to ask what your 4 year old eats?

[LissaLoves]

Following my thread yesterday about height, I've looked into weight and discovered my 4 year old dd is low for both - she's 93cm and 27lbs. She has sensory issues and only eats a few things so it's no wonder her weight is low but my SIL insists her (stone heavier) DS eats similar amounts to dd and that she isn't eating that little.

Yesterday was a typical day.

Breakfast: one finger of toast and a smoothie tube.

Lunch: two cream crackers, two slices of salami and three slices of cucumber.

Snack: half a banana.

Dinner: Two slices of cheese. Two slices of salami. Three slices of cucumber.

Her sister, at the same age, could have eaten the same amount in a morning. Aibu to think SIL is wrong and this isn't much to eat at all?

My DS is 3yrs 9 months, and could eat all of that for lunch and then ask for more. He is very tall for his age though, and is not skinny. I think you are right that it isn't a lot to eat. Your SIL is probably not keeping a realistic track of how much her DS eats on a regular basis.

It's not very much at all. My DD is 3.5y and she will eat:
Breakfast: bowl of cereal
Snack: fruit/toast/crackers
Lunch: soup and bread/noodles/half a jacket potato etc
Snack: fruit/cheese/crackers
Dinner: small portion of our adult dinner

Your DD is eating a lot less by the sounds of it.

My DS is 4.5 and how much he eats varies from day to day but it is usually more that your DD. A lot more carbs that's for sure.

Breakfast
Drink of milk and bowl of Shreddies

Snack
Malt loaf or similar
Juice

Lunch
Cheese sandwich
Sometimes a yogurt

Snack
Fruit (I wish!) or oaty bar
Juice

Dinner
Pasta / Pizza / Fish and chips

Before bed
More milk, sometimes nearly a pint, he has a HUGE bladder.

But, if she's not hungry then she might have enough for her. Maybe make an appointment with your GP to get some professional advice.

Ds at 4 would've eaten more at dinner but otherwise pretty similar.

Dd is 5 now but at 4 are pretty much same as now

Bf one crumpet and a yoghurt tube
Snack - crisps or fruit
Lunch - ham sandwich, grapes or melon, biscuit
Snack - something small
Dinner - bowl of pasta / 1/2 baked potato and cheese / 2 skinny sausages, 3/4 new potatoes and loads of veg

She seems to eat just enough to take the edge off her hunger then stop. She never 'fancies' food or asks for anything.

I'll give you a standard day at nursery for our 4yo

Breakfast - bowl of cereal (presumably quite small) and a slice of toast
Snack - fruit
Lunch - chicken pie, potatoes, vegetables, stewed fruit and custard
Snack - crumpets and veg sticks
Dinner - ham, cheese and vegetable wraps, yoghurt
Tea - and then at home she will have a bowl of porridge or Ready Brek before bed

She is going through a bit of a growth spurt, I think, and has odd days of eating anything that isn't nailed down, and kids will generally eat what they want to eat - but no, that isn't much at all (unless there was a different lunch/dinner and it was typed wrong?)

It doesn't sound like a lot to me. Is this generally every day she has that ammount or would she eat more on other days? Dd hardly eats anything one day but the next day will eat loads. She's 3.5, fairly fussy dinner wise and not a huge eater but would eat more than that.

For instance yesterday was
breakfast cereal,
snack -apple,
Lunch -cheese sandwich,
Snack - half a banana
Dinner - tiny bit of chicken, loads of chicken skin from everyone else's plate and carrots (left the rest)

Asked if she wanted toast before bed as she didn't eat much dinner but she was happy with some milk.

That would be a day she wasn't eating as well as she could.

DD2 has food allergies and is a bit picky about certain combinations of food. She's relatively short (about 100cm I think, last time we measured her, but that was quite a while ago now). A regular weekday would be:

Breakfast: porridge made with water and oat milk. Sometimes with a few raisins

Lunch (at preschool): two sausages cut up or some chicken she won't eat sandwiches two crackers, a piece of fruit (usually a banana or a pear) and a biscuit.

After school snack: fruit (usually grapes), hummous with breadsticks or carrots, a biscuit.

Dinner: side plate size - roast dinner or spag bol or meatballs. Fruit or a soy yoghurt for dessert.

It's the same foods every day and yesterday was a good day. Mostly she eats less.

Crikey that isn't very much at all. My almost four year old is similar in dice and weight to yours at 96cm and 32lb but eats similar to the following
Breakfast, cereal with milk or toast and peanut butter (2 slices)

Snack, malt loaf, fruit or Yog

Lunch, cooked dinner or cheese wrap with fruit, crisps and Yog

Dinner, pasta or fish or lasagne etc, followed by ice cream and fruit

Supper, cheese and crackers or toast.

Will she not eat pasta?

My DS (the one who is 118 cm's) would eat half that....if I'm lucky. He can go whole days with only a couple bites of pasta and a vitamin to eat. Although he drinks a lot of milk.

On the other hand my 2.5 year old DD would eat near that in a day.

Thats a very restricted diet (self restricted - am not getting at you!). Could you make your own smoothies and hide a load of extra in there?

Dd is 4y4m.

Bfast - her favourite meal! Bowl of cereal, slice of toast with peanut butter and at least two peices of fruit.

Snack mid morning of mixed berries or cucumber sticks.

Lunch - sandwich or quesedilla with a yoghurt. Bit of chocolate.

After nursery, cup of chocolate milk warmed in the winter or a mini milk lolly in warmer days.

Dinner - pasta and sausage and veg, or a roast, or scrambled eggs and bacon.

Supper - a small bowl of porridge or peanut butter on toast (if she hasnt had lots of bread in the daytime).

My DD is 4.9. She's 26lb and about 95cm. To me she has a small appetite and doesn't eat enough. Here's a typical day:

One and a half weetabix for breakfast.
A snack in nursery, today it was grapes and a cracker.
A pancake, slice of ham and a banana for lunch.
A yogurt.
Meat, veg and potatoes for dinner (tonight it's sausage, beans and mash)
Pancake or toast or brioche for supper.

Maybe a packet of crisps and a biscuits sometime during the day too.

She's small and petite, just as her brother is too.

My 4 year old has only just started eating. He used to eat tiny, tiny portions of nothing but has always been a normal height and weight.
A typical day now -

Breakfast - large bowl of porridge/ 2 crumpets/ toast with Nutella or cheese

Lunch - Jacket potato with cheese and ham/sandwich and a piece of fruit
In nursery he has a hot dinner, stew or lasagne or whatever.

Dinner - He chooses in the morning what he wants. Usually a roast dinner, or chicken nuggets and chips or pasta.

He also has 2 or 3 snacks a day, of which at least one is fruit.

DD is 4.4 and a little taller than her peers but slim and very active.

Breakfast
Bowl of cereal or toast

Snack of fruit

Lunch
Varied usually chicken or fish with potatoes/veg.
Yoghurt

Fruit (if she wants)

Dinner
Usually a small amount of what we're eating
Curry/Pasta/Cottage pie/chilli

That seems very small to me but my skinny 4.6 year old is like a human dustbin he inherited his dad's metabolism He's on the 50th percentile for height and 25th for weight.

Here's an example of what he typically eats
Breakfast - slice of bread and marmite + glass of milk + a banana

Lunch - adult cereal bowl of pasta or 6 mini pizzas or cheese and ham sandwich (2 slices of bread) plus an adult-sized yogurt

Snack - a fruit compote plus 2-4 biscuits

Dinner - chicken casserole (with potatoes not rice), + fruit compote + extra cheese and bread + sometimes another banana

He's just been diagnosed as lactose intolerant, but before that he could happily eat his dinner followed by 3 adult sized yogurt/fromage blanc.

In fact, reading back, that's less in your OP than my nearly 2 year old eats and we think he has a small appetite.

However, DS1's friend eats about half of what DS1 eats, though he fills up on lots of sweets and chocolate.

My 4 yr old is tall and correspondingly heavy.

He eats:

Breakfast: Slice and a half of toast
Some milk

Lunch: often nothing

Afternoon: an apple

Dinner: small bowl of spag bol
Two small yogurts
Cup of milk

Breakfast - shreddies (half ikea kids bowl) or 2 weetabix.
Fruit mid morning
Lunch - sandwich & yoghurt and cucumber or tomatoes
Afternoon snack - soreen or something similar
Dinner - spag. bol. or meat & Veg (basically what we're having). He has an Ikea kids plate full and finishes. Pudding sometimes.
Supper - cheese and crackers and raisins or toast.

Typycally...

Breakfast- porridge, honey, blueberries
Snack- biscuit, half a banana, some grapes
Lunch- half baked potato with cheese, cherry toms, cucumber
Snack- crumpet and butter/jam or some crisps
Dinner- spaghetti bolognese packed with veg, berries and yoghurt

If dinner was early/at nursery so portions v small she'll often have toast with peanut butter or weetabix and warm milk for supper

That's not much at all.
DD is 4 but at school. She eats loads to make up for all the energy she's endlessly burning...
Breakfast: bowl of cereal (usually 2 weetabix with soy/almond milk, sometimes we have fruit weetabix minis, occasionally porridge with coconut milk and a little honey) also has a banana, sometimes a pear/Apple on the walk to school too.
They have a mid morning snack at school which is milk and a piece of fruit
Lunch she usually chooses cheese/egg sandwich, yogurt, piece of fruit, cucumber and carrot sticks
After school has a bear yo-yo snack thing and a banana
Dinner we have things like cheese vegetable pasta bake/ jacket potato with beans and salad /roasted vegetables and Cous Cous/ quorn burgers with homemade chips and some veggies etc
Coconut yogurt after dinner.

That's an average day.

Younger DD will be 4 in August so isn't at school. For lunch we have beans on toast/veg soup and bread/tofu scramble on toast/falafel hummus salad wrap. And other than that same as above. They're tall and have always been 90-95th centile weight. Corresponds with height.

I think as long as your child isn't malnourished/underweight and seems happy with what they eat it shouldn't be an issue but that really isn't much food at all.

Mine eat much more. They eat most types of food

Ds2 is almost 5. 110cm. Yesterday he ate

Breakfast: small slice toast With poached egg, slice bacon, spoon of beans

Lunch: red pepper soup. Banana

Dinner: roast lamb, cauliflower cheese, broccoli, roast potatoes. A small plate full

Also ate a few mini eggs and blueberries late afternoon.

That's about an average day. A few crackers and cucumber would leave him hungry very soon after. What good does she eat? Can you increase the amount of those limited foods for now then try to add a next food every week