How much does your 3 year old eat?

[NightShoe]

DD is just 3 and she seems to never stop eating. She has always been like this and only ever seems to mark her growth spurts by eating even more!

I try very hard to keep to a healthy diet for her, she will eat almost anything so I don't have a problem with that, it is just the amount she eats. The thing is that I am paranoid because she is 98th centile for height and weight and just looks huge for her age. We went to look at a school the other day and the headteacher thought she was starting this September . I'm worried that I am overfeeding her and making her huge. She doesn't seem chubby, but perhaps I am looking at her with a mother's eyes?

This is what she has eaten today:

Breakfast-
Oatibix and milk
Banana
Then later wholegrain toast and butter and jam

Raisins
Small plum
apricot

Lunch-
prawn and pasta salad
Mango
Some rice crackers and cream cheese
apple juice

Breadsticks
cheese cubes and tiny tomatoes
1/2 packet of organix crisps
Yogurt

Tea-
Cucumber, carrot, lettuce and radish
Rice
Homemade lamb kebabs with tomato and garlic sauce
banana and custard

Does this seem too much, or am I actually being paranoid and restricting her?

She is (very approximately) 17.5kg and 101cm.

I'm off out now, but will check back for replies later. Please be honest!

sounds like a fab diet to me. stop worrying!

if she's not fat, and it doesn't seem like she is from what you say, I'd just be grateful you don't have a faddy eater.

my 3 y o eats like this on a good day, but some days he eats much less. i think they just follow their appetites if you let them, and that's much better than eating on cue.

don't be ashamed that she's big, be proud! it's a testament to you fantastic care!

your fantastic care

Looks like she's eating really good & healthy stuff, so I wouldnt worry about the quantity tbh. Some children are big & some are small & its not always down to diet alone.
I wish my 3 yo would eat like yours, he's being told about mcdonalds & crisps at nursery & is asking why we don't have them!

I think what she is eating is fantastic & there is no need to be anxious.

She sounds fine and getting a good, varied diet.

Wish my DS would eat like this, he hardly eats a thing anymore!

Sounds fine to me.dd also 3 and eats like a horse.

Today she had

Breakfast

Peanut butter on wholemeal toast
Banana
Large glass milk

Snack
Few bits of apple and kiwi fruit

Lunch

Stew at her grandmas

Snack

Wholemilk yoghurt

Tea

Mahoosive bowl of spag bol
2! jam doughnuts (Ususally do fruit or yog but I was in Tescos and the doughnuts looked inviting!)

Large glass of milk before bed.

She is a dot and I dunno where she puts it all.I wouldn't normally let her have 2 doughnuts but she signed "More please" so nicely I didn't have the heart to resist!!

Sounds a fantastic diet to me. I'm very at what your dd will eat. My 3.2yo lives on air. He's much smaller by the sounds of things (88cm tall, 13.5kg).

Today he has eaten:

breakfast:
bowl of shreddies and fruit puree (ate half)
half slice of toast and marmalade

snack at preschool (no idea what - prob breadsticks and strawberries, as they try to accomodate the few things he'll eat).

packed lunch at preschool:
peanut butter sandwiches - ate approx half a slice of bread, judging from what he brough back
yoghurt

dinner:
pasta with pesto sauce and courgette - ate next to none (and none of the courgette at all)
few raspberries

My 17mo ds2 eats far more than my 3yo.

Wish my 3 year old ate like yours does!

They are all different and some eat loads and some eat hardly anything. Both fine though.

DS ate today...

Breakfast
Half bowl of shreddies and milk

Lunch
3/4 of ham and cucumber sandwich
1/2 pear

Dinner
4 mouthfuls of lasagne
1 petit filous size yoghurt

This is a normal day, he rarely eats more than that

DS (3) grazes a lot.

not sure what he ate today at every meal as DH had him while i was at work but your DDs diet sounds far healthier than my DS's.

He's big too (105cm - not sure of weight as haven't weighed him recently) and always seems to be hungry but i have coerce him to eat any vegetables and he'll only he apples, banana and grapes for fruit.

same as my ds2. he has breakfast, snack at nursery, lunch at nursery (with seconds as he always asks for more, they now feed him first and he will have finished before they have finished the last child, so he gets more again)then has another lunch with me when i get home from work at 1.30pm then snack with his brother after school, then tea and afters then snack before bed.
i dont know where he puts it all, and is still in some 12-18mths clothes.
i do worry it will catch up with him later on, but its all good stuff, he would rather eat a carrot than crisps!

he eats more than his 10 yr old brother

My dd, nearly 4, is constantly either eating or begging for food. She's big for her age too, wearing 5-6 clothes.

Thank you all so much for your replies, you don't know how much better you have made me feel about this. I really do try to give her healthy stuff, with the odd treat thrown in - we do like to make cakes together which she will eat or she has an ice cream or some chocolate twice a week or so. I just needed some reassurance that she is normal. She was nearly 9 pounds at birth so she always has been on the bigger end of the spectrum, I just find it hard sometimes because I think I must be overfeeding her or something and everyone always says that she is big for her age.

I think I might have been abit unkind when I have said to her that she can't possibly be hungry and refused to give her anything

You sound like you're offering a really varied diet,my ds is 3.7 and is 110cm and weighs 22 kilos.Wears 5-6 clothes.
He often asks for food and I do give him healthy stuff-he just loves his grub.
He hasnt put on any weight since christmas but is growing taller so I'm hoping he will level out . I do try to get him out for a good run/walk every day too(sounds like a dog!)He was only 7lb 2 oz when born!!
My brother was the same apparently and he's ok!

DDs diet today wasn't ideal, but she does the breakfast like a king, lunch like a lord and dine like a pauper thing - always has!

Breakfast - bowl shreddies with milk and a banana

Smoothie mid morning.

Lunch in supermarket cafe so one of those box things
1 bite cheese sandwich
1 bite fruit bar
fromage frais and a yog drink
packet wotsits
1 apple

slice of homemade banana and choc bread for snack in pm

dinner - offered quorn korma and rice with sugar snap peas. Ate rice and peas.
Homemade yoghurt and fruit ice lolly

Your dd's diet sounds really healthy. Has she always been high on the centiles? If so don't think you need worry.

I wish Tom would eat like that!

Today he's eaten:

Breakfast - small bowl of Frosties

Lunch - bag of Hula Hoops (refused to eat his 2 peanut butter sarnies)

1 multipack size pack of Buttons
1 multipack size pack of magic stars

Dinner - 2 potato stars, pod peas, (he did eat some pastry from my salmon en croute and did chew some salmon then spat it ot)

Chocolate mousse and some apple

That is pretty much a typical day.

That sounds like a brilliant diet. I wish mine ate like that. My 16 month old eats far more than my nearly 3 year old.

It's all lovely healthy stuff so I definately wouldn't worry.

Good job and a gold star to you!

It is not always down to the parent whether a child eats healthily or not.

My ds lives on about five things. He will not eat any fruit other than bananas or any veg unless it is carrot in his lentil casserole. He won't even try anything new. It is very frustrating as I eat very well myself.

Thanks again for the further replies, yes she has always been on the higher end of the centiles, she has never been below the 90th since a couple of weeks old, and she seriously loves everything about food - cooking it, choosing it, trying anything. I do try very hard to take big advantage of her acceptance to eat almost anything. I think she will be very tall so many this has something to do with it all, I'm 5'9", DH is 6'3" and DB is 6'7". I'm just being very paranoid about all this obesity stuff and how all the other children just look so much smaller than her!

I totally agree poshtottie, DD's willness to eat anything is certainly no talent on my part, far more luck than judgement!

This just goes to show that we are born to worry. I'd have killed for a 3 year-old who ate like that...

Chances are that she's going to be tall, but she might just be doing a lot of growing up front and may slow down later. Meanwhile, you've taken advantage of her appetite to get her eating the right things.

I don't think your Dd is overeating. Her diet seems very healthy. She sounds lovely. I hope you'll help her to be proud of her height by being happy and accepting of who she is. My Ds1 (5.10) is also huge for his age ... 99th percentile! Ds2 (3.2) is also tall, but not quite as tall as his big brother was at the same age. Ds1 is a head and shoulders over all his class mates. He is not overweight, just very tall. As his Dad was 6ft, 7 in, this is hardly surprising. Everywhere we go his height is remarked on by someone. A year or so ago he asked me if there "was something wrong with being so tall", and he seemed a little anxious about it. Since then when anyone comments, I always say, "Yes. Isn't it wonderful?! He's tall just like his Daddy was." (He lost his Daddy (my son) when he was just over 3 years old) and my DH and I have been raising the boys for two and half years.

Nightshoe Your last post sums it all up really. You and your DP and family are really tall, so she's obviously heading that way too. I know what it's like to have a huge kid - I live in Japan and dh is Japanese, but 190cm. I'm 170cm. My dd is 4.5 and is 116cm and 21kg. (BTW, she's been that height and weight for over 6mths now - the first EVER plateau since birth!!!). My ds is 18 months and 86cm.
We get comments all the time, especially as the Japanese are on the whole not known for their willowy height.., but I'm used to it now and am happy that my dc's are both healthy.
Your dd seems to have a great diet - if that day is a typical day, and there's certainly very little fat there, so it's obviously your genes and her natural build. Be happy - you're doing a great job.

You're lucky that your child is eating so well; my son is 2.5 years old he is an inconsistent eater; one day he will eat a lot and the next he will just pick at the meal and barely eat anything. We don't worry overly as he takes after myself in being a big boy. He is already 96cm and almost 20kg.
Just enjoy her eating habits while you can; keep testing her taste buds and she can only benefit