4yrd old Ds's insatiable appetite - HELP !

[mousemole]

dS 1 ( just 4) has always been a good eater. About 6 weeks ago he had his tonsils taken out and after he recovered he developed an insatiable appetite ! he didn't really lose weight when he had his tonsils out so it can't be playing catch up. He is demanding food literally every half an hour. Even trying to fill him up with porride/pasta/rice doesn't help. Do you think I should take him to the doctors ? he has gained a couple of pounds in the last few weeks but is still pretty slim.

Yesterday he ate -
1 x bowl of porridge
1 x bowl of cheerios
1 x apple
2 x tuna sandwiches
1 x small packet organic biscuits
1 x kitkat
4 x halves ofjacket potato with ham
lots of brocolli
2 x small packets raisins
2 x yoghurts
1 x aptimel
handful of penny sweets
2 x piece of toast
3 x rich tea biscuits
3 pieces of chocolate

Can anyone else shed any light on this ? please help before I go bankrupt with the food bills !

my ds has just turned 4 and is exactly the same at the moment maybe its the testosterone kicking in

My almost 4yo DS eats a lot - 3 meals a day and a lot of snacks. I think it's a big age for growth spurts and using up a lot of energy, and might not be much to do with the op - could just be a coincidence. My top tips for filling snacks are bananas, flapjacks, soreen malt loaf, and eggs and cheese. In the list you put there's not all that much protein (there is some but you could possibly bump it up more) and that might fill him up more.

hi - some really good info here. Spinsugar, good to hear it wont last forever ! bubblagirl, I think you might be right as the increase in appetite has been teamed with him becoming more moody and cheeky and aggressive at times - not his normal behavious at all ! Muffle - you are right, he needs more protein. he hates eggs though so tricky to get them in. More beans on toast needed ! He does 1 -2 HUGE poos a day, very regular as well ! So happy to hear others have experienced this, was getting very worried !

What about cheese strings/babybels etc? I know they get a bad press on here and they're not great if you're skint, but they do tend to go down well with DC (and they are real cheese not processed). For a cheaper option you could cut cheese into fingers and wrap up, then it's easy to hand him one of those when he's hungry.

my ds will have marmite on toast x2
snack fruit bananas, strawberry, apple
pasta and cheese for lunch
crisps
fruit
ice pops
biscuits
dinner early as hungry
this could be anything from fish,meat,potatoes, home made chips, smiley faces beans, veg
cake
toast before bed and maybe more fruit and biscuit

he literally does not stop

and again has got really cheeky and starting to answer back be bossy and voice his opinions lol

Protein - there is actually very little of it in this diet. If you aim for some hefty protein at every meral, eg poached egg at breakfast, the tuna at lunch and some meat at dinner, you should see an improvement.

maybe 2 bowls of cereal thrown in as well

Also, there is a lot of sugar too. I would not offer any chocolate, biscuits or sweets. Peanut butter on wholemeal toast, breadsticks with cheese, that sort of thing would be more nutritious and filling, and would be less likely to induce sugar crashes that make his temper bad and hungry within half an hour. And if he gets a sweet tooth to this extent he will find it hard to shake in later life

Growth spurt? My 4 yo Ds has just eaten like this for around a month. Just stopped but has also grown almost 5 cm! Now the expense is replacing the clothes.

That's why I like the malt loaf and flapjacks ProvincialLady - it is a sweet treat to an extent but involves a bit less sugar and more protein and carbo-loading.

I think they must have a growth spurt at this age. My 4 yr old DS is a string bean - really tall and skinny - but eats like a horse. Yesterday he ate:

Question - how much is dc drinking. Scientifically if you feel thristy you are dehydrated - but you will often feel hungry when you are need in some fluids.

COuld you try giving drink first before giving food? it might be a food/drink signal confusion thing.

my ds drinks continuously he guzzles as well as eats

my ds as well has no weight to him and clearly need sthe food its all healthy its not junk so doesnt bother me

my ds also drinks alot, his always asking for more drink

he is very active eats very well also so i'm not really worried, he has no weight on him

his always asking for food telling me he is hungry doesn't pass on fruit if its offered so clearly is in need of it

he doesn't wake hungry anymore so thats a good sign

i was told its normal and most boys of this age go through this again was told testosterone may be the indicator

Yes another skinny bean DS here. I'm sure it is something to do with the age, they do shoot up and as another recent thread has discussed, they do tend to get louder and more active and aggressive around this age. If DS is kicking off and I can sense a strop coming I can often stave it off by filling him up with calories asap.

I just check ds on a kid bmi calculated - was disgusted at how they came to their conclusion aged 4y3m 1m10cm and 20kg they stated he was obese as he was at the top end of the age group for weight and needing diet restricions (removal of snacks and sugary drink) and more exercise. I have just decided that as ds only sleeps 6-8hours and never sits during day (even when wathcing tv), can't eat the junk food due to major diet restrictions (allergies and intollerances) and I have to take every pair of trousers in (last year he was wearing age 6-9month shorts he was that skinny) that sometimes it is best to go with gut.

My advice - if its healthy -all food groups represented -fluids drunk -high energy activities down don't worry!

Ok maybe worry if goes on very long term.

From everyones messages there definitely seems to be a correlation with the growth spurt/testoterone surge and the increase in appetite. He is good at drinking so I try and get as much water into him as I can. I was aware that there was maybe too much sugar - sometimes it's hard to think of healthy snakcs when so much food is being consumed ! I made some healthy flapjack the other day and he loved that. I offer toast with marmite ALOT as he loves it and like the very nutty/seedy toast we use. I think I need to make a list of healthy snacks and pin it up in the kitchen so I aways have it to refer to. Would love to hear your suggestions - so far fruit loaf and babybel are great new ideas we haven't tried.
DH kept moaning about the food bills until I showed him what DS ate in a day !
ps - Mrsmattie what did your Ds eat yesterday -it didn't come out