Is DS going through a growth spurt?

[lorrycat]

DS will be 18mo at the end of the month. This last week it seems i can't fill him.

For example, yesterday he had a bowl of ready brek for breakfast, banana for mid morning snack with squeezed orange, pineapple and apple juice to drink. Lucnh was custard, grapes and a homemade flap jack. Afternoon snack was grapes and organix gingerbred man. Dinner was homemeade chicken curry with naan bread.

This is quite typical of him. He has a hearty appetite but i'm finding that he seems to be constantly crying for food.

this morning he has had ready brek, banana and 2 petit filous. i'm worried that this is too much, but he is constantly crying for something to eat.

Could it just be a growth spurt or am i feeding him too much?

bump

Doesn't sound like you are feeding him too much. My ds(who was and stil is quite skinny) would have breakfast and then 2 cooked 2 course meals at that age. Could you try giving him more carbohydrates - pasta rice, bread, potatoes?

I'm not an expert, but I don't think you can feed him too much. If he is hungry he will eat, if not he'll leave it. Try him will more carbs, that fills my hungry one up!

That doesn't sound out of the ordinary, but it does seem that you're making some very sugary choices (if you don't mind me saying) - especially the lunch? If you stick to more savoury perhaps he won't eat as much (but there's not much logic to that). Petit filous are tiny and full of sugar so I'd have one larger rachel's organic yoghurt instead.

DS has always grown in spurts - one week he'll eat everything not nailed down, and the next he'll shoot up in height.

I'd give him things like wholemeal toast and cashew nut butter, or your homemade flapjack rather than petit filou, which won't fill him up.

We always have a large pot of yoghurt in the fridge - when going through these phases (which we still do) Ds can always fill up on a big bowl of yoghurt with some oats. At this stage though, ds always had a savoury meal at lunchtime - bread or toast and cheese or ham with things like cucumber or cherry tomatoes.... And be warned, he could seem to fill out and become stocky, but then shoot up over the next 2 or 3 weeks and loose all the chunkyness again....

I would love to give him bread at lunch time but the trouble is he won't eat it for me anymore. He was always so good with wholemeal bread but won't eat it or even white anymore. Kids eh?

I see what you mean about the lack of carbs and sugary things like petit filous (although in my defense i didn't even know they were high in sugar until this post).

I think i might rustle up another batch of flapjacks today and try making rice/pasta/potato based lunches in future.

thanks everyone x

I also found it surprising the amount of breakfast that ds would eat happily (this varied significantly too) - sometimes he'd have 3 breakfasts AND a banana - generally I tried to make oat based breakfasts to give long energy release (but have never bought ready brek - he has to make do with porridge oats, sometimes made into porridge in the microwave!). At 18mo he often had at least as much breakfast as me....

mistlethrush....yes i think he eats as much breakfast as me.

I do try to go for wholegrain type breakfasts, but try to vary them. He loves cherrios and weetabix as well. And when he has weetabix he will have 2!

I've made up another batch of flapjacks for snacks and will be greatly cutting down on the petit filous and switching to different type of yoghurt.

I still don't really get flapjacks for snacks - oats are great and of course for a treat snack a little is fine but wouldn't have thought it would solve your prob. I think bulking up breakfast and giving something more at lunchtime would be better - like baked potato and baked beans? weetabix and cheerios are very light - how about shredded wheat bitesize?

Lorrycat - I might be a bit lentil-weavery, but ds always has porridge oats with a small topping of more normal cereal (eg cherios) as it cuts down on the sugar and adds to the long-term staying power ifyswim... But sometimes ds (now 4.5) will eat 3 bowls of various cereals for breakfast (again, not just the sugary ones) - as he's not fat I don't worry too much and put it down to all the running around and growing he's doing.

Baked potato good lunchtime solution. Ds also likes noodles which you can cook more quickly than standard pasta - we have various pots of homemade sauces in the freezer.

Just back from shopping there and stocked up on tiny pasta shells and rice to give more hearty lunches.

Mistlethrush...some great advice today, thank you. I bought a large pot of yoghurt and some oats to sprinkle on top. hopefully this will be a whole lot more healthy way of using the oats than flapjacks lol.

DS is definitely not fat thankfully. He is very active (splashing about in the bath as we speak), sleeps well, is moderately well behaved (for a 17mo lol) and otherwise we have no other issues.

Think i'm just a bit paranoid about weight because i've been overweight since childhood and don't want him to go thru this as well.

Lorrycat - I know your issues - we're the same, both dh and I are on the hefty side, and don't want ds to get like that. This is why I've gone down the rather lentilweavery route - we used to get him full fat, now we just use the yog we have (ie low fat) - that and oats is a really good snack or pudding. He gets very little fruit juice, and if he does have fruit juice we dilute it by 50%.

He also has plenty of veg - at 18 months, particularly as finger foods, veg sauces, etc etc. And a carrot is quite a good snack too.

Ds is actually very keen on cucumber - one of his favourite things, and he often eats all his veg before anything else.

We also didn't have any choice in swapping to 1/2 fat milk - ds decided he didn't like the cream in full fat at about 2, so that potential decision was made for me!

Ds won't eat veg as snacks at the minute but he adores certain fruits. He absolutely "inhales" bananas (lol) and loves grapes, melon and pineapple. But he does get veg every night with his dinner, even if its just frozen peas.

I was brought up in a very low income family and fresh fruit/veg were limited, most food was cheap and processed and snacks were sugary and fat laden.

We were in the same position as you with the milk. DS prefers the taste of semi-skimmed milk so it didn't make sense buying full fat. Plus its what they give them at his creche so i wasn't really worried.

I think more protein could also help fill him up. Why not try a slice of cheddar for a snack or hummous in a pitta?

I don't think that you are feeding him too much and I am in agreement about more carbohydrates and protein.

Have you tried wraps or pitta bread if he won't eat bread?
I always think that omelettes or soup for lunch is quick and filling, and cheese and breadsticks for snacks are good too

He isn't getting a huge source of fat though is he esp if he is having semi skimmed? Also give him things that encourage chewing, the action that helps to fill us up.

Pinkydink i did pick up some wraps for DP and I so i might try DS with these. Maybe with chicken and cream cheese.

I have tried him with cheese chunks before but he really doesn't like cheese at all. Must try the breadsticks.

Maxybrown...with him drinking semi-skimmed milk i was trying to encourage yoghurts as much as poss, hence the petit filous. however I've since found out these are high in sugar so maybe not such a good idea.

today we've had weetabix and banana for breakfast, pancakes around 10am. Pasta and sauce for lunch and a bottle of milk to go down for nap.

what about wholemilk yoghurts? Also was thinking today, what about crackers instead of bread, oatbiscuits too?

Yes thats a good idea maxybrown, i will certainly give that a try.

thanks