I have a very active 22 month DD. She seems perfectly healthy but I am becoming increasingly worried about her appetite and the large amount of food she is consuming.
I have approached the HV about this and she suggested that I take DD to the GP to be checked (which I will do), however I was wondering if anyone else has experienced similar with their DC? Was it an underlying medical condition or just a behavioural issue (wasn't sure if I should post this in children's health or behaviour/development - I may ending up duplicating and posting it in both).
A bit of background.
- DD has always been a very good eater, however increasingly over the last 6 months she has been asking for vast quantities of food (see below as an example) and tantruming severely when I don't give her food. It is almost impossible to distract her and even if she is fully engaged in an activity she will suddenly go running to the kitchen asking for a specific food.
- She is very very active and never stops running/climbing etc so I imagine she does burn off a lot of food
- She seems to drink plenty (full fat milk and water only)
- Bowel movements are regular (daily) but a bit on the hard side
- She hasn't put on weight for over 4 months and has actually lost almost 0.5kg (tiny amount - but I would expect her to put on?)
- She is growing in terms of height (about 2cm in the last 4 months)
- She has always been small, currently on about 25th percentile for height and 9th for weight (born on 9th and 2nd)
Todays food (don't normally count but thought I would to see if my perception of how much she was eating was as bad as what she was actually having)
- Breakfast - Milk and adult size bowl alpen (sugar free), 10 grapes, satsuma, 1 oat cake and small portion of cheese
- Snacks (between breakfast and lunch) - whole tin of sweetcorn, handful of walnuts, mini mince pie, ham, yoghurt with honey, water
- Lunch - Pizza, roasted root veg, corn on the cob (3 mini cobs - I know she had far too much sweetcorn today but she kept asking for it), 1/3 cucumber.
- Snacks (between lunch and dinner) - Cheese, 2 oat cakes, packet pom bears, seeds, adult handful blueberries, pear, water
- Dinner - Cod pie with mash pots, Carrots, small cake, fruit salad and custard, milk
She mainly asks for healthy food (I tend to give her what she asks for), should I just keep feeding her? I must admit it is starting to get me down as we can't go anywhere without her constantly asking for food or stuffing herself (e.g. parties). She is starting to ask for sweet food more often now, I am not anti junk but I am worried that she may end up wanting to gauge on that.