Bottomless pit children rant

[Joeydoesntsharefood25]

This is lighthearted before anyone thinks I am really moaning.

My boys are 7 and nearly 5. They never stop being hungry. Both are tall for their age but skinny and very robust. Today they both had a huge bowl of porridge with fruit, nut butter and flaxseed in it, a mid-morning snack cheese, nuts and an apple, then a substantial lunch of homemade lentil and bean soup and 2 slices of toast, fruit. Then we went to soft play where they had a small chocolate bar and a drink. Then at home they had some oatcakes and another apple, then they've just had dinner of 3 fish fingers, a huge pile of new potatoes, peas and green beans and then a bowl of grewk yoghurt and banana. And my nearly 5 year old is still hungry!!!! He eats more than me, God help me when they are teenagers!!

They are likely famished on 3 fish fingers.

6 fish fingers?! Thats good going. Mine are slacking haha. I'll throw them an extra 1 or 2 next time. Usually I get the larger fish in breadcrumbs but I needed a quick dinner for clubs today.

Sourdough bread with eggs

I’d probably put in some more stodge and lard, if they really are ravenous. I don’t think 3 fish fingers and new potatoes is a huge amount of calories to be honest.

Haha yeah I buy them in a box of 32.

Sometimes there is one left over at tea time (from the 9 I cook) which my husband eats. But not often!

also my son can easily eat 2-3 weetabix

Ha ha load up that salmon and eggs, eggs and eggs. We buy rice and oats by the sack and eggs by the tray. Got through 10kg of potatoes and two whole salmon over two Christmas days. More good bread and cheese - and banana bread and rice pudding. It never ends😂

Me too @Christmaseree and i've never known why or heard anyone else say this! I thought I was just weird tbh, I've mentioned it to dh and 3 dc before and they're all like 👀

I love apples but I can only eat one now if it's after a big meal when i'm already full. Cannot eat one as a snack ever or five minutes later i'm ravenous.

Mine was the same - and eats even more now he’s 17. I cook him two XL roast chickens on Sunday for him to eat throughout the week and by Thursday he’s usually asking for another!

If they’re both fairly active you could try adding a bit more fat to their diets - put butter on the new potatoes etc. Peanut butter or almond butter on the oatcakes to make them more filling. Butter in scrambled egg helps too, serve it with smoked salmon.

@Tammygirl12they are not normal portion sizes for children of their age!

Op, sounds like they’re eating an incredible diet! As you say they are probably in growth spurts. I think your meals sound good and substatial enough. Maybe the answer is to bulk out their snacks a bit more.

My sister has two boys and she buys 36 eggs a day.

Sounds exactly like my 7 year old! Somehow he's 9th centile for weight, and between 75th and 90th for height, he's a ravenous beanpole. We've gone back to a cup of hot milk before teeth brushing and bed, often accompanied by a banana. He ate the same amount of dinner as me today. Everything I give him is full fat, added nut butter, extra cheese, have greek yoghurt with it etc, he rarely eats processed foods. I think I just envy his metabolism.

Sounds just like mine. Im bloody starving because I am trying not to gain more weight. There they are eating with abandon. Bah humbug! I'd love a ruddy fried egg sarnie right now

My sons are 15 (6ft3) 12 (5ft7) and 7 (4ft9). I genuinely cannot fill them to the brim. It's like throwing lava back in a volcano haha! I've started to fill out the teenager by adding a lot of protien swaps in - so seeded bread for toast, protien yoghurt instead of regular yoghurts etc. They have all always been massive since birth and always have been hungry. Sometimes it's boredom, sure but sometimes they are ravenous. We never have leftovers and I make double of everything now. Agree we should be entitled to a specific government grant just for food haha! Sounds like you are doing amazing - boys that size are just food hoovers. 👌

Just had a vision of you standing by a large toaster
skimming slices across the room at them!😆

Like a dealer at a casino card table! 🤣🤣

Haha! Yes! 👏👏

Just to offer a counter experience. My eldest is 14. Don't get me wrong, some days he just eats and eats when I know he's about to grow again. But usually he eats 3 weetabix for breakfast, a sandwich with 2 slices of bread for lunch with fruit (at home, it's different story at school, often a hot main course). Sometimes he'll have snacks between meals, often not. Then he'll have the same size portion of dinner as me and his dad. He'll have something for pudding, usually a magnum type thing. Then that's him or he might have more cereal before bed. Oh and he can easily drink 2 pints of milk a day.
So don't panic yet that they'll turn into teens with hollow legs.

Their diet is great, very nutritious! Wish my 5 year old would eat like that. He’s never eaten much, but is gone very beige…

Really?! Both super slim children!

I'd add in proper puddings...good old fashioned rice pudding made with double cream, bread and butter pudding made with gluten free bread for the coelic.
Flapjacks with nuts and dried fruits .
Gluten free cake or brownies.

To be honest if you think this is a lot wait till they hit the teens.

Try more protein.

Your sister has my sympathies. I can relate. My 15yo eats 10 eggs a sitting.

I’ll just give info, he trains in his sport everyday and is 6ft1. He has hollow legs also.

I had 3 boys and 2 girls and the amount they eat at that age was amazing especially when they were growing. Children grow more in the autumn and into new year and I could really notice the difference in their meals

i still buy 10kg of rice at a time (it’s on special in Tesco at the moment so worth getting) sacks of potatoes are still delivered and I never buy less than 2kg of cheese a week. I have chickens and get about 30-35 eggs a week from them. This is all worrying because all bar 1 have left home 😂. Trouble is they keep coming back and bring partners and little ones with them.

Honestly it never ends, and if they don’t stay to eat they raid the fridge.

as for fish fingers and the amount to serve - I can’t answer that one I never did them one of the boys would go hyper if he had to many additives and there was something in the orange breadcrumbs which didn’t agree with him. I use to buy fish fillets and breadcrumb them .

My late teen DS is very fitness focussed and it feels so tough trying to fill him up. He wants good protein as well but frustratingly doesn't like eggs! That would be a saviour for us. A typical day for him would be less about the snacks and more about the portions of meals - huge bowl of granola and greek yogurt with honey (or maybe a couple of sausage sandwiches and hash browns if the weekend, lunch might be 2x salmon fillets (which he still thinks isn't enough!) with potato salad, cucumber, peppers etc or minced beef and rice with some spinach (but about half a huge pack!) and then dinner might be 2x large chicken breasts with spicy rice or something similar. Snacks on apples, raw nuts, flapjacks, bananas, blueberries etc. He doesn't do huge amount of 'snacky' stuff anymore of chocolate, biscuits, crisps etc but it's all about the meat and fish which is soooo expensive!