DS food intake

[Maxter]

My DS7 (nearly 8) is very slim. You can sort of see shoulder blades, ribs, spine etc). He is picky eater. My ex (DS') dad is arguing that he must be taken to the GP immediately. I know for a fact that DS' actual weight is ok because he was weighed recently at a hospital appointment for something else and they said it was fine.

Could anyone shed any light on how much their 7/8 year olds eat in any one day?

I don't know if I'm being unreasonable by saying to my ex that I don't think he needs to go to the GP, but it would be helpful to see what other people think / how much their children eat.

Coeliac?

Ds 7 has cereal and porridge for breakfast..
School lunch.
Fruit /bagel /wrap after school.
He is vegetarian so maybe pizza/pasta bake /vegi substitute with veg /homemade macaroni cheese..
Fruit or occasional proper dessert after.
Supper a yogurt..

Inwas always told you should be able to see the ribs, obviously not gaunt but visible. Was told it's a good visual indicator if child is overweight if you cant see ribs🤷‍♀️

Food wise
Small bowl cereal and sometime a small yogurt
Pear mid morning
2 crackers for lunch with ham and an apple
Bolognese or something on evening
Yogurt or odd icecream
Fruit later if hungry

My eldest son has just turned 7. He is tall and skinny (healthy weight though). For breakfast he usually has two weetabix and fruit. Lunch will be something like a ham wrap sandwich (two slices of bread) fruit, yoghurt and a biscuit. Dinner he can put away a lot, decent amount of pasta for example. A few snacks during the day as well. He is very active so gets quite hungry! So I guess it depends how active your son is?

I do think as an overweight society we see normal weight as skinny. I'm overweight myself with bad food habits that iv tored hard no to pass onto dc

I have an underweight 6 year old. I've requested school nurse involvement but he's full of energy and eats reasonably well so I don't think he warrants a GP. I only requested a school nurse as I want the school to ensure he gets higher calorie options. Do his height and weight yourself and check his BMI. While I'm waiting for the school nurse to see him, I am putting cream in his porridge, using real butter, adding cheese wherever I can and giving him milkshakes/smoothies and higher calorie snacks. I assume he's just got a fast metabolism (like his Dad)

DS is a bit older now (10) but his eating pattern has remained the same since he was when he was 8 (slightly bigger portions now). He tended to eat:

Scrambled eggs (2) on toast for breakfast
At weekends a sausage or bacon added.

Banana mid morning.

School lunch (he doesn’t like hot puddings so would always have fruit or yoghurt).

Snack after school of bread and butter and fruit and a bit of chocolate or a biscuit. Or noodles with butter, or a chicken sand which.

Evening Meal with us (decent sized portion). Not a fussy eater. Eat what we eat. No pudding.

Warm milk and an oatcake or plain biscuit or a small bowl of cereal or piece of toast before bed.

He isn’t picky. Finishes his food mostly. Very active. Lots of energy. His ribs are clearly visible and always have been.

@Hankunamatata

Food wise Small bowl cereal and sometime a small yogurt Pear mid morning 2 crackers for lunch with ham and an apple Bolognese or something on evening Yogurt or odd icecream Fruit later if hungry

That's very little - is he active? The average 7-year-old needs 1600 calories a day.

I’ll never forget when I was doing some paediatric top up training years ago, we were shown a photo of “undernourished children on a beach” from the 1950s.

Everyone nodded about how thin they looked, wasn’t it awful.

Then the paediatrician leading it said, “actually those children were the picture of health,” (it was from a medical textbook, “you are supposed to be able to see those bones in a healthy child, we’ve just become accustomed to seeing overweight children.”

Always stuck with me.

I'd say in one day DS eats

A brioche or one slice of toast for breakfast
An oat bar or some fruit for a snack
Half a sandwich / some crackers and small packet of crisps for lunch
A yoghurt and a biscuit for a snack
About 1/3 of an adult sized plate of dinner, no matter what it is
A yoghurt or something similar for a snack

He also refuses to eat anything that's not completely plain!

DS is skinny, we were told by the paediatrician that as long as he's following the same trajectory on the centile chart, he's probably fine (unless it's over 90% apparently, which is almost always overweight). DS has followed the 25th for weight and 99th for height all his life, so we're not worried.

Can you check your DS's red book or medical records?

What were his height and weight at the hospital appointment? Did his dad attend, have you told him what his measurements were at the appointment?

In reality very few parents have an accurate perspective of their child’s size so asking on here won’t necessarily help you.

@Maxter

My DS7 (nearly 8) is very slim. You can sort of see shoulder blades, ribs, spine etc). He is picky eater. My ex (DS') dad is arguing that he must be taken to the GP immediately. I know for a fact that DS' actual weight is ok because he was weighed recently at a hospital appointment for something else and they said it was fine.

Could anyone shed any light on how much their 7/8 year olds eat in any one day?

I don't know if I'm being unreasonable by saying to my ex that I don't think he needs to go to the GP, but it would be helpful to see what other people think / how much their children eat.

Has the ex offered to take your son to GP? Let him. And the GP will hospital findings. End of time wasted discussion with ex.

It's irrelevant what other children eat. They don't all need the same intake, even if they're the same age.

Let your ex take him to the GP and hear it from a qualified doctor that your son is fine.

@PinkyU No his dad has never attended any medical appointment.
DS weight was 24kg and height 128cm which I believe is ok.
Yes have told his dad the measurements but he's not accepting it because DS is very slim and doesn't eat much.

My 8 year old is extremely slim. Much more so than his siblings were at his age. They are and always have been healthy weights (as is ds2) but he is just much leaner.

For breakfast he has a bowl of shreddies or 2 slices of toast with peanut butter.

Snack is a banana or apple or satsuma.

Lunch will be a ham/cheese wrap, crisps, cucumber/pepper/carrots, fruit of some kind, a biscuit/cake/yoghurt. He usually eats all of this.

After school he has rice cakes or a bagel or something like that.

Dinner he eats whatever, he's not fussy but doesn't eat a lot for dinner. A small portion of spag Bol, chilli, roast dinner, enchiladas, halloumi pita. Something like that.

I would just tell his dad that he’s welcome to take him to the GP if he’s concerned, just as you would.
If he doesn’t want to take him himself and expects you do it, he’s clearly not that concerned and since you’ve been told recently that it’s fine, I’d ignore him.

@Maxter

I'd say in one day DS eats

A brioche or one slice of toast for breakfast
An oat bar or some fruit for a snack
Half a sandwich / some crackers and small packet of crisps for lunch
A yoghurt and a biscuit for a snack
About 1/3 of an adult sized plate of dinner, no matter what it is
A yoghurt or something similar for a snack

My DD would eat that at nearly 2. I know that sounds judgemental but I'm not trying to be! I would accept GP/nutritionist advice in your position, just to be on the safe side!

My son has just turned 9. He's very skinny compared to his friends. He doesn't have an ounce of flesh on him. He's a fussy eater and there are only a few things he'll eat. This is what he eats in a typical day (I know these food choices aren't ideal but I just need to get food in to him. Most food options he'll reject) :

Breakfast:
He'll have both a pain au chocolate and a couple of slices of toast or crumpets with Nutella

Lunch at school:
A couple of crackers with butter
A fruit yoyo
Some crisps
A Frube yogurt

After school snacks:
He's always starving after school. He'll have a couple of chocolate brioche or
pistachios and dried mango
Some dark chocolate

Dinner:
It's very hard to find meals he'll eat but he will have
Beans and cheese on toast with a boiled egg (not the yolk!)
Rice and chicken goujons
Yorkshire puddings, chicken and gravy
He'll very reluctantly have half a bowl of home made vegetable soup
1/4 pizza with olives

Desserts:
He'll eat an apple and yogurt
Sometimes I give him babies fruit puree and yogurt just to get some vitamins in to him

DS is 7, 134cm and 26kg
I think he eats a lot.
Breakfast: 1 bowl of cereal, porridge or oatmeal smoothie. If we have bread he eats 3 pieces of toast with ham or jam or egg
Snack before lunch: 1 apple and a pack of darvida crackers
Lunch: this is our main meal because everyone comes home to eat. Usually a piece of fish or meat with potatoes or rice, plus vegetables and salad. DS eats the same or even more than me most days.
Then he snacks all afternoon. Mainly fruits or raw vegetables, salty pretzels, crackers, sweets, cookies etc.
Dinner: pasta dish or casserole. He has a big adult plate.
He eats like this almost every day, im not sure where it goes

He sounds like a great height and weight.
Double check on some centile charts or the NHS bmi thing, but I think your Ex has lost sight of what a healthy child looks like.

It’s sounds fine, not particularly skinny. Have you checked the centiles he’s on?

My kids would have ate a full sandwich for lunch and more for dinner at that age but all children eat different amounts. Assuming the sandwich and his dinner are nutritious most days and he seems well, I wouldn’t worry.

My DS is younger but is 23kg and 124cm so similar proportions. I think that you are supposed to be able to see their ribs.

Google the centre charts if you don't have his red book.