| Author | |
SusanJ
Forum All-Star
Joined: May 25 2007
Location: New Jersey
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1347
|
| Posted: Feb 03 2010 at 11:46am | IP Logged
|
 |
|
I'm wondering what a normal amount of food is for a 5yo boy? Mine seems like a bottomless pit lately. He's not big on breakfast but the rest of the day he seems to just eat and eat and eat. Three and four helpings at dinner sometimes. Is there any fear of a kid overeating?
__________________
Mom to Joseph-8, Margaret-6, William-4, Gregory-2, and new little one due 11/1
Life Together
[URL=http://thejohnstonkids.blogspot.com]The Kids' Blog[/UR
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
JodieLyn
Forum Moderator
Joined: Sept 06 2006
Location: Oregon
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 12234
|
| Posted: Feb 03 2010 at 12:02pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
I don't know how much they should be eating. But yes they can overeat. And I would point out that when people go on diets one of the big things often mentioned is.. if you don't eat a good breakfast, then you're more inclined to overeat the rest of the day.
If he doesn't care for breakfast foods.. there really isn't anything wrong with feeding him a bean burrito for breakfast or leftovers or whatever.
__________________
Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
-Sir Walter Scott
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
CrunchyMom
Forum Moderator
Joined: Sept 03 2007
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 6385
|
| Posted: Feb 03 2010 at 12:05pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
That said, they can eat a lot when their growing!
__________________
Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
My Symphony
[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
JodieLyn
Forum Moderator
Joined: Sept 06 2006
Location: Oregon
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 12234
|
| Posted: Feb 03 2010 at 12:06pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
oh yes, that is true Lindsay. Mine go through times when they eat more or less etc. And there are always meals that get eaten more.. or less  
__________________
Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
-Sir Walter Scott
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
hylabrook1
Forum Moderator
Joined: July 09 2006
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 5980
|
| Posted: Feb 03 2010 at 1:40pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
Agreeing with both Jodie and Lindsay. Adding: (and I'm sure you already realize this) try and make sure what he eats is wholesome, vitamin rich, good for you type of choices. Maybe if he started with eating something more likely to fill you up, like an apple, or that was a little more time-consuming to eat, (like a cut up apple?), or taking the extra time to dip pieces of cut up apple into some peanutbutter, he wouldn't have time to overeat? Just thinking about my own eating habits  , I know that if something is *down the hatch* too quickly, I'm prone to just eat more. If he eats a lot even then, it's most likely a growth spurt. And those can definitely make a child eat some amazing amounts of food!
Peace,
Nancy
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
SusanJ
Forum All-Star
Joined: May 25 2007
Location: New Jersey
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1347
|
| Posted: Feb 03 2010 at 2:34pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
Thanks for the feedback. I'm worried because he isn't as active as other kids his age. He's in and out of his wheelchair a lot through the day and for awhile we wondered if he tended to eat more when he was "stuck" at the table because he'd asked to sit in a regular chair. But since then we've been making sure that he's always in his wheelchair and it doesn't seem to make much difference. He just very much has a "stay put" mentality.
That said, breakfast is oatmeal M-F which he just doesn't really care for. I'm a "take it or leave it" person when it comes to meals but I should be better at having apples or something on hand to give him a choice. Saturday and Sunday we often have something like pancakes. We also eat a few hours later but he'll eat a LOT of those. Yesterday's lunch was homemade pasta and cheese which he requested four helpings of (I stopped him after three). Today's lunch was half an apple to dip in peanut butter and he left a slice of apple behind on his plate.
So I think I need to get him more fruits and veggies and then not stress too much.
__________________
Mom to Joseph-8, Margaret-6, William-4, Gregory-2, and new little one due 11/1
Life Together
[URL=http://thejohnstonkids.blogspot.com]The Kids' Blog[/UR
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
DominaCaeli
Forum All-Star
Joined: April 24 2007
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 3711
|
| Posted: Feb 03 2010 at 2:43pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
One thing I'll do now and then is take a sample day's meals or two and total up the calories to see if they're within a normal range for their age. It just gives me something to go off of. I don't like meal time going on *too* long, but I also don't denying them when they insist they're still hungry. The calorie count gives me a rough idea of whether I'm being unreasonable.
I usually don't allow second or third helpings of main dishes (or snack foods) but will instead allow them just about as much vegetables as they want after a meal--they'll usually only eat more veggies if they're genuinely hungry. And if they do go for the vegetables for several days in a row, I then know to start upping their main dish portions accordingly, since they really aren't getting full.
__________________
Blessings,
Celeste
Joyous Lessons
Mommy to six: three boys (8, 4, newborn) and four girls (7, 5, 2, and 1)
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
melanie
Forum All-Star
Joined: June 28 2007
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 563
|
| Posted: Feb 08 2010 at 7:18pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
If his weight is normal and this hasn't been going on too long, you might wait it out. My kids go through spurts like this. I have one, though, that is overweight and would eat like a freight train at every meal if I let him...especially carbs. He's on a medication that makes this worse, could that be a possibility with your son? Otherwise, for this one, I do limit foods that he tends to purge on especially, and if he insists that he is really still hungry I will have him drink something if he hasn't done that in a while, and then tell him to wait 15 minutes and if he's still hungry he can have something more. He almost always forgets about it. He eats so fast too, I think it takes him a while to feel full.
__________________
Melanie
homeschooling Maria (13yo), Kain (10yo), Jack (5yo), Tess (2yo), and our newest blessing, Henry Robert, born 4/23!
slightlycrunchycatholic.blogspot.com
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
sewcrazy
Forum All-Star
Joined: Aug 17 2006
Location: Illinois
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 735
|
| Posted: Feb 08 2010 at 8:31pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
My 5 year old eats more than I do a day by A LOT! But he is skinny, so I rarely deny him food. He eats a lot of protein and good fats and is generally a good eater, he is just in a state of perpetual motion
__________________
LeeAnn
Wife of David, mom to Ben, Dennis, Alex, Laura, Philip and our little souls in heaven we have yet to meet
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
SallyT
Forum All-Star
Joined: Aug 08 2007
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 2489
|
| Posted: Feb 08 2010 at 10:24pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
My now-7-year old suddenly upped his food intake around that age. The transition from erratic-light little-kid eating to BOY eating was really kind of startling. He is a very physically active kid, but then, he had been just as physically active when he wasn't eating so much, so I put it down to growth. It's gone in waves since then, but overall, that was the age when he began to eat like an older child and not like a preschooler.
I just try to keep healthy food at the table, and to provide some kind of easy filler -- with two boys (and my oldest always had a big appetite; I don't remember a marked transition in his eating, until he hit adolescence and started scooping the contents of the entire fridge straight into his mouth), that just seems to be a must. Rice, pasta, potatoes . . . anything to fill them up, after they've had a couple of helpings of the main course.
__________________
Castle in the Sea
Abandon Hopefully
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
|
|
4Real Forums : Mothering and Family Life
Topic: how much does a 5yo eat?
