is this too much for a 7 year old to eat in a week?

[j20baby]

i have kept a diary of what dd has eaten in the last week, how does it compare to your dc's diets?

bearing in mind, she spends most of the weekend with her dad and i have no control over her fiet when she's there(have tried numerous times and managed ro stop him giving her copious amonts of cola, but thats about it!) and the coleslaw and bread and meat in the day time is what she eats for her school dinner.

Sun 8-7-07 (my house)
2 weetabix with semi-skimmed milk
bread cake, low-fat cheese slice, low-fat coleslaw
fishpie, sweetcorn, carrots
5 crap sticks
300g cherries
marshmallow cornet, vie shot, 1 soft mint
cup of soup out of a machine, hot chocolate, dilute orange juice

Mon 9-7-07
Bran flakes with semi skimmed milk
Omelette, sweetcorn, bread
Bacon, tomatoes, mushrooms, toast, beans
A peach, a Satsuma, handful of cherries, dried apricots
Fresh orange, apple juice, dilute orange

Tue 10-7-07
Bran flakes with semi skimmed milk
Turkey, coleslaw, mash potato
Corn beef hash, 2 slices of bread
Mousse
3 x cherries
fresh orange, j20, dilute orange

Wed 11-7-07
Toast, flora and jam
Jammy dodger, packet of fruit flakes
Satsuma, handful of cherries, 2 x dried apricots
Beef, coleslaw, bread
Cous cous
Jelly with cream and fruit
Dilute orange juice

Thur 12-7-07
Toast with flora and jam, Handful of cherries, Satsuma
Bread, coleslaw, pork, jelly with pineapple and cream
Hamwich and cous cous
Dilute orange juice

Fri 13-7-07
Toast with flora and jam, Satsuma
Fish, chips and bread
Takeaway pizza(1 slice) and half a cheese burger with salad
Dilute juice, fresh orange

Sat 14-7-07 (dads house)
Toast with flora and jam, Satsuma, half a cherry scone
Gingerbread man x2
Bacon, tomatoes, mushrooms, bread
Chips
Candy floss
Couple of chocolates
Fresh orange juice
Cranberry juice

Sun 15-7-07 (dads house)
Sugar puffs
Bacon, tomatoes, mushrooms and bread
Chicken dinner, with veg, mash potatoes and Yorkshire puddings
Gingerbread man x2

over her diet!

Sounds perfectly healthy to me!!? my ds is 7 and would say it's about the same.

PMSL at the Crap sticks

oops, didn't see that millie
pmsl at myself, duh!

so it sounds ok then? i thought she was overeating, have missed out a sweet here and there, usually the odd chocolate or dolly mixture, but apart from that the list is pretty accurate.

Gosh when DD was 7 she ate more than that - She's 9 and has just slowed down a bit

she's really chubby though, age 8-9 clthes don'r fit her, she's getting wider rather than taller!

speccy, i don't think she is very healthy, she's been chubby for well over a year, no groth spurts as yet, i have seen the school nurse and she said to stop sweets and fizzy drinks, but i don't let her have them anyway apart from the odd sweet, also, the gp has said to make an appointmet with a dietician, so i just wondered if she did actually overeat.

yes she wrote half of it down, she is already aware that her clothes do not fit her but i obviously don't say to her that she is fat, she says she's got puppy chubb!
she does get excercise, but maybe not enough, i think i will see how she goes over the summer holidays as she should be getting more excercise than when she is at school

What does she like doing?

My DD does Modern, Ballroom & sailing plus she trampolines at home (& races round the garden)

you're probably right about a lot of the things being able to be low fat variety's, when she's at home most of them are low fat or sugar free things, i too am reluctant to make a big thing of itdue to not wanting her to get a complex, its more the fact of her clothes not going round her belly that worries me as it upsets her, i do try to buy bigger clothes, but she ends up growing out of them widthwise within weeks

katy-she goes to gymnastics and has got a trampoline that she plays on, the weather has not helped to get her outside, and i must admit i have been driving a lot more recently due to me being so tired, she used to go ice skating and swimming, i'm hoping she will decide to go to a new school that have offered her a place in Sep as they have a lot more activities after school, but she is reluctant to leave her old one(that is another story though )

Good luck with the change of school

DD did last sept & it is fab

thanks, she is going for the morning on tuesday, i have everything crossed that she'll come home and say she likes it!

Range of foods seems good over a week- I guess the issue is maybe portion size, if there is a problem at all. If your gp has suggested a dietician maybe a good idea to visit. My Mum is one, and far from being a restrictive influence, I find she can help me to just get a good balance for the kids, and not get too hung up over sugar/ fat/ etc etc. Exercise is obviously helpful too, but you know that. I get worried by mine who are on the emaciated end of the scale! I honestly do feed them, but they seem to have a metabolism that just burns fat. Hope she likes her new school.

Thanks Katsh

Hi J20
Not getting hung up about it is the issue..my mum did with me and turned me into a yoyo dieter..1st diet at age 6, at a childs diet clinic by 9 ....9st at 9yrs....which made me a secret binger...and yet I had a healthy diet and did horse riding, swimming and ballroom/latin american dancing and played out a lot...I really feel that if she had left me alone, watched the portions and not had choccie bickies in the house for my Dad (which is what I stole at night to binge on) that it would have all fallen off in my teens..just encourage the healthy eating and excersise without making an issue about looking good or clothes being tight (buy styles that are more adaptable/looser)...Incidentally, with my brother she had given up; let him eat marsbars for lunch and live off full sugar fizzy drinks and he was like a lath!

hi FT, that is what i'm trying to avoid, i really try not to let her know that i am bothered, but when she's nagging for yet another ice cream or bun or whatever, i do tend to get annoyed with her! she does eat quite a bit of fruit too, i try to steer her towards that rather than the junk she favours

I did mean to say that you ARE doing the right thing ..just try not to worry about it yourself too much (I definately picked up ....and don't deny her the trash (that is what got me into secret binging) it's designed to taste good and we are biologically programmed to like it, just try to balance it with the good stuff and lots excersise...sil has got her sons a ps2 dance mat game..that certainly seems to work off the calories on wet days!!!! (I think I'll be getting one for me after LO arrives!)

oh gosh, my dd eats about double that, i would say.
but she is v slim and does 12hrs gymnastics a week so burns it all off.

j20baby, i have similar concerns about my dd1 who is also 7, average height and has a large belly. she tried on an age 8-9 dress last week and it wouldnt do up.

I have cut out all crisps/biscuits from the weekly shopping, they have free range on the fruit bowl as well now. i am hoping that she is going to shoot up soon as hasnt grown in height much this year. but for now, t shirts, cropped trousers and skirts are what she is living in.

she weighs 4st on the dot.

thanks FT

misdee, my dd weighs nearly 5 stone and is about average height, i'm still waiting for the growth spurt! we don't really have crisps and biscuits in the house, although saying that, i did buy a multipack the other day as she specifically requested a certain packet for her packed lunch for her school trip, although i will probably end up eating the rest of them