you all for your responses.

My son is healthy and active. He does not have a weight issue. He generally has a healthy appetite at each meal time, which is great.

I like the idea of introducing some fruit, and some protein rich alternatives.

He usually has 3 weetabixes with honey.