How is my child’s diet - worried they don’t eat enough.

[DustyGlow]

My kids are 9 & 7. They seem to survive on fresh air but are both very small and one has bad ongoing constipation problems so I’m very conscious of food.

Here is what the eldest has eaten today. I don’t feel this is enough but I don’t know what is typical.

Breakfast - 1/2 bagel with peanut butter and a very thin layer of jam (once back to school this will be a half eaten bowl of porridge - probably 20g of oats eaten).

Snack - 1/2 apple, 1/2 banana

Lunch - half tuna and cheese sandwich, 2 cherry tomatoes, 1/4 carrot. Handful of grapes.

Dinner - 1.5 sausages with a ladle of blended leeks with butter beans (ate half of the ‘soup’ so probably 3 desert spoons worth). 1/4 bake at home baguette.

Pudding - Greek yogurt - 3 spoons with a chopped strawberry and about 6 blueberries.

Perhaps a bit bread heavy today but this felt a good day in terms of quantity for her but seems like nothing compared to her younger relatives.

Albeit very nutritious, none of this is very calorie dense, OP. It honestly reminds me of a diet you’d put yourself on as an adult! If they eat such limited quantities then you need to focus on calorie dense, higher fat foods. At their age/weight they could afford to have a ‘proper’ pudding, for example.

My dd is a similar age and has days like this. But then every now and then before a growth spurt she will have a couple of weeks of being constantly hungry and eating more.

My dd is also small but is doing well developmentally so I try not to worry about it too much. I think my brother was the same and he’s turned out alright.

Can you use 10% greek yog and add seeds or nuts?

Milkshakes with full fat milk and blended fruit?

High protein soups? Add plenty pulses/meat.

Add chia, hemp or flax to the porridge.

Do they like hummus?

It’s difficult to say. She is eating three meals and some fruit and it’s all ‘good’ food not loads of ultra processed food like nuggets at least. My 2 year old does eat more than this though, he is 75th percentile for height and 50th for weight. Is she tracking on her growth charts? That’s probably what matters the most that she/they are following their line and not dropping.

for example today my 2 year old ate:
1/2 cup or porridge with full fat milk, raspberries
2 crackers for snack
peanut butter sandwich, cheese cubes, cucumber, half a raw carrot, blueberries and greek yoghurt for lunch
whole banana for a snack
dinner was stir fry noodles with broccoli, sugar snap peas, baby corn and chicken. Ate a large bowl.
then had a digestive before his bath.
we did go for a long walk today and do almost every day so he is quite an active boy

Sounds good to me. My 10 year old had one sausage for dinner 🙃

Are they underweight?

Do they have health problems which might be linked to diet, any deficiencies?

Lacking energy or focus or mental attention?

These are the measures I would go with

The calorie intake could be increased by adding butter to the bread or cream to the yoghurt etc, more fatty meats or cheeses, cream in the porridge etc

Have a look at the fibre intake

It’s full fat Greek yogurt, I add a good amount of peanut butter and butter to breakfast. Full fat mayo in the tuna and cheese. Butter in with the leeks.
So I do try make things calorific.

I used to stir an egg into the porridge which was undetectable. I’ll try do that again.

They do eat nuts so I’ll dig some out tomorrow.

Evening meals will often be things like spag bol but they leave the sauce and eat the pasta with a slight sauce coating. They will eat lots of macaroni cheese.

They’re both pretty much the same centile for height and weight (9th). But both noticeably the smallest in their years. They might just be small kids.

After summer we got a bit of control over the constipation and my daughter’s appetite increased significantly. I think she just constantly feels full. Not getting anywhere with NHS investigations though.

I wouldn't say it's enough. Lots of fruit but very little veg, and actually probably not that much fibre

One days eating isn't really a reflection though of their health. Is their weight stable? Do they have energy?

They’re quite fussy when it comes to meat, I could stir lentils into blended pasta sauces though to bulk them up.

Weight seems OK (her chart is monitored by her paediatrician) but I do think her energy levels are lower. She used to manage decent walks but seems to flag after a couple of miles now.

I think I’ll flag it all at our next appointment as I am worried

Can you focus on fatty meats blended into soup perhaps? Do they like soup, that isnt always good for small appetites as its a lot of intake in one go

If they have small appetites I'd want to be getting more protein and fat in, and at every eating opportunity,

Cheese, eggs, nuts, pulses, real meat, fatty fish, good ice cream or fruit with cream.

My ds was 90th percentile for height and 20th for weight, I did everything I could to get nutrient dense foods in to him but he did stop growing early and is now 40th percentile for height and still very slim.

This probably isn’t the case but ….
Your children could have been my granddaughter 2 years ago l She always favoured fruit/ veg over carbs, lacking in energy,constipated ,bloated ,very small ,weighed 16kgs aged 4.5 yrs etc . She was diagnosed Coeliac 2yrs ago and the improvement in her general health and energy is amazing now GF .
It was a post on MN that prompted me to mention to my daughter to ask about the blood test .

Actually I think that sounds fine, our perception of portion sizes has got way out of hand and don’t forget that a large percentage of the population are overweight.

people are saying it’s not energy dense enough but I disagree, there’s a lot of energy as well as fibre in
bagel
peanut butter
Greek yoghurt
bread x 2 servings
banana
butter beans

theres fat and protein in
peanut butter
cheese
tuna
yoghurt

if they’re tracking their centiles then they’re doing fine I’d say.

A good tip - she has had the blood test for coeliac disease which was negative. A biopsy is an option but general anaesthetic needed.

I do wonder this sometimes, perhaps it’s fine.
A lot of friends / family members that I compare them to are probably classed as overweight.

I think it's fine too. Comparisons are often unhelpful because a lot of children (and adults) eat way too much.

DD1 is 9 and has a small appetite. She always has and she is very slim. She's still in age 6-7 school skirts and trousers but she's tracking her centiles and is healthy, she isn't underweight....just one of the smaller in her class but someone has to be.

Today she's eaten:

Weetabix with full fat milk (she probably ate half of this so the equivalent of one Weetabix.)

Mid morning she had a slice of sourdough toast with butter and marmalade.

Lunch she had a chicken sandwich, cucumber, raspberries, a handful of walnuts and a cheese string but again probably ate half.

Dinner she had three slices of pizza with some carrot sticks and chopped pepper on the side.

We give her full fat milk as a drink and encourage snacks like cheese or she likes buttered Ryvita as well as some fruit but I don't tend to worry about it as she's eating and developing.

I think this sounds great!! More than my 10 and 5 year olds. Some ppl just have small appetites and their diet is super healthy