Is this amount of food normal? Where is it all going?

[sweetmeatsandale]

DS is 22 months. He weighs around 20lb. He is in 9-12 clothes. 6-9 month vests.

He's tiny. But it's a gigantic amount of food. An example -

5, yes 5, brioche rolls. A banana. A yogurt. A handful of strawberries.

Spaghetti B for lunch, a child's portion but a bigger child. I'd expect a 9 year old to be satisfied with it. He isn't - He will then have seconds and polish the lot off. I wouldn't offer the seconds but he looks around frantically and moans if others are still eating.

His nursery have reported having to always give a second helping since he's very quick and takes other children's food who are sat there looking into space! We ran into trouble a few weeks back because he quickly snatched and gulped down a sausage (meat). He's veggie.

For dinner he'd have something lighter, a sandwich with some crisps. A piece of fruit. A slice of cheese. But recently I've just been giving him a portion of my food since he isn't satisfied with something light after a heavy nursery 'tea'.

Other foods for breakfast include two scrambled eggs on toast, nursery often say he has a slice of marmalade toast to keep him satisfied.

Lots of fruit, lots of cheese. He likes anything and everything.

Last night he ate, yes he ate the whole thing, a plate of nacho cheese with jalapeños on top! Didn't bat an eyelid at the spice. Even dipped the nacho in the salsa

He will eat sushi. He will eat a roast (his favourite). He will eat and eat and eat and I don't think he

I kit don't know where all of this is going. I know some children 'burn things off' easily but his seems so extreme. I would be overeating if I consumed what he does.

That does seem a lot, nobody here can tell you if it’s normal though. Maybe keep a good diary and visit your GP/contact your HV

Food diary obviously stupid autocorrect

Has he always eaten this much? I ask because my kids used ot go through phases like this and then suddenly shot up and had a growth spurt.
In fact my 16 year old did it in June and July, I coudln't buy enough food, and suddenly in September he isn't eating anything and I have too much food in the cupboards.

The other comment I would make is about protein. Protein is the thing that stops you being hungry, so as well as your fruit etc, you might want to up his protein.

be grateful he is a good eater! It's lovely having a child who isn't fussy

He's been like it for about 3/4 months I would say x

I think a trip to the GP is in order. He is pretty small and they may want to investigate depending on how his growth charts are looking (I would guess he is off the bottom)

If he’s always eaten like that that’s bizarre and I think you need to discuss with the GP or maybe a paediatric dietician. Are you already seeing someone for the low weight?

Last time he was checked was about 3 months ago by the health visitor. She was happy and said he was just full of energy.

However he hasn't really grown. He goes up a clothes size very rarely, he's almost 2 and has only gone up 4/5 sizes since birth!

Would second the suggestion to look at the protein?

Pass No, because nobody has ever raised any concern, although I have enquired.

Everyone has just shrugged and says it's normal for him. This includes nurses, HV's, my GP and paediatricians (seem for a separate issue not released in any way to his growth)

the only other thing that springs ot mind (and I don't want to worry you) is diabeties. One sympton can be ravenously hungry and not putting on weight. Does he drink a lot? Wee a lot?

But that is less likely than a growth spurt.
Has the increased eating lead to increased weight? Has he started to bulk up/put on weight?

Protein - He eats a lot of cheese, and meat replacements that are very high in protein.

I think he gets way more than enough, and even if he ate less protein than he does, I still don't know where all the rest of it goes as you can only be hungry again after eating so many times, there are only so many hours
in the day

It does sound very carb heavy. What kind of protein is he having and how often?
The brioche rolls are providing nothing of nutritional value and aren’t filling him up so I’d ditch those other than one as a treat.

step in the last week, just week, he is drinking a lot and also weeing a lot. An example of this is leaking nappies as they're suddenly a lot fuller as of late.

But I tried going a size up and they do not fit, too big, so back down a size we go with more frequent nappy changes.

I do find he is thirsty recently but only in the last week. So not the whole 3 months he's been like this eating wise

I think a test for coeliacs disease might be a good idea as well.

He’s 20lb though, that’s not much bigger than my 3M old. I’m that there hasn’t been any medical intervention. The posts about protein are way off the mark (protein appears to the the MN answer to everything) something could be really wrong. I would go to the GP ASAP and ask for a referral

Just to clarify, brioche rolls aren't a typical breakfast. They're just something treaty and quick. His usual breakfast is porridge and strawberries on top, scrambled eggs on brown toast etc

Sorry, cross posted with you.
When is he having his protein? Maybe look at top loading his breakfast with slow release carbs and some protein, it might help control the urges later on.

I agree the difference between the food eaten and the growth needs investigating

Eating lots of carbs doesn’t make you skinny. Even if it made you hungry surely then he would be putting on weight.
Go to the doctor. Maybe 3 months ago he was on the lowest percentile. He may have dropped off now. And if not then at least you know

Both my DS's have gone through phases like this. They would polish off adult size meals and then go for seconds.

It's usually followed by a growth spurt.

Surely you would only want to use protein to control hunger urges in an over weight person not a low weight toddler? I would go and see a gp, if he's been eating like this for 3-4 months he should have gained a lot of weight. If my 4 year old had 5 brioche, a yogurt, a banana and strawberries she'd probably throw up- it's a huge amount.

Doje How long does the growth spurt take though? It's been going on for 3/4 months

My ds has fairly typical growth spurts I think, he eats loads for a week or two, goes back to normal only a bit taller. I really think a toddler eating this much and remaining small needs investigating op.

But he’s not having growth spurts, he’s 20lb at nearly 2, he’s barely grown since birth. The lack of growth spurts is exactly the issue.

I think that's an incredible amount of food. As pp mentioned above I would be worried about potentially diabetes or eve. Although very extreme Prader Willi.