What does your two year old eat in a day?

[youhadmeatjello]

I’m getting a bit concerned that mine eats way too much! Everyone comments on what a good eater he is and what a big boy he is (he’s very broad), he’s heavy for his age - not fat, he doesn’t have rolls and has slimmed down recently - but he’s heavy to lift.
His dad is 6 foot and the shortest on his side of the family and although DS is only just over average on the height scale (and higher up the weight percentile than the height one) nobody has ever raised it as a concern they’ve just said he’s a healthy, sturdy boy and he’s likely to be tall. I asked the GP when he had a check up for something else but he didn’t have any concerns.

Today he ate:
Porridge with half a banana for breakfast, about 5-6 tablespoons. Then asked for more so had the other half of the banana.

Morning snack was a homemade vegetable muffin

Lunch was half a small jacket potato with cheese and beans at soft play, left the skin and some of the potato, plus he had a bit of pitta and hummus that I was eating and a baby biscuit on the way back in the pushchair

Afternoon snack was a yogurt and blueberries

Dinner meatballs and rice with chopped peppers and sauce about 5-6 tablespoons, left a tiny bit and had some fruit for “pudding”

Day before he had:
Banana oat pancakes with Greek yogurt and raspberries (two and a half pancakes, small tablespoons of mixture so not big ones!)

Morning snack was a pack of baby veggie crisp things in the pushchair

Lunch was half a slice of bread with marmite, some chopped avocado and tomato (left the tomato), cheese cubes, half a banana and two crackers

Afternoon snack was a fruit oat bar (homemade baked oats basically)

Dinner was chicken curry with rice and broccoli on the side - about six tablespoons of curry and then he had seconds as he asked for more

He would eat snacks all day if I let him, I think and definitely eats more in days when I’m relying on packet snacks. He often asks for more when he’s in the pushchair or he’s had something he particularly likes and I struggle to know whether he’s hungry still or he just wants it!

I just wondered how his day to day compares. Lots of my friends with kids have the opposite problem with their children who don’t seem to eat much at all so he always looks like he eats loads in comparison!

This is so useful thank you! I think my perspective has been totally skewed by friends children and actually I need to make sure I’m offering more filling foods and bigger meals. Poor DS no wonder he’s always asking for more. (I do often give him more, but have been feeling like I’ve been giving him too much)

DD just turned 2 a month ago and her appetite varies, a bit reduced atm, she eats less at dinner than lunch normally.

Breakfast: 1 egg omelette and a rice cake with butter

Lunch: half a bagel thin with butter and a slice of ham, 4 baby plum tomatoes, a mini cucumber, an 1" ish piece of cheese, corn puffs.

Dinner: half a bowl of Tuscan Bean soup maybe 100ml and some baguette.

Snacks: a bit of cake, small banana, satsuma

Yesterday

Breakfast: bowl of porridge and linseed mix, about 20g, blueberries

Lunch: cheese sandwich, beetroot, gherkin, a salad tomato and a nakd bar.

Dinner: kimchi, salmon and broccoli, small pot of plain yogurt.

Snacks: small kids apple, 2x mini cucumber

"What kind of packed lunches do you all put together if you’re going to be out all day?"

Stuff that doesn't need a fridge, and can be eaten easily with out spilling too much! Just a normal packed lunch. Sandwich, fruit, cheese and veggies.

• Sandwiches (peanut butter usually as she can't have it at nursery and it doesn't matter if it gets a bit warm!)

• Fruit (banana/apple/satsuma/pear ... Whatever we have in.

• Cheese. Something like a babybel.

• Pot of veggies: cherry tomatoes/olives/sweety drop peppers/cucumber slices/pepper sticks etc

My 23-month olds ate today:

Breakfast:

• banana
• ready brek with banana and strawberries
• couple of bran flakes
• 150ml milk

Lunch:

• roast chicken
• peas, carrots, parsnips
• pasta with homemade tomato-basil sauce
• more milk

Snack:

• mandarin and apple

Dinner:

• scrambled egg on toast
• cherry tomatoes, grated cheddar, cucumber sticks
• more milk

When out and about, I put something in a flask - Eg cottage pie, and stop to give them lunch at 12. And have mandarins/banana/homemade oat bites/etc.

Sounds similar to 2yo my twin girls. They are tall and slim.

Oh and a huge bottle of milk at bedtime!

12 month old eats around this amount of food. The portions sound quite small to me of the main meals?

My DS is nearly 3 and a normal days is:

Breakfast: cup of milk. He will sometimes pick at some cereal but we leave for nursery at 7:30 so he isn't usually hungry. This morning he had pancakes with blueberries and raspberries as it's weekend and we ate later. He probably ate an adult portion.

Snack: veggies and hummus or veggies, crackers and cheese or fruit and yogurt

Lunch: cheese or ham sandwich with another of the snack options from earlier as a side. His key worker says he's starting to get hungry so I will have to bulk up the snack and lunch a bit more I think. Maybe I will send a thermos with some pasta or something warm.

Snack: 'ice cream' made from frozen fruit and Greek yogurt in the blender or a low sugar ice cream. Cereal bar (sometimes both)

He will then whinge for tastes of whatever I'm cooking and has been known to eat a whole tortilla if I'm making Mexican food.

Dinner: a half portion of whatever we have. Sometimes he will eat it all and want seconds other times he will leave most of it. He has another cup of milk at bed time.

He is 99th for height and 60-70th for weight. He does run around loads, this morning he was doing laps of the garden waving a flag he made. My main concern is keeping his sugar down as he just loves biscuits and cake but more for teeth rather than weight reasons. I do find he goes through phases of eating us out of house and home then jumps up a clothes size and goes back to normal for a bit.

Just wanted to say thanks for advice.
Today I gave him a slightly bigger breakfast and he ate a bit more than usual but left some.

Then he had a slice of homemade banana and courgette “cake” as his snack.

We are out and he asked for toast for he had two slices (!) normally I would only give him half, and some fruit and then didn’t want his crisps or anything else when usually he eats what I give him and keeps asking for more.

Then he napped! He hasn’t napped for a week or so and I was wondering if he was ready to drop it but I think he might have been hungry.

He’s got cheese cubes, fruit and a couple of crackers for his afternoon snack and a decent evening meal which he can have seconds of if he wants

Brilliant 👍

DD us hungry mostly in the morning. Like today, for breakfast, she had porridge and ate a huge bowlful around 8am.By 10 she ate a banana, satsuma and a peanut butter sandwich (1 slice and about 2tbsp of pb). Lunch again at 12!

I make packed lunches for my over 2 and a half year old since he was 2 year old for nursery.
He has a cold pack in there too:

Wholemeal sandwich thin with cream cheese, white bread Sandwich with jam or cream cheese or crackers with cheese and ham or malt loaf with a little butter or breadsticks or ready made pancakes or homemade broccoli and cheese muffins or puff pastry tomato based with grated vegetables.
I do make the sandwiches into shapes like Mickey mouse or flowers or stars. Peanut butter if visiting a friend over lunch as nursery Is nut free.

I then add a couple of vegetable sticks like cucumber and sweet yellow pepper and fruit.

He will have a dairy product, yogurt pouch or babybels travel well with a cold pack or fridge raiders chicken bites.

Then a few crisps or a little cake or a couple of biscuits.

DS is 2.5. yesterday he had Porridge, some raisins and a homemade cookie for snack, a few leftover oven chips, a slice of ham and a matchbox size of cheese, then for dinner a sausage, mash, peas and sweetcorn, but left his carrots and broccoli. He then had a small bit of brownie.

Today he had shreddies, and about half a slice of my toast. He had a slice of lemon cake, then cornbread, ham, grapes and cheese for lunch. He tends to leave the bread and then eat it for snack later. Tonight he'll have a quesadilla and some natural yoghurt.

That’s really good to hear.

Just popping in to say what lovely menus you all have. One of mine (aged 12) has severe eating issues as a major component of his autism and I am desperately envious of some of the lovely meals you all get your little ones to eat. (Plus I have had some ideas to try out). :)

Mine is a crap eater other than breakfast. Todays looked like this

Breakfast: milk, Pain au chocolat, blueberries
Lunch: 1/4 a prawn sandwich, smoothie
Snack: found some chocolate coins
Dinner: ate plain noddles and refused to eat the stir fry veg or chicken that went with it.

She generally doesn’t touch what we give her for dinner but apparently eats really well at nursery. Her sister ate really well at 2 and we were shocked by how much she could put away. Totally different builds and temperaments though. Child no.1 98th percentile for height, always on the go. Child no.2 25th percentile and slightly less manic. I suspect my first needed quite a few more calories than my second.