Constant hunger

[Tishtash2teeth]

Our gorgeous boy has been with is just over a year and on the whole we have had a fantastic year and he has settled well. He has made logs of progress and is doing really well. One area that we still seem to be battling is the constant hunger. It starts the minute he has eaten his breakfast. He begins to whine that he his still very very hungry and that his belly is rumbling. He begs me for food all day long and it can get very irritating. If we go to friends houses "I'm hungry" is the first thing he says. I have tried to explain to well meaning friends that he isn't really hungry, but I can still spend the whole time trying to fend of their offers (I always let him have something, but as soon as he has had the first offering he starts to say his is still hungry).

I understand why he does this and we have tried different tactics, but he seems to be getting worse. Maybe it is just heightened this time of year beachside of all the chocolate he was booth for Xmas. I suppose I am hoping for advise on tactics that may have worked for others. I think my little boys will have a life long tendency to overheat but how should I deal with this on a day or day basis?

Not got experience of adoption but could you give a few more details, like how old he is and what he eats in a normal day.

Some things you say do sound fairly normal though. It's completely normal for them to ask for food at other people's houses, its a sort of lotto, if I ask enough maybe I'll get chocolate cake!

My DS does have a tendency to overeat so if we think he's had enough we say that's fine, go and help yourself from the fruitbowl.

Its important to try and remember that they do have sorts where they eat much more than you would expect, then usually grow. Appetite is not a linear thing with children.

Some terrible typos in there - damn auto correct!! Because not beachside and given not booth!!

My dd says this a lot too. I try to have a morning and afternoon snack but otherwise wait for meals. So if she has something mid morning I will say, that's it till lunchtime to make it clear. Although tbh I will give some cucumber or something just before a meal to keep the peace! Often she is actually tired or bored or thirsty.

He is 4. Well for breakfast he has either weetabix (1 and a half) or reduced sugar jam on granary toast (1 and a half). Sometimes he has both. Most mornings he also has a banana and a small yoghurt. He will then beg all morning for more (unless he's watching tv). As a snack he may have another banana or yoghurt ( he won't eat any other fruit) or maybe an ice Lolly. Lunch is usually half a sandwich and some crisps or a small bar of chocolate. Then he will have a snack in the afternoon depending where we are but usually a biscuit and some smoothie. He tends not to eat much of his evening meal if I have cooked it, but will finish his plate if it is something like fish fingers and oven chips. He will usually have a mullet corner for his pudding. Inbetween each snack/meal he is begging for food (unless he is watching television!) Now I realise this is a less than an ideal diet, but this is the type of food that makes him feel safe.

How old is he?

Obviously his past experiences may impact on his relationship with food... Of course, you would be best placed to know whether or not this is the case.

Does he know what food he will be getting each day? Would meal and snack planning together be an option?

That doesn't sound like a great deal of food tbh. My 2 year old dd eats more than that in a day so maybe increasing his portion sizes would reduce the amount of snacks he asks for?
The choc and yoghurt a aren't really a filling snack either, something like rice cakes with peanut butter would be more filling and less sugary too.

Is there anyway you could cut down on the sugar. I realise that I don't have experience, and you say these foods make him feel safe but the sugar could be impacting on the hunger. I also don't think that's a huge amount for a 4 yo.

Does he drink much milk? Could you give him a banana and a glass of milk mid morning?

I don't know whether this link is of any use. gobbelcounseling.wordpress.com/2013/05/15/so-your-adopted-child-hoards-food/

Forgot to say, could you up the protein? Something like beans and sausage for breakfast or eggy bread?

Is he over weight? if not could your safely up what he eats? some kids seem to be bottomless pits.
otherwise you could have Set meal and snack times that do not change. you could get him a watch so he knows what times these are himself or a visual time table.
Lots of filling low fat food like porridge and soup.

That doesn't seem like a lot of food for 4 year old.. The carbs seem ok.. maybe up the weetabix to 2 or try ready brek which is quite filling. seems to be a fair bit of refined sugar and not enough protein.

How much is he drinking?

Or more or less what's been said already X posts

My four year old eats much more than that. He is a skinny bean too.

He will have one or two bowls of porridge plus toast for breakfast.

Fruit snack, maybe biscuit if we are out. Full sandwich for lunch or beans in toast. Plus yogurt and fruit.

And then same as yours will happily polish off fish fingers and chips, less so a stir fry! But will also have yogurt/ banana custard for pudding.

He is always telling me he is hungry too!

Not a huge amount for a 4 year old I think.

My DS is 2 and can eat 3 weetabix plus a banana sometimes for breakfast. He also has a good lunch and snacks on nuts, breadsticks, rice cakes and fruit in the day. At dinner he can polish off an almost adult portion if he's been busy! He is perfectly in proportion for height and weight and doesn't eat refined sugar (no biscuits choc etc)

I think your 4yr old could do with a bit more food. But good food not junk (not that I'm saying you would!) but if he's turning down yohgurts, veg sticks and hunmous or fruit then you know he isn't really hungry.

The pictorial menu seems a good idea as it could be physiological but tbh my four year old eat a lot more than that .

We lived with my dgp at time so sausage and egg where staple breakfast with my dgf. Cereal and wheat never filled my dd up

Lunch would have been a full sandwich / left overs from evening meal

Dinner protein and veg. Mash and haddock , braised steak,

Supper toast and toast with milk .

Snack - fruit crisps in between

My dgp were feeders.

My dd1 was never over weight and could climb through the bloody letter box now she is 18. She was a fab eater.

I would steer the sugars as they burn if fast and bulk the meals out.

Tbh I wouldn't want a carrot stick if I was starving !

Have to agree with the others, doesn't seem like enough food for a 4yo in a normal day. Is he an especially active little boy? Is his height/weight proportionate?

It's hard to tell, but he could actually be hungry and some changes to his diet would help? It may seem he's eating a lot but there's a lot of sugar in it atm which doesn't really fill them up and can leave them wanting more. You could try much more protein and longer lasting carbs, so eggs, meat, hummus, oatcakes, peanut butter and so on rather than yoghurts and bread and so on, to see if it makes a difference.

I will try upping his breakfast and lunch. He has hot meals at lunchtime on school days so I know he is getting a good healthy meal and a pudding during term time. I do offer him healthy snacks like hummus or raisins or veg sticks, but he isn't interested so I'm pretty certain he isn't really hungry. He's not overweight, but he was very overweight when he first came into care (his older sister tended to feed him and she was only a small child herself so he had lots of chocolate, that's why I'm reluctant to take chocolate away from hi c

Him completely as it is comforting for him). Going to also do a pictorial day plan with set snack times so he knows when snack time is coming).

Thank you for the advice

Both of my DC have some issues around food even though they were both younger than your DS when they came to us. DD's foster carer was very experienced and said that she had found that looked after children were generally big eaters so she gave them a full plate at mealtimes with a moderate portion of the things that they liked (eg fishfingers, chips etc) in a prominent position and the rest of the plate bulked out with bite size bits of veg and salad.

I had good snack success with both of mine by buying a cute bowl and giving them a varied snack all together. So they might have a couple of quarters of apple, a few carrot sticks, a couple of oatcakes and a sweet (like a jelly). My DS always wants to end with the nicest taste so he would plough through all the other stuff to get to the sweet. DD will generally eat the sweet first but if I ignore further requests for sweets she will nibble at the rest.

He might be a bit young still, but if his issue is with needing mouth stimulation then chewing gum might help.

Cute snack bowl is a good idea. I have tried a snack box with a mix of healthy and not so healthy snacks in, but he just removes the healthy snacks and eats what is left!

I certainly will increase his intake (I do feel terrible that I may have been under feeding him), but I don't think the problems is that he is hungry as such, because he will say he is hungry immediately after eating a large meal. We went to a party where there was a Buffett and he completely gorged on food. In the car home he complained if being really really hungry, but I know there is no way he could be. How do other people respond?