How many calories should a 3.5 yr old have a day?

[goldenpears]

I’ve googled and it’s saying 1000-1400, 1200-1600 and one says 1165 -1145?

Does anyone have a more specific number for a 3.5 year old as some are for 1-3 or 1-4 yr olds and I need to know
tia

Well it depends on how active they are. My son walks several miles a day and also balance bikes for a couple of hours. My friends three year old might go to the park for half an hour a week. He obviously needs a lot more than she does.

Why do you need to know? For medical reasons?

it depends on why you want to know? if you have been told to restrict your childs calories, you would assume that you are under the care of a professional and they will advise. i'm really hoping its not because you think your child is FAT! i would think at 3 and a half years old, the parents would be better placed teach their child healthy relationships with food, and instilling good meal time practices, such as fruit and veg etc rather than calorie deficit!

I just wondered what the recommended daily amount was as I see for adults it’s about 2000 calories but I just wanted to know what the recommend amounts for children were

Just for an average 3.5 year old and probably walking 1-2 miles a day so not that active. I’m just looking for a rough idea as when I’m googling it’s not very specific

But why do you want to know? What's the reason?

Just feed them to their appetite - 3 meals a day generally and some snacks in between if need be. You know to focus on fresh foods , good carbs and healthy fats yes?

That's all you need to do.

Anything else - unless under medical advice - smacks of control and an eating disorder that you're in danger of passing on

To check that it’s the right amount of food ?

Obviously I’m aware to give fruits and veg and healthy food . I just wanted to check as I thought knowing an amount of calories that’s recommended would be helpful to double check. I know what I give at home and I get told at nursery each weekday what’s been eaten and there’s a menu but I wanted to double check and make sure. Jumped quite a few centiles recently in a short space of time and I’m struggling to see why so thought I’d keep a record and try to accurately work it out ?

Honestly- you don't need to do this. Just apply common sense.

you appear savvy enough to me to be able to tell if you are feeding your child too much or too little?

it worries me that at 3.5 years old you want to introduce a calorie controlled diet!

This!!!!

You don't need to be thinking about calories for a child. As long as they're eating majority healthy food, don't worry!!! You'll soon know if they're eating too much, and if it's too little they'll soon tell you that too!!!

If they have jumped for weight have they also jumped for height? If so and everything is roughly the same e.g. 75th centile for height and weight then that's fine, they've had a growth spurt. If they are suddenly 2nd for height but 75th for weight then yes, they are probably having too much. They'll eat until they feel full so just swap some snacks for more filling healthy options like a banana instead of crisps etc.

Best advice I had was to let them lead.

My daughter had some days where she picked and didn't eat much at all, other days she was like a bottomless pit! Probably a growth spurt or something. But as long as he seems healthy and happy, and he has regular access to food and healthy snacks you can't go wrong

Breakfast each day is at home and is either porridge (made with 4oz oat milk) and banana or Greek yogurt (110g pot) and banana or little banana pancakes made with one egg and one mashed banana (loves banana as you can see)

Nursery do breakfast but I’ve been told she doesn’t have anything it’s out for the children who do have breakfast there but as she has at home she doesn’t there.

nursery offer toast and fruit mid morning but are often vague about how much has been eaten. Lunch they have things like shepherd pie, baked potatoes , curry pizza and always some kind of dessert (they have cake but it’s made with vegetables in) .
Tea at nursery is usually pitta, crackers, toast, veg sticks , houmous ,cheese, fruit and/or yogurt.

When home from nursery : 4 oz cup of oat milk and if hungry (which is not always the case) might have some apple and banana.

At weekend at home lunch is usually breadsticks , a little pot of cream cheese (the individual Philadelphia ones), houmous , veg, berries or pesto pasta with some chopped up chicken in.
Dinners are things like salmon veg or chicken and sweet potato mash etc so healthy

Its hard to ask nursery for more info as they say they are so busy and they give a rough idea of what was eaten

It will depend on their height and activity levels. I have tall children and my youngest walk to nursery, walks home at lunch time, often does some thing physical in the afternoon and then walk to school and back again to pick up older DC.

Some of her nursery friends are driven every where and are 2/3 her height.

No im not looking to control calories I was just trying to find out the recommend amount to use as a guide by doing a food diary and calculating in case I was making a big mistake somewhere

I have 4 boys and just fed to their appetite sometimes they’d want more sometimes less, limit fatty/processef/sugary foods to treats occasionally but I didn’t think about it much otherwise

They should be doing 3 hours of exercise a day at this age.

I’m just wondering if she’s eating a lot of toast something at nursery, it’s on offer a lot and I just wasn’t sure if maybe there’s a simple explanation as her height is not much different so not an overall growth spurt

Diet sounds fine (and a lot better than my fussy three year olds!). I'd probably give it a few months and see if her weight steadies again.

Yes I’ll keep an eye on it I just thought perhaps there was a number I could go by to work it out if she was getting the right amount

You really don't need to know unless there are serious concerns about her diet and weight. If you haven't noticed any problems, and nursery haven't said anything, then she's fine.

If you worry at any point that she's not eating to the extent that she's losing weight, call your health visitor or see your doctor.

Follow their lead.
At that age, my oldest ate: breakfast at home, breakfast at nursery, snack, lunch, seconds, sometimes thirds, nursery tea, dinner at home, and sometimes supper. He's slender, and active.

His younger brother ate less, and was a more typical shape.

Most kids eat less again, and are perfectly healthy.

But you don't know how much they're burning. So a child could eat xxx calories and weigh one thing, another child eat the same but weigh something different if they're more
/less active etc. don't obsess about it.

Yes that’s very true. I think I was just hoping for a general guide