How much is enough

[annaje]

My 4 year old DD rarely eats all his meals - and it is always a struggle to get him to eat in the first place. He is small and slight for his age - anyone else out there with similar problem or advice on how to encourage him to eat more.

Generally, these issues are down to the child just being a bit on the small side and therefore not needing as many calories as bigger children. So his appetite is probably small becasue he is. A 4 yr old can need anywhere from 1300 calories to 2000 calories, so there is massive variation. Try counting his daily cals, you may see that he is actually getting enough. Or if he is losing weight/not growing fast enough, may be worth a trip to the gp to rule out anything health wise.

thanks for the advice - I will definately count his calories to check he is getting enough. My older DD used to be the same and he now eats very well - but he was never small.