3 year old eating me out of house and home, is this normal?

[Demented]

I just wondered if anyone had had a similar experience. My DS aged 3 years 3 months has developed a huge appetite over the last two or three weeks. I thought it might be a growth spurt but it is showing no signs of tailing off.

A typical day starts with him having breakfast of two Wheatabix with full fat milk, within about 30 minutes of having this he starts asking for more food. Most of the time he actually asks for good things like bananas etc, sometimes though it is junk food. He asked me at 11.30am yesterday (after he had had breakfast, a banana, a jelly lolly thing and a babybell cheese) if I was going to make lunch yet, he had his lunch, a cheese sandwich (two slices of wholemeal bread) and a large fromage frais went for a sleep and when he woke up he immediately started to ask for a whole string of food again. He enjoys little packets of raisins but always wants two boxes at a time.

This morning I caught him in the kitchen munching into a 200g bar of Dairy Milk that I was saving for him to make rice crispie cakes with! He is by no means a fat child, he is quite tall for his age and I would describe him as lean. My main concern is that if this continues I won't be able to afford to keep him . I do my shopping on a Friday evening and he has the fruit bowl virtually emptied by Monday/Tuesday! Is this just a phase? Has anyone any experience of something similar?

Just another thought, we don't always give him everything he wants so I spend a vast proportion of my days explaining he can't have whatever to eat now as it is almost lunch-time etc, don't want to fall into the habit of continual snacking and him never eating a proper meal. Also can't go into a shop without him having a tantrum about some food item he wants.

Yep - I've got a 3 year old who is eating like a horse as well! Like you, I've not noticed any signs of a growth spurt, but to me his face seems to be changing - some how its losing that baby look - do you know what I mean? He seems more 'grown up'.

He seems alot more active nowadays as well. He wants to be down the park or on his bike, or just tears around the house. He's recently started going to pre-school two mornings a week, has trampolining one afternoon and goes swimming with his dad at the weekend. So I think his extra food consumption is due to the fact he needs more calories to keep up with his activities.

It is probably just a phase and give it two more months and we'll be complaining they hardly eat anything!

A friend of mine calls this the 'Snake phase', because apparently, snakes eat loads and then fast for ages. I bet there have been times when you've been tearing your hair out because your ds won't eat anything at all - even the McDonalds/crisps/chocolate you've tried to bribe him with in vain!! I think it will probably even out in time.

My boy's also 3 years and 3 months and sounds pretty much a replica of yours. Again, he's tall for his age, is by no means fat, but can't seem to get food into his face fast enough at the minute. Yesterday morning, he insisted on having a couple of Weetabix with full fat milk first thing before nursery, and as soon as I dropped him off (at about 8.30 am) I heard him asking for porridge. No doubt he also had toast afterwards. At nursery he gets lunch (I'm told he often asks for a third helping!), as well as tea at 4pm, and by the time I get him home at around 6ish he's usually asking for pasta and pesto. My Tesco bills are getting embarrassing.
I reckon he is growing at the moment though, and with the current good weather, he's been out in the playground almost all day long at nursery, so has no doubt been tearing about working his appetite into a frenzy. He's also developed a weird obsession with peppered salami, which is really annoying since every time I go to the fridge to pick at a slice, I find an empty packet. No doubt he'll be at my ongoing wine bottle before long too...

I'm so glad to hear this normal, I suppose if it doesn't subside I will get used to it. By the sounds of it he is actually eating less than your DS Grizzler. It is unbelieveable how much food a little person can put away!! I have never had much of problem with DS not eating and I know I shouldn't worry about it. I do wonder if it is boys, most of my friends with children the same age have girls and they seem to have the opposite problem of trying to get them to eat.

PS DS has tried cat food (IAMS Chicken) and didn't like it very much (another one of his sneaky kitchen raiding trips)!!!

My ds is eight and still eats me out of house and home - he does seem to have times when he needs more food than usual (if that is possible!!) he will empty the fruit bowl in an afternoon and will even make himself beans on toast if he is feeling peckish. This times usually result in him getting a couple of inches taller (and consequently needing new trousers and shoes) He is not fat just very energetic. The advantage is that we can eat out anywhere we please as both him and dd will eat chinese, indian, thai etc etc - make the most of the opportunity of introducing new foods and flavours!!

I don't think he's actually eating that much. To be honest, a cheese sandwich and a fromage frais doesnt sound like a very big lunch. Maybe you should try giving him a bigger cooked meal at lunch or suppertime. Dd is only 2 and yet if she was hungry one tiny pack of raisins wouldnt be enough for her either!

Again, breakfast sounds normal too and not excessive. As others have suggested, maybe you should make the most of it by introducing new flavours!

Enid, he has a big cooked dinner at night (a big plateful, sometimes seconds and fruit etc afterwards). It is more the continual requests, as soon as he has finished one thing he asks for another. I know I shouldn't be complaining as so many mothers have the opposite problem. I suppose I'm just worried that he is getting into a habit of continually eating (or would like to get into that habit because I don't always give him what he asks for) and that with continual snacking he will not eat his meals, which has happened when I have just let him eat what he wants, when he wants. I think I was more concerned to know whether this was a normal three year old thing or was he perhaps bored or has a tape worm or something. The day I described only takes him to about 2.30pm and I had refused to give him certain things. I don't know if I should be refusing, maybe that just makes things worse. On the otherhand I would hate to think he was genuinely hungry, it's so difficult to know.

My ds is 19 months this is what he had yesterday.
Bowl of Cheerios with full fat milk (same portion as me), a little bit of toast, couple of biscuits, another bowl of cheerios with milk, two crumpets, new potatoes fish and beans for lunch, two of those cornets you get from the bakery, a banana, some stir fry rice, a kit kat, a shortbread biscuit, another half a crumpet and some chips off my plate. So where did all that go We have run out of ice cream otherwise he probably would have had a couple of those too. We have had to cut down on fromage frais as he was eating about 8 a day recently. What is he going to be like when he reaches 3.

That's alot of food Joe 1. Starting to think DS is not so abnormal at all. I think what alerted me was the sudden change from just breakfast, snack about 10.30, lunch, snack about 3pm, dinner then milk at night to suddenly all day caf!

Also most of my friends have girls who seem very picky so I think I must have been subconsciously comparing. However it does have its advantages in that DS will try anything and does regularly share an indian etc with us and as mentioned earlier will even give the cat food a go!

I was watching DH last night and suddenly it became clear where DS gets it from. DH had come in from the gym (rubbing it in what good work-out he had as I have currently given up, 34 wks pg) and started offering me chips that he couldn't resist on the way down the road (he had had his dinner before he left), five mins after he finished these he was starving and raiding the fridge, for all sorts of unhealthy things, then he complains that he can't lose weight!

Anyway thanks to everyone for all their responses I think it is just comforting to know that he is not the only one and certainly does not seem such a large eater now!

I don't think the amounts of food described sound excessive. My son has always eaten a lot, and now he is 22 eats mountains of stuff. He's 6ft 4in tall and thin as a rake!!

I think alot of it is that they are always on the go, running around and doing something, together with any growth spurts they just need the food. Ds isnt huge just uses everything up, today he may not eat quite as much, perhaps