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Original poster

3 year old never stops eating

26 replies

8EST · 02/01/2019 18:52

As the title says my 3yr old son eats constantly. Is this normal for anyone else? I can't remember my DD doing this and she's now 8. DS is a healthy weight and is 3ft5. He eats a variety of stuff not just crap but he will eat and eat (e.g baby cucumbers...Hmm)
Is this a doctor issue? He's healthy and going through speech therapy at the moment.
Does anyone have advice? (Other than a fridge/freezer/cupboard lock)

OP posts:
Fabaunt · 02/01/2019 18:54

As long as he’s eating healthy and not overweight I’d let him to be honest

lovely36 · 02/01/2019 20:00

I honestly thought I was the only one with this issue! My son could eat a whole horse if I'd let him. I worry about him over eating. I've researched this and apparently toddlers only need 3 meals and 2/3 snacks maybe 4 depending on how much activity they do. Well my son wants about 29 snacks. What I've done is everything he asks for snack I offer him two healthy choices so at least he's eating majority of veg and fruit. Dad on the other hand gives him crap all day. I also worry!

JiltedJohnsJulie · 02/01/2019 20:06

Well baby cucumbers aren’t exactly filling are they...Grin

If you are concerned though, have a read of Eating Well for 1 to 4 year olds. It gives portion sizes and suggested menus so shoukd give you an idea of whether he is actually eating too much or is on track.

Let us know what you think Smile

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3 year olds 8 year olds Behaviour & development Children's health
emzw12 · 02/01/2019 20:35

It may just be a growing / developing phase.
My 2.5year old DS has been eating, eating, eating, eating for the past 6 months ish and he's suddenly shot up (trousers too short etc) and his eating has halved overnight.

shazzawinemom · 02/01/2019 23:15

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cestlavielife · 02/01/2019 23:21

Kerp an actual food diary of everything he eats and amounts . Work out the calories.
10 baby cucumbers is hardly any calories ...
Take the food diary to gp If you worried
Ask speech therapist maybe it s for sensory stimulation and he could chew something instead? You can buy slt chew toys

janet44 · 02/01/2019 23:22

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Celebelly · 02/01/2019 23:25

Christ Janet, aren't you a ray of sunshine and farts?

Weenurse · 02/01/2019 23:27

Wow, some people are judgy.
Food diary, continue to offer healthy choices and health visit to ensure he is not overweight. Take the food diary with you.
Lots of people think they and their children are in a healthy weight range when asked. When measured, they are not.
I would put it down to a growth spurt.

DeadDoorpost · 02/01/2019 23:29

My DB (has ASD- this is important) will go through moments where he will eat hardly anything and then will eat loads and loads. Will sometimes last a few weeks, others a few months. He's been this way since he was about 2. He's also a very healthy weight, maybe slightly lighter than he should be atm as he's hitting puberty and currently in an "eating very little" stage. But it balances out.
The rest of us siblings have been fairly decent eaters but eat crap as we're now adults so I can honestly say I've put weight on because of my own conscious choices. But I'm working on it.

Anyway, like a pp said, if you really are concerned, go to a GP or your HV but if hes a healthy weight, I'd say he's fine. Unless he's got worms, then that could also explain it.

Singlenotsingle · 02/01/2019 23:31

What arrant nonsense Janet! The OP said her DS is a healthy weight and he's quite tall anyway. At that age little boys are a bundle of energy so he obviously needs a lot of fuel otherwise he'd be losing weight. Baby cucumbers? At least it's not doughnuts!

Hulloa · 02/01/2019 23:31

One of mine was like this at three. And at four, and at five and ... you get the picture. He's fifteen now and still going strong. I swear to Christ he would eat constantly if he didn't have to stop for lessons, sleep etc. He has always put away phenomenal amounts of food, much more than my other two. It's just how he is. He's never been overweight and in fact was bordering on underweight for a fair while in childhood. He's also 6'2. I used to stress but now I just marvel. As long as it's a fair mix of things with plenty of vitamin content and he isn't overweight then just let him.

Slipperboots · 02/01/2019 23:33

Some people need to fuck off.

DD at that age would just ask for food constantly. I remember giving her dry Cheerios as they took her ages to eat.
She’s now 10. She’s not fussed at eating between meals at all now.

minipie · 02/01/2019 23:33

I think cut out any crap food and see what happens. If he still wants to eat and eat when it’s all really healthy food then personally I would let him as long as you are sure he isn’t overweight - he may be gearing up for a growth spurt.

If he doesn’t want to eat as much when there are only healthy options then that solves the issue...

As regards whether he is a healthy weight, what does he weigh? Have you checked his weight on the centile charts? HV can weigh him and measure centiles if you don’t have scales.

WitsEnding · 02/01/2019 23:34

My children always ate loads but were never overweight - tall for their age. DS in particular could manage a full size pasty (homemade) at 3 with no trouble. I wouldn't worry if he's the correct weight by centile for height ...some children are just more active!

He'll need to be used to not snacking by the time he goes to school.

Hulloa · 02/01/2019 23:52

Just to add that at 6'2 as he is now, ds15 weighs ten stone. I've just checked on the BMI calculator and that puts him on the 36th centile so he is far from overweight. When younger it was similar and for quite a long time was on an even lower centile despite eating so much. So it isn't necessarily the straight path to obesity that some are claiming.

janet44 · 03/01/2019 00:10

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Hulloa · 03/01/2019 00:20

Chill out janet. Have a kebab.

NameChange457 · 03/01/2019 00:24

I’ve never heard of baby cucumbers before - i’m assuming they’re mini cucumbers so why do they warrant a Hmm face?

How much does he actually eat in a day? Is he getting enough protein? Is he gaining weight properly?

fairydustings · 03/01/2019 01:02

Calm it Janet - i presume your built like the side of a fiver and only drink coffee and eat fresh air.. i sense your type - Gillian McKeith of MN ✋🏻

JiltedJohnsJulie · 03/01/2019 07:39

I think minipie’s suggestion of plotting his centiles is a good idea. As long as his centiles are roughly I need proportion and not hugely different than his birth centiles, he shoukd be fine Smile

Original poster
8EST · 03/01/2019 13:23

Thanks for the advice everyone.
That face Hmm was because I think baby cucumbers are weird and always expect them to taste like gherkins...

OP posts:
JiltedJohnsJulie · 03/01/2019 15:24

Baby cucumbers are lovely but I eat gherkins straight from the jar Grin

cestlavielife · 03/01/2019 15:26

Birth centiles are not relevant really...a 50th centile baby could end up on either high or low centile. it s how he is tracking the centiles since a few months. So measure now height and weight and See where he is and again in 3 and six months .

Teddyreddy · 03/01/2019 16:43

DS foes this, we have 1st and at least 2nd breakfast, midmorning snack and then onto lunch and it just keeps going.... I try and keep it healthy - which as he likes veg and fruit and doesn't like really sugary things isn't too difficult. He's too skinny rather than overweight (75th centile for height, 25th for weight) but doesn't sit still for a second and seems to be on a continuous growth spurt. DD is petite, and eats far more normally.

My MIL assures me DH was just the same, and its going to get a lot worse....

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