Picky eater always hungry

[MumIsOverwhelmed]

I’m finding that my picky eater is constantly hungry because he doesn’t eat the right food.

What are some tips and success stories for expanding my DS11’s safe foods?

He won’t have most things that would fill him up like a cheese stick, chocolate milk, hummus, any fruit other than apple. He won’t have sauces.

He does a lot of crisps, cereal bars, etc. and will eat mostly all meat. Do I just keep cooked chicken breast on hand for him to eat after dinner if he’s still hungry?!

Protein and cheese should be filling him up really well! Is it just a quantity issue?

Jam sandwich, cereals dry or with ordinary milk

kids need carbs

Are your portion sizes big enough for him, your not the feed a family for a week with a small chicken mum are you. Or is it hes bored and hes using food as something to do

Is he getting enough food? They gave hollow legs at that age. Up the protein at dinner. Jam sandwiches are not a great idea.

Cooked chicken in the fridge is a good idea, I used to do that for DS2. Will he eat boiled eggs? I usually have a bowl of those in the fridge as well. Also unsalted mixed nuts, or pumpkin/sunflower seeds.

Children are usually getting more than enough protein partly because we obsess over it but need carbs - they are not adults with broken bodies but growing and need energy

there is so much disordered eating these days - and so much buying the latest capitalist pseudoscience

Can you list what he does eat apart from crisps, cereal bars and meat?

Haha, no, I’m not that mum! We have lots of snacks and serve healthy portions. He’ll leave food on his plate at dinner but then be hungry a couple hours later.

Pasta
burgers
chicken nuggets
rice
steak
Mac n cheese
pizza
roast potatoes
carrots
peas
cookies
chips
crisps
very basic cereal bars
cereal
Some frozen foods like mini calzones

no sauces
no jams
no fruit

Good to know! Do you have any your kids like or what would you recommend?

Ok, what does a typical days food look like?

Will he eat porridge, or have shakes/smoothies?

Does he have milk with his cereal?

What dies he drink.

What do you mean by "safe foods"?

Unless he has severe allergies there are no unsafe foods. I find your terminology odd.

Foods that he is happy to eat. It's normal terminology.

Oh, behave. There’s no way any adult of normal intelligence in 2026 hasn’t heard of “safe foods”.

Wow. Ok.

That seems unhelpful to me if it's become normal to refer to foods that kids like as "safe".

😂 do you live under a rock?

No porridge. No smoothie. No chocolate milk.

he drinks water and that’s it

I hadn't heard of this.

I'm British but live abroad so maybe that's why.

I find it really odd and unhelpful though as it suggests that foods kids don't like or don't like as much are somehow "unsafe". And that seems like a real problem to me.

Why do you keep mentioning chocolate milk?

Does he drink milk?
he has dry cereal?

No fizz, no squash, no hot drinks?

It's a sensory term that is well known.

Nope.

In a European country where kids eat all manner of things and safe foods isn't a concept. And the vast majority of kids aren't picky. Go figure.

😂 you definitely have picky eaters in these "European" countries.

Everyone seems to think that all French kids are eating gourmet food every meal... And all Italian kids are eating fresh hand made tomato pasta made by a nonna in a small kitchen...

But oddly when you go into their supermarkets they're full of junk food all marketed at kids...

French kids are given bread and jam or pastries with chocolate for breakfast... And bread and chocolate for afternoon snack...

He is possibly just saying he is hungry as he would prefer to eat cereal bars and crisps than his actual dinner. Why not save the rest of dinner and when he is hungry he can have that reheated. I think 'safe foods' is an odd thing to say too tbh if it just means the things kids like to eat.

Ugh, that old trope 🙄 only the UK has ND kids with eating issues, or ARFID, because we’re such ineffectual parents. Bore off.