Apparently this “isn’t enough food”

[foodFood]

Dd is 8
Height and weight fine

I’ve just been told by a visiting friend I’m basically starving her when she saw her lunch !
1 mini pitta
6 mini breadsticks
Dessert spoon of houmous
Dessert spoon of guacamole
Bowl of strawberries cut up (6 big ones)
A frube

That’s fine isn’t it??
For breakfast she had a bowl of plain yogurt and loads of berries
She will most likely have an afternoon snack usually cheese or a piece of fruit and dinner is normally casserole/fish pie/jacket potato and soup or similar
She has milk before bed
She’s fine !! Always has small snacks lunches and doesn’t complain of hunger
Friend was aghast and said her kids at 18 m old ate more than that

What's wrong with a Frube?

Well I just googled the ingredients and this is what came up. Plain yogurt and strawberries would be a better option. However I wouldn't stress it given she's eating well otherwise.

Strawberry flavour: Fromage Frais (Skimmed milk, Cream, Lactic cultures), Water, Sugar 8%, Fructose 2.7%, Modified maize starch, Flavourings, Stabiliser : Guar gum ; Acid : Citric acid ; Calcium Phosphate, Preservative : Potassium sorbate ; Acidity regulator : Sodium citrates ; Vitamin D

It’s fine . Some people don’t have big appetites. My children love food but quality over quantity.

’m honestly baffled by the people who think their 1 year old would be “starved” with a mini pitta, 6 breadsticks, guacamole, hummus, frube (is this yoghurt?!) and fruit! That’s a huge amount of food for a child or, honestly, for most adults.

Come on, a 250 calorie lunch is not a huge amount of food for most adults!

Most of us are categorically not teaching our children about good portion control. Many of the posts I read here criticising the OP stated that their children ate ham, crisps, cupcakes etc. Shit, basically.OP as someone said “eat real foods, mostly plants - not too much” - you’re doing this, you’re doing really well. Even more importantly is that you’re allowing your child to find her set-point with regards to appetite and that’s a hugely vital skill that will set her up for life

This exactly!

Natashga she didn't have 6 bread sticks, she had six mini bread sticks ( which are about a tenth of a breadstick) a frube is 30 grams a quarter the size of say a Ski yogurt.
You are not a very good doctor if you are so careless in your reading of stuff like this

I worked with eating disordered kids for over 19 years as well as growing up with an anorexic cousin.it is not unheard of for girls to be restricting food intake even at 8, and if you think being fat is as bad as being anorexic , please go and get yourself educated before you damage more kids with your I'll informed ideas

if you think being fat is as bad as being anorexic , please go and get yourself educated

I think you need you understand that disordered eating is an issue regardless of the weight of the person. Being fat does not mean the person does not have an eating disorder. Aside from that damaging attitude, obesity is the third biggest cause of cancer. Anorexia isn’t.

It wouldn't feed my 5 year old, but as long as she's OK then I wouldn't worry.

obesity is the third biggest cause of cancer

Not to mention the fact that it's a huge risk factor in heart disease and type 2 diabetes.

It is a million times better to have a chubby kid than an anorexic one

Its actually a million times better to have a child who is a healthy weight than a child who is under or overweight. Why did you decide to substitute overweight for 'chubby' and then underweight for 'anorexia' though?
Anorexia is mental illness, It doesnt mean eating a balanced normal sized diet and being healthy weight like OP's dd is and it doesn even mean being underweight. I think its either a third or fifth of children are overweight or obese in the UK, the stats are no were near that high for being underweight (or being anorexic).
Incidentally I had anorexia as preteen/teenager and the main trigger was being an overweight child and being overfed, which I think you will find is very common. Children who are kept at healthy weight and fed healthy meals are less likely to go on to develop disordered eating at either end of the scale as an adult.

Not to mention that you can be both chubby and anorexic as one describes size and the other behaviour.

There def isn’t a problem with food dd just has a small appetite. Her height and weight are fine. Last time she was measured at an appt a few weeks ago she was 125cm and 25 kg she’s fine. Has grown a bit since then but still looks ok, yes I can see her ribs but she’s slim not emaciated
There are always snacks available she just isnt that hungry

Right, so she's the height and weight of my 6yo for whom that would be a completely normal size lunch.

I'd say she's on the small size for 8yo which might have been useful information to put in the OP but if you and her father aren't big then why wouldn't she be? Everyone can't be average.

People comment my grandson aged 5 is skinny.
If he raises his arms, you can see his ribs.
That's normal in a healthy weight child but people are so used to seeing chubby kids they think he is skinny.

Sounds like my 9yo DD’s appetite/diet. If she’s maintaining a healthy weight then I don’t see a problem with it at all.

Your DD is very short for an 8 year old. I would give her larger portions and see how she gets on.

Your DD is very short for an 8 year old. I would give her larger portions and see how she gets on.

Actually it seems like she's 50th centile if you put the numbers into the Nhs calculator.

Your DD is very short for an 8 year old. I would give her larger portions and see how she gets on.

No shes not very short for an 8 year old! Shes a perfectly normal height, shorter rather than taller but thats fine.
Why overfeed her just for the sake of it? Shes already having enough calories to fill her up and help her mantain a good weight.

And also Gotta, when you've got a severely underweight child through illness, your perception is skewed as to what overweight is. I find it difficult to tell whether DD2 and DS2 are overweight. They're not, according to the school nurse and the GP.

I’m still shocked by how small the lunch here was and I think OP doesn’t realise that it isn’t enough for an 8 year (despite some people saying it is). Even if DD has a small appetite I’d be encouraging her to eat more.

Ffs, some people aren't very tall and don't have big appetites.
She's 8, I've never met an 8yr old who wouldn't whine ask for more if they were still hungry
MN orthorexia at its finest

My 10yo generally has a chicken and mushroom Pukka pie for lunch at home. At school it's whatever the lunch is, tiny portions but she has seconds, if we eat out she generally has an adult meal.

Some posters have worked out the calorific value and it’s clearly not enough. Not giving your kids enough food is awful.

Ds wouldn’t have eaten all that at that age. He’d probably have had the pitta and strawberries and left the rest.

Dd would be starving!

My Google suggested average is 133cm, so 125cm is shortish but not titchy.

In old money, that's 4'4" and 4'1.5".

My 15 year old daughter would class this as a perfectly adequate healthy lunch, she’s a very petite size 4-6, slim but not boney.
My son who is 7, tall and boney because he doesn’t ever keep still, would think it was a snack.