15m old eating me out of house and home!

[ecossegirl91]

For what feels like the past 3 weeks or so my 15m old is eating like an athlete! He was born on the 80th centile for weight and 97th for height. He saw the HV about 4 weeks ago and is currently 91st percentile for both height and weight - he’s about 26lbs.

im just concerned I’m overfeeding him! These past few weeks he seems like a bottomless pit. He self feeds himself with hands and fork so it’s not like I’m feeding him! He eats dinner alongside side us and I just leave him to it and then I look over and he’s done 😅😂

then more often than not he points at my plate and starts helping himself!
he’s at nursery 3 x per week and seems to have seconds/thirds of every meal - the staff often comment on his “healthy appetite” 🙈

he doesn’t look chubby - minus his pot belly! 😂

can you over feed a self feeding toddler?

Are you sure you don't have my child? 👶

Honestly it's fine. Some kids just have a bigger appetite. In a few months he'll probably get really fussy with food and appetite will start to decrease when he stops growing so quickly.

I misread this as 15 YEAR old. Sorry, no advice but teenagers will give a whole new meaning to eat you out of house and home, THEN outgrow their school uniform by October half term!

At that age, DS1 has breakfast at home. Breakfast, lunch, tea at nursery (usually with seconds, often with thirds), tea and supper at home.
He sat (and still sits) on the 9th centile as a teen.
Some kids just eat more. Some seem to live of fresh air.
If you are feeding him sensible food, let him get on with it.
If you are feeding him mainly crisps and haribo maybe switch things up a bit.
If I thought they were bored rather than hungry, I'd offer DS1 a banana. DS2 got offered cereal. If they ate those I knew they were hungry and would let them have something more popular afterwards. Is there something he will eat but isnt popular? Try offering that if you think he can't possibly want more food.

No advice @ecossegirl91 but you might want to up your food budget just now. Mine started about the same time as yours and is now 3 and has never stopped 😅😳
He’d easily eat far more than me in a day if given the chance 😳

My nearly two year old can eat the same size portions as his six year old sibling.

Same here. DS1 is now almost 4 and starting to eat a bit less. He will be thrilled with bananas, lentil stews etc so I def think he is hungry rather than bored. It's astonishing how much toddlers can eat and often more than me. I have been told that as long as they are losing their bellies and fat by the time they are approaching school, it isn't anything to worry about and they are good at self regulating. We have made a big effort to avoid sugary stuff, juice, fizzy drinks, etc and eat properly st the table to avoid it getting out of control though!

As long as it’s good food he’s having I wouldn’t worry. My DS was the same at that age, a huge child in the 90th+ centiles for height and weight. He would sit and just eat continuously for 45 mins to an hour at 15 months, accepting everything that was on offer. I would eventually just have to call time on mealtimes as I had other things to do with my time than feed him all day! One thing I would say is make sure he’s getting loads of protein. I used to always offer peanut butter at the end of every meal on apple slices/ rice cakes/ stirred into porridge for added protein to keep him full for longer

My grandson could, and still can, eat for England. Nothing of him. They quickly learned at nursery never to leave the plate of toast to be shared by all within his reach! His father, my son, was taken to the doctor at weaning age, when I asked if it was ok to feed such a tiny baby the same amounts as his sister ate. She was 4 with a healthy but normal appetite. The doctor laughed and said he bet I was seeing some nappy action! My old Dad (in his 90s now) is the same. Nothing he likes better than an "all you can eat" buffet. And the amount he can put away is astonishing! No one in our family (except me, and I don't eat a lot, how unfair is that? ) is overweight, or ever has been. Some people just need to eat a lot.

Mine was 1st percentile and never had a big appetite but I specifically remember that changing dramatically at this exact same age. I can't really comment if he's overweight. I think only a doctor can really answer that to be honest. But mine jumped from 1st to 20th percentile seemingly over night. She was practically a vacuum. We weren't complaining though. Honestly she really needed to put on weight as she was all skin and bones! But she also went through a lot of brain development. She started speaking a lot and I noticed when she goes through big growth spurts she gets killer insomnia. It's as if her brain just can't shut down even though it really wants and needs to. All that and she learned to run and she was running around constantly. Lol!