My 15 m/o daughter is always STARVING hungry!

[MistyMooBags]

Ever since she was born, my 15-month-old daughter has always loved her food and will happily try (and enjoy) pretty much any food we give her. However, for the past month of so she's become almost hysterical in the moments between seeing her plate of food/bottle of milk and actually getting to eat it - she literally cries tears and says "Yummy, yummy" in the most plaintive voice you can imagine... As soon as the food is in her mouth she's saying "All gone" - an indicator she wants more and she screams the place down when she realises the plate or bottle is empty!

She's a big girl - off the scale in height for her age and she's normal to plump in build (she's only just starting to walk on her own these past couple of days, so I'm guessing her weight will come down as she's running about more).

Is this normal?! If she sees food on TV she starts up with the "Yummy, yummy" (meaning "I want food NOW!") and no one can eat in front of her without hysterics, so visits to cafes and coffee shops are out of the question at the moment!

It just seems ironic that so many parents of toddlers are struggling to get their children to eat and mine would eat anything and everything given the chance!

Apart from this, everything is fine with her - she's pretty advanced with speech and seems like a pretty smart little girl!

I think it's pretty normal, if children are large and growing rapidly, for them to have big appetite. You can influence things a little in the choices of food. Fat & protein, for example, are quite filling and fibrous foods take a long time to digest. Sugary/starchy foods tend to leave quite an 'empty feeling' by contrast. So if every meal contains some fat, fibre and protein and not so much sugar/starch then she may feel more full by the end of eating and not quite so disappointed that it's all over. Bulk her plate out with vegetables or crudites... things like cucumber, pepper & carrot sticks take a long time to eat and are quite filling. If you don't do so already, snacks between meals might make meal-times less desperate. Good luck

Thank you! I know I'm very lucky that she'll eat pretty much anything and I do try to give her 'good', filling foods.

My real concern is the fixation with food and the hysterics before and after eating... I hope this is just a phase she'll grow out of... It's just upsetting because she's never gone hungry, so she has no reason to get into such a state. (

Isn't there a hormone released which tells your brain to stop feeling hungry? I wonder if it's worth having a chat with your GP about whether your DD could have abnormally low levels of it? It does sound like she gets quite upset and so do you so it would be nice think you could do something to make mealtimes a pleasure and less frantic.