My 5yr old overeats help!

[C8]

Hi my 5yr old eats anything and everything he is 5stone and not so tall (average height) he has no idea when he is full and is often sick.I cannot go on like this and don't know what to do. My husband and his sister are vey big and they assume its "just genetics" I'm not convinced. My friends "borrow" my son to show their kids how to eat! The name calling is also starting. Please help?

There is a disorder called prader willi syndrome where children (and adults) are unable to feel full and are constantly ravenously hungry. Must be absolute agony for sufferers. www.pwsa.co.uk/main.php?catagory=1

Look at this to see if he has any of the features (hopefully not).

It may be that you need help from a dietician to manipulate what he eats so he feels comfortable, but is not putting on excessive weight. Your HV or GP should help you here or the school nurse if he is in school.

Thanks for this, I read smptoms and fortunately my son has none of them apar from the urge to eat and not knowing when he is full.I'll discuss with scool nurse.

So sorry to hear this, must be incredibly hard for you both.
I think it may be a case of being 'cruel to be kind' from now on though: give him only what he needs and no more. He can have water or hot squash (a couple a day) to drink which will help fill his tummy between meals.

I think once people, kids included, get into the habit of overeating, they do need to eat more in order to feel satisfied and it takes a little while for the stomach to shrink back to a normal size.

Could you give us an idea of what he takes in the average day, and then maybe we could suggest areas where you could reduce/change things so that he gets enough calories to support his growth and development but not enough to gain more weight. At his age, it is widely advised that the child be allowed to grow in to the weight rather than actively lose it x

What does he eat in a day? Portion size?

i presume that your 5 year old doesn't make meals and help himself to snacks.

if he does, move the snacks higher

other than that, you must be feeding him?

A portion of foods such as starch and veggies, by the way, is generally accepted as being the size of the childs clenched fist, so this is the amount of pasta he needs per serving.
A serving of lean meat or fish is the size of the childs palm
A serving of fat (eg: oils, peanut butter) is roughly the size of the persons thumb

This goes by the principle that the tummy should be about the size of a fist. Not very big really!

Or, calorically speaking, the average 5yr old needs roughly 1200-1500 calories. So perhaps weigh and measure food just for a week and that will allow you both to visualise, say, 30g cereal or 50g dry pasta. That way it's much easier to remember daily what his portions should look like.

Agree with Custardo too - he is too young to decide when to help himself to food - he needs to ask and then you can either provide a healthy snack or distract him