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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Wtf do kids eat this much?

444 replies

Esmeismyhero · 01/03/2016 16:35

Ds is 5 and 3 months (I don't know if that is relevant)

He goes to school, he does karate one day a week and the weekend he is usually running around out etc. After school he watches his iPad, does homework, runs around the house, plays toys etc.

He is very slim but very tall for his age. Lately he has been eating me out of house and home.

Today for example he ate

A bowl of cherrios
An apple
A school dinner
1/2 punnet of grapes
5 strawberries
2 x chicken dinosaurs
Beans

He is apparently still hungry????

Hasn't he had enough? Or Aibu?

He will have milk before bed and I'll ask dh to give him a carrot if he is still hungry while I'm at work tonight. He likes eating whole carrots on his own, I keep finding the carrot stalks hidden :/

OP posts:
PenguindreamsofDraco · 01/03/2016 17:38

My skinny and picky 5yo has had:

Squashum, 5 small breadsticks, packet of Kiddylicious, half a banana, a rich tea and a cheese stick for a pre-breakfast snack

An egg scrambled with cheese and chorizo with half a slice of toast and butter

Apple as mid morning snack

School lunch, probably rice and vegetables with yoghurt

Probably a pack of Pom bears on his way home from school

Chicken breast, a small potato, some broccoli and a creme caramel

He'll probably have a slice of toast before bed.

Your son is not eating a lot.

EarlyInTheMourning · 01/03/2016 17:39

That's very little. Lots of sugar and not enough protein and complex carbs.

DeloresDeSyn · 01/03/2016 17:42

Yabu, not enough.

Having served school dinners I can tell you that a lot of it ends up in the bin.

Mine are light eaters and eat more than that.

MiniCooperLover · 01/03/2016 17:42

To be fair to OP she only posted just over an hour ago, she may well be busy with her 2 kids so I wouldn't assume she's not coming back.

CakeNinja · 01/03/2016 17:43

To echo what everyone on the entire thread already said, that's not a lot of food, or even enough for a growing boy.
My youngest is 4 eats far more than that on a normal day and about 3 times as much on really hungry days.
Are you coming back to this thread? If you didn't know that's what he needed then you didn't know, please don't worry.
My eldest is nearly 12 and she eats more than me now, seriously. You think they'll eat teeny amounts forever but actually their bodies are literally growing every day and they need properly feeding up. With the right things, but still, they need a lot of food.

Don't feel silly about not knowing he would eat so much Smile

notgoingabroad · 01/03/2016 17:44

I'm quite surprised though that:

A bowl of cereal
A school lunch
A bit of fruit
A bit of chicken and bakes beans

is 'eating me out of house and home!'

mellowfartfulness · 01/03/2016 17:45

Sounds like what DD(5) eats until you get to the evening meal - two chicken dinosaurs and beans seems small to me. I'd give toast/jacket potato/potato wedges plus another veg alongside, and probably grate some cheese on the beans. They really do burn through a heck of a lot when they're active and growing. Each meal needs to come with a respectable amount of carbohydrate and fat to keep them going.

JarethTheGoblinKing · 01/03/2016 17:45

My 2yo eats more than that in a day

fusionconfusion · 01/03/2016 17:46

My skinny picky 5 year old has
2 slices brown toast and cereal
2 crackers with cheese and raisins
Chicken sandwich, fruit and yogurt
Hummous, carrot sticks and pitta bread
Pork casserole and cous cous, peas, celery, small corn on the cob
And often a biscuit or small bun too!

MrsGuyOfGisbo · 01/03/2016 17:46

This has to be a wind-up.

starry0ne · 01/03/2016 17:48

I found this post very sad...A hungry child..So hungry he sneaks carrots to eat...

My DS (8) said he would be starving if he was given that...

Is your DS underweight? Mine would be ..Bear in mind 5 year olds are always on the go...burning off energy..

Turkey dinosaurs really don't contain a lot of meat...

If he likes carrots why not give some humus to dip in... Yoghurts, carbs...

When my DS comes home hungry he gets given food...He is as skinny as a rake...

ElizabethLemon · 01/03/2016 17:48

My 5yo ds eats way more than that and he eats less than a lot of his friends.

Breakfast is a small bowl of cereal then a homemade blueberry muffin.

He has milk and fruit at school.

Packed lunch which is a sandwich, 2 lots of fruit, cucumber and rice cakes.

Some sort of after school snack

For dinner he regularly has a huge bowl of pasta, pizza + salad, fajitas with salad and potato wedges, baked potato etc.. He doesn't often have pudding but if he does its yoghurt or fruit.

ScoutsMam · 01/03/2016 17:48

.

mellowfartfulness · 01/03/2016 17:49

(Re. eating out of house and home, I'd recommend buying cheaper fruit! DD noshes through it like nobody's business, I'd go bankrupt feeding her on grapes and strawberries at this time of year. We always have apples, satsumas and bananas in, anything else is bought in season when I'm not paying for it to be flown round the world.)

CakeNinja · 01/03/2016 17:50

Although the fact you're finding carrot stalks hidden (you know there aren't many calories in a carrot?) is because he's sneaking food because he's really hungry.
I'm really not surprised he is very slim as you say.
If he's sneaking the carrots, is he asking for more food and are you refusing? Being hungry is genuinely one of the most horrible things when you're little and something many many people remember of a miserable controlling childhood. Not saying this is true for you by the way, just that if he's hungry on the diet you're feeding him, I would definitely let him have more.

MyLocal · 01/03/2016 17:54

Dread to think what you will think when he gets to a teenager Hmm

FeliciaJollygoodfellow · 01/03/2016 17:55

That doesn't seem like much to me either - not enough protein, carbs or fat.

Give him some cheese with his fruit and some mash made with some cream with his dinosaurs.

WorldsBiggestGrotbag · 01/03/2016 17:56

My just 2 year old tiny DD has eaten today...

2 hard boiled eggs and a slice of toast for breakfast
Greek yoghurt with blueberries and strawberries mid morning
Ham sandwich, slices of cheese, cucumber, tomatoes and some breadsticks for lunch
A banana muffin and an apple mid afternoon
Sausage, mash, broccoli, carrots and gravy for dinner

Don't want to pile in on the OP but that really doesn't sound like a lot of food to me for an active 5 year old

lavenderhoney · 01/03/2016 17:57

That doesn't sound much to me either tbh. My ds has a cooked breakfast as I don't think cereal is much of a filler and he doesn't really like it. Dd has a boiled egg or omelette with soldiers.

They get a snack and lunch at school - portions are v small - and then then have fruit or something like a flapjack on the way home and then dinner ( meat and veg, always with pasta/ rice / noodles/ potatoes with a pudding. They are very active, couple of school clubs and activities, and v slim.

they have access to fruit or cheese/ crackers etc they sort out for themselves and drink loads of water.

OliviaDunham · 01/03/2016 17:59

There's some harsh comments on here. OP clearly wanted an answer to her question, not to be slated and accused of child neglect - it's ridiculous.

I often say my DCs eat me out of house and home - of course they don't actually do this, it just feels like it sometimes - give her a break

WorraLiberty · 01/03/2016 17:59

Probably could have done with a jacket potato with his dinner. That ought to fill him up. Or even toast/bread if he doesn't like potato.

The thing with these sorts of threads is the pendulum tends to swing the other way, and a lot of people will list enough food to feed a small village, which is also quite extreme.

Somewhere in the middle is a happy medium.

Would he eat a crumpet for supper?

HemanOrSheRa · 01/03/2016 17:59

Dread to think what you will think when he gets to a teenager

That was my thought MyLocal. DS is 11 (just) and has a very good appetite. The food he can shovel away Confused. I think he puts it in his size 6 feet! But if he's hungry, he's hungry.

WorraLiberty · 01/03/2016 18:00

I mean a crumpet instead of carrots.

Jw35 · 01/03/2016 18:00

My 14 month old are more than that today!

Bowl of Cheerios
Pear
Bag of goodies puffs
Cottage pie, beans and mixed veg
Fish shaped mini crackers
Half a slice of toast, scrambled egg and beans
Yoghurt
Another pear

Goingtobeawesome · 01/03/2016 18:00

But given she doesn't realise she is starving her child, it is only right she is told. Most have been reasonable.