What does your 7 year old boy eat in a day?

[starstartwo]

DS7 is always on the go and plays sport twice a week. He's tall for his age (139 cm and 27 kg and seems to be taking after my own Dad who was 6ft 3ins and slim). DH is also 6ft 3 ins and I'm 5ft 9. He's pretty healthy but gets every cold going. He doesn't like the skin on fruit but will eat raisins and smoothies. He loves pasta and saucy things so any veg blended into a sauce is fine but he only likes broccoli and carrots as 'solid' veg. Not a big drinker and I struggle to get 4 glasses in him some days. I sometimes worry I'm not getting enough in him but he usually has:

Breakfast - 1 large adult size bowl of cereal, glass of orange juice and a slice of toast and jam/pastry

Snack - more toast at school and a hot choc

Lunch - hot school dinners and pudding

After school snack - starving when he comes out of school. Smoothie, half a peanut butter sandwich or malt loaf on good days, crisps and choc others (loves choc)

Dinner - hot dinner. Spag bol and garlic bread, lasagne, sausages and pasta, chilli con carne or beige tea etc. Chicken if in a sauce. Loves rice. Doesn't like chips. Pudding is hard as doesn't eat fruit but will have yoghurt/cake.

Supper - Still hungry at bedtime even if eats all/most of his tea so another bowel of cereal or toast.

He's probably fine but not gaining much weight recently. He's shot up though!

*bowl not bowel😂

He likes cheese and milk so can get more protein into him there.

My slightly shorter (137 cm) 7 year old doesn't eat much. He does sweat inducing sport 4 times a week and in my opinion doesn't always eat enough. He's rarely ill though.

Breakfast: pan au chocolat, small cereal bowl, apple cut into slices with yoghurt. Crumpets with butter. Either milk, water or orange juice.

Snack: pancakes, sliced raw carrot and Cucumber, strawberries in the summer, pepperami stick, pre peeled (by me) tangerine.

Lunch: I try and make him take the hot option but he has a ham sandwich at least once a week and he'd been at school for about 8 months before I found out they got a sticker for clearing their plates.

After school snack: either something from the breakfast or snack list or a sweet from the sweet jar with a drink.

Dinner: homemade pizza, pasta with sauce, meatballs, roast chicken, pitta breads, chicken tikka masala with rice. Isn't a fan of potatoes in any form. Likes scrambled eggs, hardboiled eggs, runny eggs with soldiers etc. Prefers veg raw (carrots, cabbage, peas from the pod or very lightly cooked, courgette and brocoli.
Has either mango jelly, fresh fruit, banana splits or yoghurt with apple for desert. Usually flavoured milk with dinner.

No supper. Maybe a glass of milk.

Ds is very literal and has struggled in the aftermath of them covering healthy eating at school. We do have crisps and sweets etc in the house but he rations them for example.

You're worried you're not feeding him enough? That's a massive amount of food compared to what my 8 year old eats.

Weetabix and banana. Full fat milk.
snack is half a ham sandwich
school dinner
Snack fruit
When I pick up I bring with me milk, chocolate bar, yogurt Frube, cheese string, crisos
dinner- spag Bol tonight with slice of cake afterwards.

My seven year old can be a bottomless pit some days.
Breakfast is usually weetabix with strawberries. He will sometimes ask for a second.

Lunch is whatever the hot option is at school. They have a great cook at school and everything is made from scratch.
Today was a slice of margherita pizza and salad with flapjack for dessert. Every now and then he opts for a wrap or a baguette instead.

Snack when he got home was tortilla chips, cucumber and a glass of milk.

Dinner was scrambled egg and two slices of toast and yoghurts afterwards - he didn't want what we were having but he usually would have whatever we were having.

My kids don’t eat that much

cereal
crackers fruit and snack at school eg fruit
(they never eat it all- no hot meals)

after school meal (eg meat potato veg)

they don’t eat that huge a portion

then usually a muesli bar or waffles or pancake before bed

Mine is 7 and a bit shorter but super slim. He eats from all the main food groups but quite a restricted diet - no sauce-based foods like bolognese.

We struggle to get him to drink enough - he mainly drinks sugar-free blackcurrant squash at home.

A typical day for him would be something like this:

Breakfast - 1 or 2 slices white toast with butter, or a couple of chocolate brioche if a weekend. Frube-style yogurts x 2.

Snack - at school this is usually cheese and crackers, or a piece of fruit.

Lunch - at home, this would be sandwiches (1 or 2 slices wholemeal bread with either butter and ham or peanut butter), crisps and an apple. At school, it’s usually the hot option though he chooses jacket potato more than I’d like.

Snack - usually biscuits/something sweet plus fruit if still hungry.

Dinner - something like spaghetti in butter and Parmesan (the closest I can get to sauce!), chicken goujons or fish fingers, plus peas and broccoli.

Supper - probably a couple of Frube yogurts plus maybe a banana or slice of buttered toast.

Ds1 I thought was 129cm but he's tall compared to his peers so might be taller. He's 23kg. Very slim.

Today -
Large bowl cheerios.
Glass milk.
Pancake.
Snack at school - buttered crumpet
Lunch - crackers, chicken, grapes, carrot, yogurt, blue riband, crisps.
After school - apple, brlvita
Dinner - creamy chicken and bacon pasta.

Today was very light on fruit and veg!

He is starving all the time because it sounds like he is trying to fuel a growth spurt hence why he isn't gaining weight. All his eating is being turned straight into energy for growth.

Wow these are really tall 7 year olds! 8 may need to feed my kids more 🤣

Not feeding him enough?

Thats a huge amount food and alot of bread

DS is 7 next week. He's 122cm & 22kg so he is skinny but he can always ask for seconds and has plenty of energy so it must just be his build.

breakfast: 2 slices of whole meal toast & berries or 2 weetabix & berries

snack: banana

lunch: school lunch or sandwich & cherry tomatoes

snack: pancake & fruit

dinner: Spag bol / macaroni / sausages, mash etc

Ok, ignoring the fact that he has the same measures as my 9 year old (DH and I are considerably shorter than you and your DH), i have learnt after 12 years of bringing up 2 very active boys to just go with the flow with how much they eat as they're pretty good at self regulating.

My 9 year old once grew about 7cm without putting on a single kg.

When on a growth spurt I do make sure that the extra food is balanced (so not just biscuits).

Cereals do not fill them up (unless options like weetabix).

Homemade bread is fantastic at filling them up. I bought a bread machine for this reason and its so quick and easy to use.

Fruit is good but they eat more veg than fruit.

I also make loads of cakes and biscuits every week (they freeze well). We re currently on holiday and shop bought biscuits and cake just do not fill them up as well, plus its all ultra processed food.

Plain yogurt (shouldn't have more than 4 or 5 ingredients), cheese, hard boiled eggs, sandwiches,....

DS1 is 7 and 138cm.

Breakfast usually cereal with milk or two slices of toast with jam / marmite / cream cheese. Yoghurt. Some fruit - grapes or strawberries.

Snack at school - usually malt loaf or crackers or a fruit winder.

School lunch with pudding

Snack after school - might be crisps or biscuits or a homemade cake.

Dinner - toad in the hole or pasta or chicken with chips or or mash, with a veg or two. Pudding might be yoghurt or fruit or an ice lolly.

I have a DS who is 7 and 139cm.

the food intake you list above is normal imo. Mine is also very tall and skinny but broad and strong from sports. I’m not worried about his weight because he has good muscle tone but he does look extremely lanky at the moment!!

Mine goes to a “free school” where parents are needed to help run it, so I do school dinner duty a couple of times a term. It’s interesting to see what the kids actually eat. He may be coming home hungry because the food is grotty, or the portion sizes aren’t big enough (our school ticks both, sadly). So may be eating less than it seems as he is having most of his calories at home.

My son’s 9 but yes he ate like this at 7 and still does. He’s a fairly skinny bean so I assume he uses all the calories. He is always on the move though- rolling about the floor, on the trampoline, spinning on his chair while watching TV, even fiddles with his hands constantly….so he must use a lot of calories.

My 7 year ild ds is always hungry.
This is what he ate today

Breakfast: large bowl rice krispies
Snack: 1 slice toast & banana
Lunch: 2 rolls and sausage & small haribo
Snack: breadsticks & veg sticks
Dinner: homemade chicken pie, mash and mixed veg and ice cream for pudding
Supper: fruit bar & glass of milk