How much does your 5yo eat? Mine is eating me out of house and home!!

[PlagueAhoy]

Ds is 5.5 and is and tall for his age but weight is normal. He does activities twice a week and is fairly active apart from that. Since he went back to school in September he literally hasn't stopped eating, and the constant bugging me for food is driving me slowly batshit.

For example, today he has had-

Breakfast- 2 Weetabix with milk and half a brown bagel with butter

Lunch- packed lunch of 1 small ham bap, a banana, handful of veg sticks, 1 tuc cracker

After school, he had a snack of a small portion of leftover pasta (about a cupful), then hounded me for a satsuma, then had a cupful of plain popcorn.

Then he had a good handful of sweetcorn, and then the shopping delivery arrived and I relented and gave him a mini choc bar in the hope that he would leave me alone for 5 minutes. But no, as soon as it was finished he was out nagging me for cherry tomatoes and other stuff that he knew the shopping man brought

In between all of these he has asked for other stuff that I have refused.

Later he will eat a good sized portion of chicken and rice for dinner, and then probably ask for more fruit/toast.

I know I can't really complain as it's mostly fruit and relatively healthy stuff he looks for, but the constant whine of him looking for food is driving me round the bend. Not to mention that we are going through an increasing amount of fruit each week which is expensive.

Mines is very similair and is also really tall for his age. (4 years old wearing 6-7).

Could you give him his dinner earlier and he will maybe snack less?

His lunch seems quite small compared to the rest of his meals. Perhaps another sandwich would keep him going a bit longer?

Should've said, we're not in the UK so school finishes at 140pm, so they only have one lunch and a very quick snack break. Also, he sometimes takes a full sandwich or big wrap instead of the bap. It's tricky to get a balance though, sometimes when I give a bigger lunch, he won't eat it all but will still eat and eat and eat when he gets home.

I would like to have dinner earlier but I also like us all eating together as often as possible, which means waiting for DH to get home from work.

I think if I gave more protein in the school lunch it might fill him for longer but not sure how I can do this?

Just wait until he is 17...(not helpful!)

I was going to say the same thing. Wait till they are teenagers. They have hollow legs. My son eats soooooooo much. Again. Not helpful. But

Mine were both the same. Still are. (As teenagers!) Drives me nuts.

Only 2 weetabix? That's nothing. My 2 ds's ate 4 weetabix and a banana.

Up the carbs. Up the protein. Yoghurts and cheeses?

Maybe a more substantial snack when he gets in?

It doesn’t look that much to me.

My 6yo doesn’t even weigh 3st and he eats sooooo much.

Breakfast - large bowl of porridge with half a banana, bowl of grapes, plum

Snack - an apple

Lunch - school lunch - not sure what size by normally a cooked lunch with fruit or ‘cake’ after

Snack - half a baked pretzel

Dinner - prawn noodles with veg. He will have a while portion of noodles, 150g prawns, lots of veg (peas,sweet corn,carrots). Then 3 bowls of full fat Greek yogurt and stewed apples.

I tremble to think about the teenage years...

His siblings are not quite as bad but the 4yobhas suddenly discovered his appetite after years of picky eating and is much stockier than skinny DS1 so...

Does he like eggs? Eggs can be more filling.

I think you need to give him his dinner earlier. My dc are always starving after school...they eat dinner straightaway. Then before bed they have a light snack...crackers, fruit, yoghurt, a biscuit, brioche roll etc

My just turned 6 year old is exactly the same. He is just always looking for food he is big for his age but lean.
He asks for treats but also random healthy stuff too like bowls of red cabbage

I don't think that sounds like a huge amount. My DD is six and today she had:
Two weetabix with blueberries for breakfast
A banana for a snack
At lunch at school she would have had something like rice, vegetables, chicken, a roll on the side, plus fruit and yoghurt for pudding
A mini donut and half a pint of lemon squash after school
Some olives while waiting for dinner
A huge plate of spaghetti with tomato and veg sauce with cheese
Some grapes
Milk at bedtime

She is tall but a healthy weight for her height.

DS is a similar age and will eat that and more. Today he had;

Slice of granary toast with jam
Fruit at school for a snack
Sausage, chips & beans at school
Apple crumble for pudding
Banana, raspberries & strawberries
Ice lolly
Bag of mini cheddars
Forced share of my spicy monster munch
Sausage rolls, houmous and vegetables
Mini twirl

You're drip feeding him. Look at the 2 Weetabix; once they're dissolved in the milk there's hardly anything there. He needs 2 slices of buttered toast with honey afterwards.
Lunch? A small ham roll? ONE tuc biscuit? Who eats one tuc biscuit? Give him four, sandwiched together with dairylea.
A handful of sweetcorn, and a few cherry tomatoes? Come on! Feed the child.

My 3yo is the same !!
He can eat a bowl of porridge and a slice of brown toast for breakfast

Banana as a snack between

Then a sandwich and veggie sticks with a few crisp and a baby bell for dinner

Strawberry's and maybe a lollipop for a snack

Then he will have his tea whatever we have that night (his fav is chicken)

Then he will have a pudding so blueberry an yogurt or something similar

Then for supper he can have a slice of toast or a potato cake. Nothing heavy and a glass of milk

I think this is a lot- he is on medication that makes him hungry though but I can't seem to fill him! He's the skinniest little boy and he's healthy and weight is fine etc but he eats more then me sometimes lol
His older brothers are 15&18 wait till your DS gets to that age. Now they do eat me out of house and home their plates are always the same size as their dad an he's a big guy (muscles) so has a big plate of food to fill him and their isn't a bit of meat on them all! Deffo got that from their dad cos I see a cake and I gain a stone but yea lol boys just like food.... 🤷🏼‍♀️ aslong as it's healthy and he has the odd snack I wouldn't worry xx

I kind of agree.. fruit and veg are great and healthy, but they don’t fill you up. Toast with peanut butter is a good snack. Hard boiled eggs with his cherry tomatoes maybe. Cheese and crackers. As pp’s say.. wait until he’s a teenager! (My two teen boys are ace, but they eat me out of house and home!)

Doesn't sound like much food in all honesty. Mine are three and four and will eat more than that, particularly around breakfast time they are ravenous. They'll usually have cereal/porridge AND toast AND fruit

But I understand what you're saying, it drives me mad also, constant requests for food.

Also he's at an age where they are starting to move away from toddler sized portions of food and you need to adjust your way of thinking now he's older. Same thing happened with both my dc as they started school, they needed more food.

I think that sounds very normal. When mine was at primary school we tended to have our evening meal quite early and then super before bed.

There is a lot of snacking included in the lists. I have never embraced the snacking culture as it makes kids never understand that they don’t always need to be full. Why do DC need snacks while waiting for there dinner? It also means there not hungry when meals are served and eat tiny portions of what should be nutritious food. Or they started needing larger portions as there tummy’s expand. My DC are all tall but they eat three meals a day. The only snacks in my house are apples/ satsumas/ yogurt and we sit together to eat at night. There is definitely no snacks before dinner and I don’t make desserts although may do on an occasional Sunday. There is an increase in obesity in our DC and it’s sad to see young ones with large waists at young ages. Sadly we are becoming a culture of feeders and our kids constantly want food as they can’t tolerate not being full all the time.

He needs more protein. Some options you could have added to that lunch:
Houmous
Nuts and seeds
Cheese
or
Hard boiled egg

Also less carbs. TUC biscuit is processed crap, oatcake or nuts or dried fruit would be better. Same for popcorn and chocolate bar.

Sounds fairly normal to me OP. DS has just turned 7 l, is average height and while hw doesn't look super skinny with clothes on, when he takes his top off I could count his ribs and every knob of his spine - and for the last year or so he's been coming back into the kitchen an hour after meals saying "what can I have?"! And the meals are things like chicken curry and rice, or porridge, or eggs and toast - filling food.

I think some children just do burn it off quite fast and need top ups sooner. We've been giving decent portions of dinner and if he doesn't eat it all we will be leaving his plate out and not clearing it away, because if he doesn't finish it all he will be back in an hour to polish it off. (This causes difficulty with DH who will mop up any leftover food when he comes in from work "he says he doesn't want it, I'll make him toast if he's hungry later".)