Am I feeding DS too much?

[LaLaLanded]

Feel like an idiot for starting this thread - I should know how much to feed my child! However, a couple of things: DS is very tall for his age, and I follow the ketogenic diet and have done for years. So, my view of what food and how much is probably a bit different. I certainly don't expect DS to eat as I do, as evidenced by the carbs included below!

So, DS is 7. He's a very tall boy - not sure how tall but his shoe size is 4. Height-wise he looks 10. I should probably weigh him but I don't want to give him a complex... PFB syndrome probably.

Anyway. Today DS ate:

Breakfast: a bowl of cocoa alpha bites - they are this cocoa cereal with no added sugar and only 6 ingredients; would highly recommend if anyone is interested. And a glass of milk.

Snack: a few bites of dried mango (he didn't want any more); 2 fruit yo-yos.

Lunch: most of a cheese, tomato and salad sandwich; tbsp of potato salad; tbsp chickpea salad; a carton of innocent smoothie.

Snack: Tomatoes, carrots, cucumber slices; a packet of snack-a-jacks

Supper: 2 tacos: soft taco shells; mince/onion; tomatoes and peppers; lettuce; guacamole; a glass of milk.

He will probably want some bedtime cheese too.

Now that I read it written down I wonder if I'm under-feeding him?? He always seems hungry and is growing at a rate of knots... other children who are tiny in comparison would need less so maybe it just feels like he eats all the time. He has always eaten most things - classic 'good eater' toddler. I think the summer holidays have made me think about it more than I usually would.

@grumpbum123 - gosh I remember loving Horlicks! May try to introduce it to DS.

Can I clarify, your DS is a 11.5 kids size shoe? I know it’s not empirical and I need to measure but DS is a size 4. Compared his feet to my friend who is an adult female 4 and they are literally the same. I definitely need to do height/weight as I think my perception of how much he should eat is based on children who are shorter.

I agree with the others OP. Weighing and measuring once or twice a year won’t givechim a complex and then when he’s not around you can plot itvon the centile chart so that you can see if he’s still following his centiles.

My DS is older but became very skinny after a growth spurt. I read Eating Well for 5 to 11 year olds and made a few simple changes. He looks a bit more healthy now and is craving sugary food less.

DS is a size 2 feet and is around 127cm tall if that helps!

Yes he’s in infant 11.5

My 7 year old is a size 13 shoe
My 9 year old is a size 12

So yes a 7 year old with a size 4 feet is way above average I’d say
I’m only a 5!

I wouldn't worry or weigh him.
If he looks slim and is active then he is fine.
My DS (teenager) is very slim but is very active and strong and has muscle instead of what could be fat (ie. thighs) on other children so to compare weight wouldn't necessary reflect a true picture. He has always eaten more than any other child (or adult) I know!

Thanks @grumpbum123 - appreciate it. And thank you for your view too.

Will weigh and measure DS tomorrow - we need to buy new schoolwear so will be able to combine it with that.

Thank you all - I’ll report back. Will be interesting - am also thinking about protein. I eat quite a bit as I do Keto so it’s not like it’s not in the house.

Sounds like he has similar amounts to my 7 year old ds. Mine is only on the 4th centile for weight, he eats really well and will try anything but he knows when he has had enough.

Today he has had

Breakfast- Chocolate chip brioche with a banana and some berries and glass of full fat milk

Lunch- wholemeal wrap with a few cocktail sausages, cucumber sticks, cherry tomatoes, a satsuma and a bag of crisps and a glass of milk

Dinner- pasta with a veg and lentil sauce with grated cheese on top followed by jelly with peaches in and.a glass of milk

OP Sounds like an advert for coco pops

Or cocoa bites whatever they were 🤣 even I fancy some and I’m unwell !

He does sound very big for his age. I know (because i k ow his mum) that the tallest boy in my sons class has size 3 shoes and they are 7 and very tall! My son is 25th percentile for height and size 13 feet.

He eats more than your son by the way

I think you need to weigh him and measure his height. There is a child BMI calculator on the NHS website Are you finding his trousers are too loose? You haven't mentioned what size trousers he is wearing.

Sorry cross posted with you!

Genuinely amazed that people think there is too much sugar in the ops list of foods.
A relatively low sugar cereal,none smoothie and some dried fruit. Pretty much everything else is sugar free,
I wish I could get my 3 year old to eat as well

I worry about weighing/measuring too much too OP as DD1 is very skinny so I want to keep an eye on it, but don't want to make it obvious. I limit it to once every 6m now she's older and knows what's happening.
I recently weighed DD1 as I needed to know how long we have left before she needs to come out of her 5 point harness in the car seat (her head is getting close to the top!). We used one of those 50p machines at our leisure centre, which DD1 seemed to think was a fun treat. She's 4, so a 7yo may not think it as 'fun', but might be worth a go for novelty? You also then get a nice printout you can check against the NHS BMI calculator later... I told her it was just to see if she was big enough for the 'big seatbelt', which she didn't question. Next time I'll say something along the lines of I'm checking her height to make sure I order the correct length onesie/leotard etc.

The food diary does look a bit under though. My 2yo would eat much more breakast (she's a breakfast machine. 2 or 3 child bowls of cereal, a portion of berries, and toast/crumpet with cashew butter), a similar amount through the day, but then only 1 taco. The 4yo would eat a similar quantity to your 7yo but with a bit more breakfast (a crumpet too). Both DCs are a little above average height (60th centile), DD1 is 20th centile for weight and DD2 is 50th. They also have massive feet, I think that must be where they stash all the food they eat

Thanks for the additional thoughts! I've been considering and think I may be inadvertently giving him a bit too little - or not enough 'solid' stuff. Today's breakfast was a bit under tbh - yesterday he ate 2 bowls of cereal and had some berries too.

We're going to go to the machine in boots tomorrow - enthusiastically agreed before bed as he wants to know how much he's grown over the summer. I'll quietly do the BMI measurement when he's distracted later. So that will a) stop me being a panicky weirdo and b) help me go forward with the food.

I feel like our mothers didn't worry this much?! My mother used to give me an entire pizza for supper. I loved it.

p.s. promise I'm not advertising cereal... he seems to like it though and as chocolate cereals go it's the only once I've ever relented to buying. It does have 'natural' looking packaging so perhaps I was conned... I'd quite like a bowl but unfortunately not for me.

My dc is underweight so I keep lots of protein such as boiled eggs, roast chicken slices, salami and cheese in the fridge. They're in plastic tubs so he can easily help himself. I'd replace some of his sugary snacks with protein snacks to keep him fuller for longer.

To things to go by:-

1. is he asking for more food? If yes give him some more

2. is he leaving food? If yes then he’s eating enough.

Kids change as they have growth spurts. Just follow the two things above. All kids are different, what one child eats another will feel starving on and what another eats, a child will be full half way through the day.

LaLaLanded I bought that cereal as a holiday treat a while back (it's normally Weetabix, bran flakes, and cornflakes here!). I had a couple of bowls and thought it wasn't especially sweet or overly chocolatey, especially compared to Crunchy Nut (my fave!) or the regular chocolate-y kind. It was very pleasant and DD1, who has never had Cookie Crisp or their ilk, thought it was tasty. I would class it as a treat (but my DCs are younger) purely because I'm worried about it being a 'gateway cereal' to the harder stuff 😂 Same with bread: didn't know white bread existed until she went to preschool, now it's classed as a treat... But it's still not the kind of treat I'd be embarrassed/feel judged for by other mums.

Alpha Bites taste weird.

We tried this cereal for a while as I was struggling to get calcium I to DD but coconut blossom nectar is a sugar.

Sorry for the long delay - managed to weigh and measure in conjunction with getting new school clothes. DS is 142cm and 5 stone 8. Which apparently is a healthy weight! Although I don't trust BMI entirely...

He's over the 100th percentile for height according to a growth chart.

So I guess... we keep doing what we're doing! Maybe with a bit more protein - he had a big breakfast yesterday (sausage, egg, toast, tomatoes) and definitely seemed less ravenous throughout the day.

Looks very similar to what my boys (age 9 and 6) would have, although sub the dried fruit for normal and add in crisps instead of the potato and chickpea salad!

If anything I would say try and get him to have eggs or something for breakfast - but this is my proper Mum thing coming in - my boys all have Cheerios for breakfast, but I don’t find them filling and think they’re not very nutritious - however I’m also too busy (or lazy!) to do eggs myself.

OP, he's clearly a grower at that height and shoe size. My DS who is 7 is about 125cm and a size 12 shoe. He has friends who are slightly taller and a size 2 shoe which I thought was big for 7. I think you just need to cut down on the sugary stuff and increase the protein which will fill him up for longer plus a few extra carbs for energy. Probably easier to do once school is back too.