how much does your 2 year old eat?

[user1468594353]

hi, im new to mumset so be nice :-) im having food wars with my young 2 year old boy and I just wondered how much your son eats and how often? he eats all his food at nursery with second helpings without any tantrums but when he eats at home every meal is a nightmare. I try to stay calm but all he wants to eat is fruit! for the past 2 nights I have given him beans on toast (no problem eating that) just so that he can eat but he cant live on that! I try eating with him, (same foods as me) but spits it out or wont sit still.
any advice would be great, willing to try anything! thanks :-)

My 2 year old DD eats quite a lot I think but a lot if that is fruit!

Typically, she has a banana , a waffle and those dried fruit sweet things first thing.

She will then probably have snacks before nap at 11 - an apple, grapes or crisps.

Lunch is normally a Philadelphia sandwich (one slice of bread), strawberries and cucumber.

A Yollie in the afternoon.

Dinner can be hit and miss, but she will typically eat a fairly sizeable portion of pasta and cheese, or a few chicken nuggets and a potato waffle.

She randomly asks for weetabix sometimes at any point of the day and drinks a few small cups of milk a day .

I think with food it's hard not to get worked up about it. But honestly if he is eating sometimes, he's not gonna fade away. Sometimes it's not worth the fight

thank you. on nursery days I don't worry too much because he eats everything they give him. my other half thinks differently (brought up different) and expects him to eat his dinner which results in a good old temper tantrum!
Last night (non nursery day) we all sat down for tea around 6.30 (I think he had lunch at around 3) and it was just a jam sarni because I thought he would at least eat that. all sat down together, told him his dinner was ready, he came and sat at the table but then left immiediately and ran off. so I didn't say a word and when I finished my dinner I said ' ok its going in the bin now' he didn't bat an eyelid! perhaps hes just not hungry from the snacks and times I give them to him.

He may not have been hungry if he had lunch at 3. I would work on getting him to sit at the table and not running off first. So toys away, tv off and everyone at the table together. That should be non negotiable. Don't make food the battle, but make sitting at the table fun. I'd also lay off the snacks and see what happens.
It's probably worth looking at how much total food he eats through the day and not just dinner, it might be that a slice of toast/sandwich, tomatoes and cucumber etc is sufficient.

My Dd (nearly 3) eats hardly bloody anything at home but apparently eats like a horse at nursery so that explains the week days when she won't eat. Weekends she eats mouthfuls of this and that but I have yet to see her eat a full meal

I really, really wouldn't worry if I were you! Mine were both this way at 2, very picky and eating very little. The experts say (I also googled for advice on this back then!) that toddlers simply do not starve themselves and it is completely normal for them not to eat that much. So if you see that he looks healthy, his weight is fairly normal, you are absolutely fine. Don't fall in the trap of giving him unhealthy food just to see him eat. Saying that, this nothing wrong with a lot of baked beans on toast! Much better to let him choose what he eats and when he eats, you will find within a year that he will begin to eat more and more, and be more willing to try new things. And please don't worry about sitting at the table, he's only two!!!

thank you all! gonna try not to worry too much :-) wish me luck for tonight

Offer him small portions of what you know he likes.

He won't starve himself to death. Our youngest will happily not eat his evening meal and not eat til breakfast (he's 3)). But then other days he'll eat like a horse.

Try to stay calm and not let it bother you (or at least in front of him). He may see it as a way to get attention.