question about 4yr eating.....

[mummydreamer]

ok, i know i've posted a bit about my kids and their eating habits, but seriously, it's kind of ridiculous. People notice!!! whenever people come around or i go there, people are always saying 'do your kids always eat so much?' or "do they always ask for so much food?' it's kind of embarrassing, my DD is kind of a joke around my town it used to be that i would turn up to playgroup on a tuesday and the mums would say 'oh here's your kids chance to eat for the week' cause they just used to eat sooooo much food at playgroup....

so anyway, please tell me, do you think this is a lot for a little 4 years old girl to eat:

1 bowl porridge
1 bowl plain mini wheats
Le snak
handful grapes
apple
bowl yoghurt
doritos and salsa
vegemite and cream cheese sandwich on multigrain bread
watermelon pieces
packet chips
4 strawberries

and dinner will be spaghetti bolognaise

ok cause it seems like a lot to me? especially the fact that, NO JOKE, every 5 minutes she is coming up to me and asking me for food, and i have to force her to wait a little bit before i get her more food......

i would like to think that this is a growth spurt.....but she seems to always be like this! just wondering if anyone else's tiny 4 year old DD is sending them broke in the pantry department?

[~Kim~]

Lol, nope I don't think that's a lot at all. My DD would give her a run and then some. Most days she eats more than me, but at over 120cm tall and only 20kgs, she obviously burning it all off.
At first I was worried, I tried worming her just incase too, and have tried restricting food, but she just ends up a seriously cranky cow because she's starving. I do tell her on every second request or so to go and have a drink of water though.
Then there are days, albeit few and far between, that she hardly eats anything.

Eg here's yesterday's intake
Pear
Bowl porridge
Toast
Mooring tea but I can't remember what
Bowl of salmon mornay
Nate's leftover spagetti tin but he only had 2 mouthfuls
2 rice crackers
Few homemade bikes
Apple
Butter chicken and rice with 2 serves of rice
Watermelon and a Vickie for dessert

[~Lashes~]

nope dont sound like to much to me either, i went to playgroup last week, my 1yo & 3(almost4)yo were still at the table while all the others were doing song and story time. my eldest 2 can eat 2 bowls of cerial, a sandwich just for breakfast, they keep going like that threwout the day aswell, never ending!

[Beach Mama]

Nope it seems about the same as my chicky who would eat that much and probably more. She ate 3 pieces of toast yesterday after she had already eaten a big bowl of porridge and ate FIVE pikelets the other day as well. I think they are growing and they self-regulate, my DS is eating like a bird right now, and will eat when hungry and DD used to be the same and live off air. She even has dinner at 5:30 or so - then before bed will have a bowl (or 2 ) or cereal before bed!!!
Sounds perfectly normal darl!!

[mummydreamer]

okay....phew!! im so glad, because she generally eats good food, so it's not like she's eating junk all the time. i guess i just get paranoid because pretty much all the people i talk to make comments about it, and then tell me what their kids eat (which i don't think is that much) and so then i start to doubt myself and wonder if there's something wrong with my kids? like seriously, everyone says 'but where does all the food go??' both my kids are pretty tiny, they're pretty skinny, but they're healthy,they always have so much energy....

thanks for making me feel okay about it girls it's frustrating when other mothers make you doubt yourself.....

[Beach Mama]

It is frustrating isn't it you would think all mums would support each other knowing how hard this gig is.

Was going to say I just try as much as I can to offer healthy choices and if she has had some not so healthy stuff, then the next 5 mins when she tells me she is hungry again I will give her some fruit or something!!

[sneakysparkle]

My 4 yr old is kinda the same - forever asking for food. However, sometimes I think it can be boredom, as when she's super busy with something she can go a couple of hours without wanting anything at all!
At first I thought she might have worms (lol!) but I dont think that was it.

[Arimeh]

My 4 yr old is kinda the same - forever asking for food. However, sometimes I think it can be boredom, as when she's super busy with something she can go a couple of hours without wanting anything at all!
At first I thought she might have worms (lol!) but I dont think that was it.

Sounds exactly the same as DS. Forever asking for food - even if he has just eaten!!!!

[Caz1971]

OMG - my 3 and half yr old DS is always asking/looking for food. Opens up the pantry all the time. He will like graze all day that by the time lunch and esp dinner comes he is not interested. its so frustrating. DH thinks he has worms but I said no, thats normal. He is very active too. He loves his weetbix and will have 2 or 3.