Are these reasonable portions for a two year old?

[Hardbackwriter]

I've been worrying a bit that maybe my just turned two year old's portions are a bit big - people keep commenting on how much he eats, including his nursery, and I wondered last time his key worker mentioned it again whether she's actually trying to politely tell me that he may be eating too much. His weight isn't a concern at the moment, but I don't want to set him up for future problems by getting him used to excessive portions. Both his father and I eat reasonably healthy food but a bit too much of it and so are constantly on the borderline of normal weight and overweight, and I don't want that for him. Today he ate:
2 Weetabix (with milk)
Half a slice of toast with peanut butter
A banana
Half a jacket potato with a decent handful of grated cheddar, cucumber sticks and about four cherry tomatoes
An Ella's kitchen cereal bar and a beaker of milk
An apple and a chocolate biscuit
Two fishfingers, about two tablespoons of mash, about a tablespoon of peas and two green beans (he was offered more green beans than this!)
About six strawberries with a couple of tablespoons of Greek yoghurt
Another beaker of milk

Ps. I'm not particularly looking for feedback on what he eats - I'm broadly happy with that, and it varies a lot day to day - just the amount of it he's eating.

That's similar to what my 6yr old eats, tbh

That’s more than my 3 year old has but they are all different! It does sounds like he has a lot of snacks

The meals don’t seem a huge amount, assuming breakfast is just the weetabix. Mine would not have eaten two weetabix though. That is quite a lot of snacking in between though.

I’d say it’s a bit much.
1weetabix with some fruit would be plenty for breakfast.
2 sets of snacks after lunch is a lot
Lunch and dinner sound about right.

What are the timings?
So my nearly 3 year old has breakfast at 7.30/8- maybe a snack at 10.30, lunch at 12/12.30, maybe a snack at 3 and dinner at 5 (nursery the timings change slightly). Snacks usually dependent on how much of the main meal they ate (breakfast is a daily battle)

My four year old doesn't eat that much and definitely wouldn't have at 2 but if your child is an appropriate weight I wouldn't worry too much.

That's probably about 2 or 3 times what my 2 year old has, but she has at least one more cup of milk.

Does he always eat it all? What I offer my child and what she eats prob differs in reality

I think it seems a lot of snacks, his portion sizes seem okay

But if his weight is fine and hes staying roughly the same centile then hes eating the right amount for him

Dinner sounds fine. The rest is lot more than either my 6yo or 8yo would eat in a day.

I'd be tempted to drop either the toast/weetabix and cereal bar / biscuit.

My 5.5 year old eats s a lot and she would eat about that, with the exception of only 1 wheetabix. I think it is quite a lot, but not much protein. This might fill him up so he doesn't feel so hungry

That’s pretty similar to what I eat and I’m 27

If your child is reasonably active I think that's fine. My DC eat loads of good healthy food and are slim and sporty.

@JizzPigeon22

That’s pretty similar to what I eat and I’m 27

At 2yrs old my DD at way more than she does at 4 yrs old.

My two year old eats very similar to yours. I wouldn't worry my lo is constantly running around and his appetite does go down sometimes, especially after a growth spurt. Definitely keep the two weetabix i found that one didn't fill him and he'd snack a lot more if he'd only have one.

I would say that’s on par with what my 2 year old eats. He’s not at all massive. I think about 20th centile last time I checked. He’s just always had a good appetite and people do always remark on it. I think because the expectation is that children are picky eaters, so it’s a bit more remarkable when they eat lots. The only thing I might do is swap out carbs in snacks for more fruit and veg or protein like cheese or egg.

I think that is a lot! My 3 year old eats less than this and is a big boy!
He has similar meals but most days has only one snack.

It's a similar amount to what ds would have eaten aged 2. He's nearly 3 and a half now and although he still eats well his appetite has calmed down a bit e.g. aged 2 he would eat 3 bowls of porridge for breakfast if we let him, he now usually has one, occasionally has a bit extra if there's some leftover. I think 2 years olds do a lot of growing!

My 3YO would eat less than half of that but small children are generally good at regulating their own appetites and if he’s active and a healthy weight then I wouldn’t be too concerned. There are quite of lot of snacks, maybe cut down on those if you’re worried.

Only thing I would say is the breakfast is huge if its 2 weetabix then slice of toast. Assuming banana is a snack slightly later.

Lunch sounds like a good portion size. Dinner could be a good size or it could be quite a lot depending on how big your tablespoons are. Are they level or heaped? Heaped would be too much. Breakfast is huge two weetabix is an adult portion, and then toast? If he is not moving up the centiles I wouldn’t worry but would be aware and ready to change what he is eating so it’s less carb heavy.

My 2 year old has two weetabix but wouldn't need toast and a banana too, that's a lot to me

Look at this website from theFirst Steps Nutrition Trust. They have a publication on portion sizes for 1-4 year olds.

The eating well recipe book linked on the same page also has portion sizes for different ages.

www.firststepsnutrition.org/eating-well-early-years

That looks fine to me! My 18 month old eats slightly less but not loads less and she's around 60th centile.

I wouldn't worry as long as what they are eating is healthy and that menu looks pretty good to me. They have growth spurts off and on and are on the go constantly.

People on here have er, mixed attitudes to food I think so you will have lots of different responses to this!