"I'm hungry?!"

[Passthecake30]

Dd(9) and ds (10) are growing fast, and tend not to eat a huge amount at school and make up for it every evening, it's like cluster feeding all over again!
So tonight - 2 sausages, mash, veg, gravy.
Then a yogurt, hm gingerbread man, and a hot x bun each.

Sometimes it's toast, weetabix or rice cakes. Always a carb fix of some kind, as even when I convince them to have fruit, it doesn't even fill a gap.

I imagine this is normal... I'm 6ft and they therefore have a lot of growing to do, just wondered if anyone has any ideas of what else I can give them ... I feel like I am constantly shopping! I was expecting this to happen closer to the teenage years rather than now....

Yep mine are the same.
Up the protein, sliced ham, omelette, chicken pieces, peperami, hummus,cheese and crackers?
I do this but mine still graze like a herd of wild antelope in the evenings!

They also like a cheese and ham toastie, Hummus and breadsticks, boiled egg and toast...

Will plan more protein snacks to see if that helps, although at the moment they're hooked on hot x buns (and why not?!)
We try to get them to bed by 8.30ish, and they are feasting until a minute before!

Peanut butter on toast/apple slices
Oatcakes with hummus/cheese
Pitts bread with hummus/tzakiki/filled with ham and cheese
Flapjacks
Handful nuts
Granola bar
Greek yoghurt with frozen berries
Toastie pockets
Bagel with peanut butter/jam/savoury topping

Adding carrot sticks/cherry tomatoes/chopped peppers to help fill up at snack time

Bulk up meals with glass milk/freshly baked petit pain/home made soup as starter

Mine cook themselves pasta when they come home from school on most days as a “snack”

Thanks toastie.... you've come up with a few things that they like that I'd forgotten about!

I'm also planning on putting a loaf of bread on the table at all meals for a while.... I did do this a while, but they calmed down for a bit, and now have stepped it up again!

I second peanut butter on toast and cereal. I have to put my dishwasher on almost daily due to the cereal bowls.

Perfectly normal. Bread or cheese and crackers on the table as extra with or between meals. My DS’s have those pot pasta/ noodle things as an extra snack, something like crumpets, cheese on toast, pitta/ breadsticks and dips.

Crumpets
Bagels
yoghurt and fruit
rice puddings

Making sure that they are eating meals fully and plan a snack not just graze all evening - crackers, apple and cheese

Mine is 13 and due another growth spurt I think....

Gosh. I simply wouldn't give my 9 year old all that. Just because she says she's hungry doesn't mean to stuff her!

Do people really allow all of that after a proper meal?

Depends what they have eaten at school, River. My DD will only eat snacks stuff at school and half the time will leave the healthy stuff some of her lunch because she wants to get out the dining hall and play. She has breakfast but isn't too hungry first thing in the morning. She likes to eat most of her day's food when she comes home from school.

yes, my DD also doesn't eat much at school either. But I don't think loading her with calories in the evening is a great idea, or getting her into the habit of eating that much outside of mealtimes.

We had phases where I felt that DD must have multiplied based on the fast turnaround of food in the fridge.

We eat together at 7pm, so that means she has t9 have a proper snack after school, in primary the portions are tiny and now in secondary the queues are so long, she often only has a sandwich.

So at home she will have a cereal bowl and fruit around 4.15pm and then dinner with us. But dinner is a full adults portion at these hungry times.

Then suddenly it is all over again but 1-2 weeks later we can see that she grew an inch or two. And a couple of months later it all starts again.

surely it would be better for her to have her dinner earlier?

Both mine are same! We don’t eat till later either due to work/ kids activities etc the fact that an attempt to make themselves anything other than a snack ends in danger haha

Yep it is like locusts have ravaged the kitchen some days! Ds's seem to eat ridiculous amounts. Struggle to get them to eat breakfast, they eat lunch minimal then seem to eat all afternoon. Amazed at the amount they can put away! One ds is skinny beanpole with a sixpack and one has a healthy BMI of 22, so I am not overly concerned. Plus they ride almost two miles each way to school each day. I make sure their food is balanced across the week though and prompt them to eat more fruit and veg if I feel it is lacking.

I agree with peanut butter on wholemeal - filling and doesn;t spike their sugar levels. Also, chepa and filling - buy a bag of popping corn, add melted butter and salt or paprika, or a tiny sprinkling of vanilla sugar. That's filling without being refined carbs.
I went through a stage of cooking a cheap chicken and leaving it in the fridge for them to graze on when they were on growth spurts. Protein does help curb the hunger.

RiverTam, do you mean me? We ar Germans and it is perfectly normal for families to eat at that time together, the idea of a children eating early is totally unknown.

Apart from that, DH and i work and no dinner can be made before 6.30pm.

There is nothing wrong with a decent snack. I couldn’t imagine that a child can last from 5-6pm until the next morning.

river I'm pretty sure their calorie requirements are similar to mine, however, due to school and being at the childminders, they are forced to squeeze in their calories in about 2.5-3hours (rather than graze throughout the day as I do).
Sometimes they are not as bad, sometimes it's just one that's extra hungry... but atm when it's both it's hard work to think of loads of ideas and everyone's lists have been helpful for ideas.

Last nights snack was a cheese and ham toastie, yogurt and apple.

That's not a snack! That's a pretty calorific meal with a fair amount of saturated fat.

It just sounds like a really bad eating pattern to get into.

And yes, DD can last from 6pm till 7 or even later the next morning.

We didn't snack after evening meal but always had bread and butter on table and Mum always made epic amounts of food, so there were always leftovers / seconds of potatoes / veg. So we were always full after tea. Leftover veg went in soup / bubble and squeak for next day.

Yes, your approach sounds fine. However, everyone loves to disagree on a MN food thread.

If I were to put what mine eat on a daily basis on here I’m sure there would be a few clever comments . However, our family meals are together (yes, late as well) and always have veg or salad on them which they actually love. They mountain bike all day Saturday and play footy Sunday with two training sessions in the week and are a healthy weight and if they want a cheese and ham toastie as a snack as they are hungry, then they get one!

My DS2 is 8 and eats a huge amount of food when he gets home from school (far more than his 13 year old brother).

He usually has scrambled eggs on granary toast for breakfast with some fruit afterwards

Packed lunch at school which he very rarely eats all of (lure of football is too much!)

Then has a sandwich thin with ham and cheese with veg sticks and some mini sausages and a packet of crisps. Cereal bar (or Hot x Bun) and a banana on the way to football training (he goes 4 times a week)

Then when he gets home he has a huge bowl of pasta and sauce or homemade pizza wedges (something quick and easy) followed by yoghurt and granola. He'll then make himself a huge fruit salad followed by toast before he goes to bed.

He is genuinely hungry and isn't after rubbish...only thing is he hates humous and peanut butter so can't fill him up on that.