Toddler constantly wants to eat?

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I feel like he can never be filled ! He eats all of his meals and has healthy snacks. He is healthy weight very active tbh we take him out a lot!

but he just loves food and tantrums for it even when he’s just ate

its hard to deal with if we go out it’s relentless if there’s like a buffet at a party or a food place he just constantly wants something

He even if he throws a tantrum (aka like dropped his toy and it annoyed him) will ask for a snack after

he walks out of nursery and asks for a snack instantly and if I don’t hand him it he tantrums right at the door while I’m getting told about his day!!!

how do I manage this? He is so strong willed and gets so upset if I say no but he just always asks and he gets fed plenty he’s really obsessed with food ?

ps . When he does tantrum or fall/trip then asks for a snack I’ve been firm on the no, as it could turn to comfort eating. But we’re trying to lessen the dummy so it’s hard :(

He’s 2.5 goes to nursery 3 day a week just for reference

Any tips please :/

Have you spoken to your health visitor?

What do nursery say - is he constantly asking for food there too?

@BertieBotts Not yet and no he does eat pretty much everything they put down! he’ll have 2nd portions sometimes too but they have never mentioned he asks for food throughout the day just say he loves it when they have a snack/meal

My almost 3 year old is the same. It didn’t really occur to me it’s a bad thing… if it’s pretty healthy stuff I think it’s fine? I’ve never been that strict on waiting for meal times it’s just another thing to try and stick to!
if my toddler isn’t at nursery I pack her a lunchbox in the morning when I make my school aged child’s one. Usually put in sandwiches, fruit, raw veg, yogurt, snack cheese, biscuits, healthy crisps or popcorn and anything else I’ve got! Then I always have something to offer her and she can ‘choose’.

often she’s eaten the whole lot by 11am so I have to make her ‘lunch’ as well later but I try!

I also feel you with the annoying demanding of food on the nursery doorstep but my child in reception comes straight out and demands food and is ravenous (she’s not normally as good eater as the toddler) so I think that is a normal thing!

One of my boys was like this he always seemed hungry even 10 minutes after a meal. I just kept the snacks to apple slices or carrot/cucumber/slices of peppers sticks with the occasional piece of cheese. Then it didn't matter if he did snack a lot. He was very active too. He did grow out of it though after he started school.

Thanks it’s as well at like grandparents houses he wants treats there and they look at me and his dad like we don’t feed him - he eats better than me!

Will try the rotation of healthy snacks. Hes currently refusing fruit other than banana and just wanting raisins but I’d rather him have some fresh fruit

and even if he’s just ate he will want to eat if we have something or he always says more

I don’t want to encourage u healthy eating and make him overweight … but also don’t want to seem like I’m restricting and encourage bad eating habits ?

Raisins and bananas are both high sugar - is he enjoying the sugar hit?

And if yes , as we all
Know , coming off sugar is painful

This is a good question. A neighbour said to me when we were chatting (I made a joke how my food bill is mostly bananas as DS loves them) she said her son used to tantrum a lot and she cut bananas out , the sugar she said

do I try other snacks ? Is he tantruming more as he usually snacks on fruit (bananas or raisins. He did/does like raspberries and blueberries but turning them away atm)

He also still likes the baby snack range so sometimes I give him smoothie melts/baby wafers S they’re low sugar I’m sure ? And don’t have anything in

Only offer him something he won’t automatically want - so fruit that isn’t what he loves for example. If he’s genuinely hungry he will eat it.

If he refuses you can rest easily knowing you aren’t starving him. If he eats it then he might just need more food.

DD is 4.5 and “always hungry”. But there’s a difference between yoghurt/cheese string hungry (favourites) than bread and butter (not favourite).

My tip is not to say "no", but to say "yes, we can do this at such and such later time". It goes down marginally better with my strong willed child.
Yes, we can have cake after dinner.
Oh a snack sounds great, would you like one with your tea? Etc

Tried some when we got in from
nursery today! He had a meltdown for a banana (but has had a whole 1 this morning so I was staying firm)

I offered him another snack he likes and I know he was hungry as he had the 2 crackers (he picked at afternoon tea they said so he’s always a bit hungry when he came in) then we said all done after this

and he was good and agreed

I think the sugar may be something to look at maybe that’s provoking melt downs when I say no?

trying my best to stay firm I don’t want to upset him but also he has to know I’m the parent and he can’t have a snack every time he asks which is sometimes right after one or a meal !

Hmmmmm … Might be a growth spurt, might be a toddler power play, might be too much carbs/sugar causing cravings/crashes or any number of things.

Hard to know which, so i’d cater for all at once and change up the energy a bit by doing a big grazing board for him. I’d empty everything out of packets so to a toddler’s eyes it looks like there’s loads to pick at and add some veggies and healthy stuff in case it’s a growth spurt.

DS: ”can I have a snack??” Expecting you to say no

You: “yes, today I’m making you a big picky plate with LOADS of snacks - it’s got to last until dinner time so help yourself but when it’s gone it’s gone!!”

then I’d empty out a bag of crisps, segment up a tangerine, empty out some raisins, chop some celery, carrots, breadsticks etc etc. add some cream cheese/hummus.

Then I’d place it at toddler height on a coffee table, with a big bottle of water, and completely ignore it for the rest of the afternoon

As an aside, I once read on an NHS page about toddler snacks & they suggested to work to this ratio for good balance: one part protein, one fruit/veg and one carb.

Eg

crackers, cheese & grapes
pitta, chicken & avocado
breadsticks, hummus & carrot
half slice of toast, egg & avocado
rice cakes, peanut butter, strawberries

Etc

I’d prob do popcorn rather than crisps actually.

Popcorn is a choking risk in under 5s

If he's asking for a snack right after a meal, how much is he having for a meal? Like what does a portion or breakfast or dinner look like? I have twins with a voracious appetite, I swear they eat their bodyweight in food! but having also got a child who's got a really restrictive diet, I try to just make sure it's decent food mostly.

Is he drinking enough? Thirst is typically misidentified as hunger so does he get enough water/squash and is he drinking things like milk to help fill him up?

i remember this stage. We would sit him down down for a proper balanced snack e.g. peanut butter on oat cakes and fruit or babybel, toast and cucumber. So veg/fruit + carbs + protein + fat.

I tried to avoid snacks j know won’t fill him up like baby rice cakes or just fruit. So he can have a snack but he has to have a balanced snack.

At age 7 we still do this! After school today he had cheese, toast and fruit. It’s a good habit to get in to.

Think it is definitely a mix of the 3, he is very very strong willed as a kid! Which is a great quality but has some cons aha!

yes thanks for the tips :)

he is good now at recognising ‘all gone’ and I’ve been showing him empty wrappers / packs / peels etc

But definitely will be looking at the bananas and raisins and offer more low sugar/savoury stuff. I think the carb/sugar crash makes the meltdowns worse

What's he actually eating during the day, is he eating enough protein?

So breakfast is weetabix or plain shreddies, with ss milk

for lunch he will have fruit cheese crackers and a low sugar yogurt
or
some scrambled eggs (no milk just whisked egg) and fruit

hes fussy with lunches as he doesn’t like bread!

for dinner we’ll have stuff like curries, pasta dishes, stew stuff or like chicken chipolata sausage and mash but I make sure he gets good a good amount of protein and it’s not just carbs

he likes any meat and fish so will have chicken , beef(including meatballs mince), prawns etc

Snacks will be fruit or a baby snack he loves the smoothie melts ? Rare occasion a pack of pom bears.

he would have chocolate and biscuits etc if I offered ! But I tend to keep snacks healthy if I can as he has good portions at meal times

he has a cup of semi skimmed milk before bed I’m unsure on oz it’s a munchkin 360 cup but he doesn’t have the lid now, it’s just in the cup

I’d focus on high protein and fibre foods: not lots of fruit or anything marketed for babies/kids - they’re all full of crap.

Yeah I do need to stop the smoothie melts - it says 6months + on the pack he’s 2 years older than that! So of course needs to have more age appropriate ones

fibre wise we use like I say weetabix or plain shreddies for breakfast, he won’t eat bread but if he did I’d use brown. Brown pasta rice etc - is there any other high fibres things I can include ?

and protein! He has eggs, meat/fish. Lacks on cheese as he isn’t too fussed on it

looking for any tips of stuff I can add xx

he walks out of nursery and asks for a snack instantly and if I don’t hand him it he tantrums right at the door while I’m getting told about his day!!!

So you hand him the snack and reward the tantrums…?

I'd be swapping low sugar yoghurt for full fat greek yoghurt with berries if he likes sweetness, full fat milk, will he have a wrap instead of bread? Can you same some dinner from the night before for lunch the next day? I think I might be tantrumming if I had cheese crackers and yoghurt for lunch 😉