So when do you tell your child enough is enough.............

[SleeplessInTheStaceym11House]

.......with food???

My dd is 2.9yo and a lot of the time we have a real problem getting her to eat, yet other times she eats for England!!!

Take today...after eating all her breakfast she decided she was still hungry but we had no milk so she couldnt have any more...at 8.30 she was whinging she was hungry so i gave her grapes and strawberries....but 10.30 she started 'i'm hungry' again she was made to wait till lunch. FOr lunch she asked for a jam sandwich, usually she leaves the crusts, she ate the whole thing and asked for another one so i made her another one, which she only left 2 crusts of so thats 2 sandwichs and she says 'i'm still hungry' so she had some more grapes and strawberries (she wanted a yoghurt but ran out yesterday) then asked for a banana after that!! which she ate!! then at dinner she ate, with no tantrums, no whinging, no nothing!!

i was just thinking, when should i tell her enough is enough, at lunch time i felt i had to say 'stop' but was feeling a bit funny telling her to stop eating when normally i cant force her to eat!!!!

what do you all think?

DD1 (3.1) is going through this stage too, some days she will eat eat eat, others we really struggle.

Today :

Breakfast 7.30am Cereal
Snack 8.30am Banana
Snack 10.30am glass of milk and a choccy biscuit
Lunch 12noon sandwich,grapes,strawberries,banana,orange,cocktail sausages
Snack 1pm milk and 1/2 of my cheese and ham toastie
Snack 3pm small 10p bag of haribo x 2
Tea 5.15pm chicken, mash pots & veg
Snack 6.30pm sandwhich and milk

She eats more than me at the moment!

Other days we are lucky if she eats even half of what she has today. Im sure over a 7 day period it evens itself out

ooooh, forgot 9.30am toast!

Sleepless, what was her breakfast? As 7am until 12pm is such a long time I would give her milk with her fruit at least or toast and fruit. My dd is nearly 5 and she usually has breakfast around 7.30am then at school they have fruit and milk at 10am and lunch at 12pm so even at nearly 5 they're not expected to last that long without anything substantial to eat.

I also agree that at nearly 3 a jam sandwich isn't enough for lunch. Couldn't you add some cheese cubes with it or some salad, vegetables or chicken pieces? I also think 7pm is very late for such a small one to have dinner. My dd has dinner by 5.30pm.

i agree, from your op, until her dinner, she basically had fruit all day with jam sandwiches for lunch, which isn't that filling at all, specially if white bread.

So I think as others have said, there's no need to stop her.

keep thinking of more filling snacks as have been suggested, for days like this in future! Don't know if she likes it but Houmous with breadsticks to dip is fairly filling. i think a ham or chicken sandwich would be more filling too.

What might work is soup and bread, I always find chunky soup really filling.

Often on hungry days I make a big lunch for ds so he has his main meal then rather than dinner.

Under fives need more fat and protein than you might think - snacking on fruit is fine, and I'm not saying fill them up with junk like non-stop biscuits and cakes, but grapes and strawberries are mostly water so not filling. Try cheese, crackers, egg, lean meats, bread, nuts and seeds (obv if no allergies) and similar.

I believe that small children largely self-regulate - they will eat when hungry and won't when not. If she asks for food, eats whatever you give her and asks for more, then feed her more

I agree that if she turns down fruit/crackers/cheese/ etc in favour of biscuits then she is not really hungry.

Agree, she's not getting enough fat and protein to fill her up. Healthy eating guidelines for small children are very different to those for adults. What do you give her for breakfast? Maybe she needs something more filling - porridge instead of cereal, or cereal + fruit + yoghurt.

for breakfast she had 3 weetabix! normally she has a ham sandwich with carrot sticks but she asked for jam so i let her maybe i should have just gave her normal ham!!

she would normally have a couple of yoghurt instead of the grapes and strawberries in the afternoon but we ran out so she couldnt!

oh and she does have a snack mid morning if shes hungry but msot the time she wont eat it!!

she slept well last night, hopefully shel eat again today!

ok main concensous, more protein and if shes hungry let her eat!!!

Bless she doesn't eat as much as my monsters.

DD 5 and DS 22 months both have Cereal followed by toast for breakfast at about 7 ish. DD has a small snack at school but when at home they both have some fruit and a yoghurt at about 10am. Lunch between 12 and one usually a sandwich with ham or cheese some crisps or snack a jack type thingies followed by more fruit or yoghurt. A treat at 3.15 (after school) a cooked meal with pudding if they eat all their dinner at 6.30 before I go to work. If they are hungry after that DH gives them a bowl of cereal.