Is my 15m old eating too much?

[superstarglo]

I just have no frame of reference? What’s everyone else doing?

Breakfast:
Bottle
Banana, Soreen Bar, couple of biscuits/ breadstick

PM Snack:
Little bag of snack a jacks

Lunch:
Little dish/ M&S kids meal with extra mixed veg

PM Snack:
Some kind of water based fruit
and a couple of biscuits/ breadstick/ cheese cubes

Dinner:
Homemade bolognese/cottage pie/ rice and chicken
Mini milk for pudding

Bottle and bed

He’s quite a big boy, 85cm and 2 stone. Thanks

@CorBlimeyGovnr he's my third, other 2 we're breastfed so it's been hard knowing what to do with this one. he has big tantrums for his bottle come 2pm. I think he just expects it before his nap. Think will replace with water

@continentallentil Yes i agree all kids eat differently but was just confirming what the hv said is right and enough food for that age. Doesn't mean her toddler won't eat more than that though.

I wouldn’t say it’s too much, in fact I’d say too little of the right foods. Try to include more natural foods and less processed options. They don’t always eat them but it’s good to offer

Healthy food for kids is a bit different to healthy food for adults. They need fats and calories for growth and development so full fat milk, cheese, yogurt are all good.
Too much sugary stuff is a bad idea as it gives them blood sugar spikes. I'd swop the Soreen and biscuit for something like Weetabix or porridge.

This is what mine was having around then. 3 meals, 2 snacks and some milk each day.
www.nhs.uk/start-for-life/baby/weaning/what-to-feed-your-baby/over-12-months/

Dairy of a source of calcium, protein and vitamin A as well as the fats needed for growth. Too much fat isn’t good but replacing it with too many simple sugars isn’t good either.

I suspect he’s probably over the daily recommended amount of sugars for his age by the time he’s finished breakfast. Or at least he’s had most of it. I’d swap the malt loaf and biscuit for a slice of toast and butter / nut butter, a lower sugar cereal e.g. weetabix, porridge, soft boiled egg and soldiers, scrambled egg on toast - depending on what you have time for in the morning and what he’ll eat. It might look like less food but it’ll take longer to break down so keep him fuller for longer.

Way too much sugar and the sticky nature of the Soreen bar makes them death to teeth.

We did a 'treat' pudding once a week - so mini milk, ice lolly, ice cream, rice pudding, steamed sponge and custard - type stuff. The rest of the time pudding was fruit and/or natural yogurt.

I'd may be do a Soreen bar a couple of times a week as a snack. The snack a jacks are a bit pointless, you could do breadsticks or veg sticks as a snack then. I used to make cheese straws but cut them into different shapes and freeze. Get a few out at a time to take with us as a snack.

Breakfast varied depending on time. Nursery usually offered Weetabix. At home I'd do Weetabix or toast with nut butter if short of time, if had a bit longer then porridge or boiled egg and toast.

Lunch was either something like beans on toast with cucumber/tomato/pepper or a cheese, chicken or ham sandwich. Made with one slice of bread. Again with cucumber/tomato/pepper. It was pretty similar to what we were having.

Tea was whatever we were having.

I think it's too much crap tbh.
Biscuit at breakfast or a soreen bar? No way.

Do be careful with the dairy. my little ones get constipated so fast with too much dairy.

Kiwi fruit is good to negate that.

Omelettes are a great lunch or dinner but also constipated so I always serve it with cucumber or say watermelon for desert.

static1.squarespace.com/static/59f75004f09ca48694070f3b/t/60b7aaadaa8ef9068ca33757/1622649524634/Good+Food+choices+May+2021+for+web.pdf

This is a great document that explains portion sizes and gives a visual.

I'd say you're currently feeding a lot of processed foods that are high in sugar.

Oats and fruit for breakfast would be better.

What the HV said is correct. He'd be better off with a plain digestive than kids biscuits thats filled with sugar.

Same with porridge, baby/toddler porridge is filled with crap... why not just give plain oats.

Is bread even actually healthy though?

Yes not least as it's fortified in the UK. Carbs are a really important part of a small child's diet.

HVe a look at First Steps Nutrition. They are a completely independent charity and have excellent ideas of what to feed children of this age.

Does he run around much in the day ?

I'd only be giving biscuits as an afternoon snack if at all

Breakfast would be cereal or toast

Lunch sandwich with cherry tomatoes, carrot and cucumber, yogurt, apple for desert

Snack - ice pop or fruit, bread sticks

Evening - whatever you're eating followed by yogurt, fruit or in this weather ice cream

I never gave them biscuits at home at that age mainly because I don't have a sweet tooth so they were never around

Grapes make a great snack because they're like sweets

Mine only ever drank water at home till secondary school (because their nursery and primary school only let them have water) then they got fruit juice and squash.

Oh yes and if the bottle is milk you absolutely have to brush their teeth afterwards because they go rotten really easily

Bread is fine as part of a balanced diet

Go for the 50/50 bread or basic wholemeal

Then if he's ok with that multi-seed bread or granary etc

Scrambled eggs are great for lunch or breakfast with or without bread

Each main meal should fit in the palm of their hand which is the size of their stomach if you're unsure about portion size

They eat such varying amounts though.

My 15m old is on the 2nd centile and typically has:

porridge
second breakfast of 2 bowls of cornflakes
fruit and crackers am snack
2 x veg noodles for lunch
fruit and breadstick snack
2x pasta and pesto
evening meal (kedgeree, dhal etc)

For a 15-month old with a large appetite I would do:
breakfast: 1 x scrambled egg on toast spread with butter, cup of full fat cows milk, half a banana, water
morning snack: blueberries and rice cakes with peanut butter
lunch: spaghetti bol, full fat natural yoghurt, water
NAP
afternoon: bottle plus the other half of the banana
dinner: fish fingers and mash potatoes with peas, water
bedtime: bottle

Grapes make a great snack because they're like sweets

🤣sure

Don't get taken in by adult notions of 'healthy' eating eg things like reducing carbs. Children need carbs for growth, brain development and energy. They're constantly on the go. Carbs like bread, pasta, potatoes, rice are absolutely fine.
It's the sugary carbs you want to watch out for.

My son is 20 months now but his diet hasn't really changed since he was your son's age. He's very tall for his age and has been 98-99th percentile in height and weight since he was a few weeks old.

He always has the same breakfast of porridge with berries, peanut butter and yoghurt mixed in.
He doesn't eat much at lunch time but he has something light like bread sticks with humus or baked beans and toast or cheese sticks and fruit or scrambled eggs or else homemade pizza wheels with veg and bean toppings. Whatever I give him at lunch time he'll usually only eat a small portion of it.
Dinner is always different but maybe something like salmon with mixed veg, roast chicken with veg and sweet potato slices, chicken tikka, spag bol, curry, cheesy pasta bake etc.
He doesn't really take snacks between meals but has the odd biscuit, avacado slice or rice cake. He does around drink 120ml of milk before his afternoon nap and before bed too.
Breakfast and dinner are when he eats the most, he has a long 3 hour nap in the afternoon and just never seems to be in the mood for lunch after waking up from it.

Basically I don't worry about the amounts he's eating because he decides for himself how much he wants. All I can do is offer the food. There's the odd day where he eats very little but that's okay too, the food is there if he wants it.

Toddlers need more fat than adults getting 30 to 40 % of their calories from fat which is why they have full fat milk Dairy must be equivalent of a pint minimum. They do not need added sugars or salts both of which are too high in processed foods.