Concern over 2 year old eating

[Ohchristmastree311]

DS is 26 months and has always been a great eater (thankfully!! I know how lucky I am to be able to say that!).

My concern is - at what point is it too much?! Obviously they all go through growth spurts etc and will have more of an appetite at some times than others but for the last few weeks he is literally asking for seconds and thirds at every meal of the day and will ask for snacks roughly every 45 mins!! 😳

He eats relatively healthily so I’m not concerned about him over eating junk etc. And I’m definitely not giving him snacks everytime he asks.

His typical day would be:

• 6.30ish - breakfast - 1 banana, 1.5 Weetabix (or porridge) with whole milk and blueberries
• 11.30ish lunch - homemade soup & bread or scrambled eggs on toast usually with baby tomatoes and cucumber on the side of either. And then usually some natural yoghurt if he asks for it.
• 5.30ish dinner - whatever I’m making 🤷🏻‍♀️ Last night was Turkey mince chilli with rice and a side of broccoli. Other favs are Sweet potato, spinach and chickpea curry, Spag bol, fish pie, chicken satay with noodles, roast dinner.

Then snacks would usually be anything from fruit, veggie sticks with hummus, breadsticks, crackers with cheese, a toasted crumpet with peanut butter, sometimes yoghurt if he didn’t ask for it at lunch etc.

He was just under the 91st centile when born and has never strayed far from it so he’s a sturdy boy but he’ll be eating me out of house and home by the time he’s 5 if this continues 😳

It all sounds like healthy stuff. You aren't feeding him a diet of cream eggs and cheesy wotsits, so I'd check with the health visitor if she has any concerns over his weight gain, but otherwise, just keep it healthy.

Maybe you are raising a man mountain 😀 A colleague had one who ate like that and he's now 6'5" at 17.

His diet sounds healthy, so I would guess that he's going through a growth spurt.
Are his portion sizes large enough?

I wonder if he needs a bit more protein to keep him full at meal times? Souo is great but i never find it very satisfying...

@MintJulia His HV has no concerns at all! She always tells me that he’s a good “solid citizen” 😅🤣 she thinks he’s doing great - it’s more my bank balance thats worried 😅 His dad and I are both really short and he’s 91st centile for height too so he may well end up a man mountain 🙈 Dads hoping it means rugby player 🙄🤣

@rainbowstardrops I think so! He’s my first child and the next youngest in the extended family is 21 🙈 so I don’t really have much experience of children. I have a few friends with kids similar ages but they are quite picky eaters so it’s hard to compare tbh. Looking at any “portion guides” online, he eats more!

@JJJSchmidt He definitely doesn’t have soup everyday - and sometimes if he does he’ll have a cheese sandwich etc with it rather than just bread. Other days lunch would be omelette, scrambled eggs, tuna pasta, dinner leftovers, cheese & avocado toastie/quesadilla etc. But I’ll definitely look at trying to up the protein. When he wants seconds/thirds then I do usually give more of the protein and the veg rather than filling him on carbs.

Wait until he has a growth surge at 14 (my ds currently) It's like trying to feed a garbage truck. 😂

My food bill has doubled in the last year.

@MintJulia 🤣🤣 thats what I’m worried about!! If mine is like this already, I can only imagine 14 🙈