Can't fill him up! 4 year old

[parkingmoan]

At tea time (5.30), my just turned 4 year old will generally eat all his main course, all his pudding (e.g. yoghurt, fruit, rice pudding, flapjack, crumble, hot cross bun, ice lolly) and then ask for more. Last night he ate a big portion of macaroni cheese with sweetcorn, a banana, half a pear, a yoghurt, some malt loaf and then said he was still hungry, so had a bowl of cereal. We'd been to a party in the afternoon and he'd had a sandwich and a biscuit at about 3 and plenty of water.

I'm running out of ideas to feed him after standard main and second course that are relatively healthy. I'm wary of giving too much fruit - he has fruit at lunchtime as well generally, yesterday was grapes. I'm generally giving cereal bars (which is expensive), or yoyos, or a biscuit if he really insists on more food.

Should I be giving him more food or stopping him - is he just eating out of habit and because the snacky food after is tasty?

Any ideas for relatively healthy snacks I can give if his tea doesn't fill him up?

Protein will fill him up for longer. Cereal bars, yoyo's, bowls of cereal aren't going to fill him for long because it's mainly sugar/carbs.

More filling snacks m: boiled egg, chunks of cheese with crackers, some cold meat with veg sticks? Porridge and fruit for after dinner if he's still hungry. Apple slices with peanut butter, Greek yoghurt with a bit of honey and some fruit.

Would replacing a glass of water with milk help?

Hard boiled egg from the fridge (or even a soft boiled egg with a couple of soldiers, if you've got time/energy to cook them when he's hungry). A scoop of plain hummous with some carrot sticks and a wholegrain cracker or two. A couple of slices of ham or wafer thin chicken wrapped around a cheese stick. A handful of unsalted mixed nuts if he's allergy free. Wholegrain crackers with a little soft cheese.

I expect that if you make the after dinner snacks satisfying but not terribly exciting, you'll soon find out if he's genuinely hungry or not. If he's anything like my nephew, he'll be an eating machine for a while, shoot up several inches suddenly then slow right down until the next feeding frenzy!

My ds will say he's "still hungry" when he means he could squeeze in more snacks. I'd put more protein and veg in the main meal then put a portion to one side. If he's "still hungry" after a small pudding he can have seconds of the healthy main, but no more sugar. Also don't be fooled into thinking breakfast cereal is a healthy snack, it isn't as it's deceptively sugary!!

Great advice so far, cereal bars are pretty pointless.
I’d give veg sticks, cubes of cheese and boiled eggs if he’s actually hungry.
A boiled egg mashed in a cup with butter is much more filling and cheaper than what you’re giving right now.

Thanks everyone, some really good suggestions. I will adjust!

Mine at that age liked cubes of cheddar with grapes and mini bread sticks as an extra snack

Weight wise what is he like?
And does this extreme hunger only happen at teatime or at other times in the day too? What does he generally eat at other meal times?

It could be that he’s not eating enough during the day and so is ravenous come the evening

The puddings you’ve named vary wildly eg an ice lolly vs apple crumble so he may well be hungry sometimes.

How much meat/fish does he eat?

Also what does he eat the rest of the time and has he always been like this.

Sometimes my dcs go through a growth spurt and will eat loads. Other times they eat hardly anything. I’ve always let mine regulate their own appetite and as they’ve got older they’re pretty good at deciding when they’re full or not (8&6), but they definitely went through “hungry” phases.

Generally, he eats well at all meals. At the weekend, a typical day might look like a bowl of cereal or porridge, sometimes with a bit of toast after for breakfast. Slice of bread made into a cheese or ham sandwich for lunch, followed by a piece of fruit and a yoghurt. Tea is generally homemade pizza with veg, pasta (spag bol, macaroni cheese, tuna pasta bake), sweet and sour chicken and rice, sausages or fishcakes with homemade sweet potato chips and veg, chilli con carne, mild curry. He will have a snack mid morning and mid afternoon, generally a bit of fruit or a biscuit. This weekend it was half a scone. Good point about milk - I will re-introduce it at times other than breakfast, he loves it so it won't be a problem! When he was about 2 he drank so much milk he was refusing food so we cut it down. He will get milk mid morning at school in September anyway so hopefully that will help.

He's not a massive fan of meat but does like sausages and ham. Chicken he will pick out and he tolerates tuna.

At nursery he eats everything he's given, even meals he will turn down at home! It's witchcraft...

Sometimes he will say he's not hungry and push food around, I never make him finish his plate. I guess he's just going through a growth spurt and will keep going, changing snacks to something more protein based. Last night after nursery he had peanut butter on crackers and it seemed to fill him up better.

Forgot to mention, I weighed him last night and he's 18kg. He's always been between 50th and 75th centile for weight so sticking to that. He's 104cm tall. Just done the NHS BMI calculator for children and apparently that's a healthy weight. He doesn't look overweight and is very active.

It all sounds good, OP! I bet if you measure him in a month, he'll have grown in height. My nephew grew in really rapid bursts, so much so that he suffered terribly with growing pains between the ages of 10 and 13, and was hospitalised a few times with a problem with his hips. He's now a strapping but slender 6'3" tall, almost 19 years old, and he still eats an entire pizza as a snack between meals.