How Much Is Too Much?

D

ditzyscrap

New member
Natalie likes to snack all day and not eat meals. I'm REALLY trying to stop this, but maybe she needs to eat that much, I have no idea. So I'm wondering is this normal? BTW, she's 4 (will be 5 in April) and is tall and skinny.

She gets up at 7-7:30 am and wants to eat right away but I'm usually busy getting Mason ready for school so I make her wait until about 8-8:15...once he's on the bus, I can deal with her. Her typical breakfast is a large bowl full of dry cereal and a glass of milk. Today she finished that and asked for an apple - OK, at least it's healthy. She finished that and then asked for a cheese bun. I told her no, she'd already had the cereal, milk and apple, she shouldn't need more. But she's asked for it 3x since then. It's only 9:30...she shouldn't be that hungry, should she?

Normally she gets a snack and juicebox at some point in the morning (she knows Mason gets them for school and doesn't want to be left out...so instead of drinking the juice from the fridge, it HAS to be a juicebox).

When lunch comes around though, she refuses to eat. I'll make her a sandwich and she'll pick at it and barely eat any of it - even if it's one she asks for (like a honey sandwich - she doesn't get that often, but if I'm trying to get her to eat I'll allow it). Sometimes it's not a sandwich but a bowl of soup, or whatever...she just won't eat.

Naptime is 1:30-4:15 (she usually will sleep until she hears someone moving around, so I put her in my bed and I stay on the other side of the house - but she gets up as soon as she hears Mason walk in the door cause he's loud). He's asking for an after school snack, so he gets that and she gets one too.

They are usually both BEGGING for food at 5, though, like they're starving to death. Every 2 minutes it's "MOOOM, we're hungry" to which I respond the same every time "Dad will be home soon with food" (usually he gets the fresh meat for me to cook supper with, or he cooks supper for them). Supper is usually at 6-6:30 when we serve it, and Natalie again picks at it...normally right until it's bedtime (8:00).

In order to save some money, I'm trying to regulate how much she's eating (she also wastes a lot of food) - these snacks and juiceboxes and stuff are expensive and I need them for school lunches. In a normal day, she'll bring me juiceboxes 5+ times and I only allow her to have 1, so I keep putting them back...same with the snacks. I just am out of ideas...we don't have doors for our pantry right now (it's being renovated) so she can easily go in there...she shops with us so she knows what we've got in there for snacks. I don't have enough cupboards for my dishes, so putting them up high isn't an option.

Please help! Is what she's eating normal? Should I be worrying about limiting her?
 
Well for my 4 year old son this is a normal breakfast for him (at about 7:30am):

2 dippy eggs, one piece of turkey sausage, 2 pieces of whole wheat toast and a glass of juice (apple, orange grape...what ever is open). That is what he ate yesterday for breakfast.

2 packs of Maple and Brown Sugar Oatmeal, 2 pancakes (not dollar size large size :blink:) and a glass of juice. That's what he had this morning.

At 9AM he was begging for food!!! I gave him an apple and cheese stick.

I just now fed him a PB & J sandwich and a full glass of chocolate Milk.

He'll have a banana at about 3PM and then he might eat like 4 bites of dinner. It's just how his body works and really my doctor said it's how everyone should eat.....lots of good food in the beginning of the day and very little towards the end. It's why he is "lean and mean" with out an once of chub on his body. He eats a lot right beofre the busiest part of his day and then eats very little just beofre the slowest part of his day!!!
 
If she's not eating lunch well then she shouldn't get a morning snack IMO - that's how we do it at my house for sure. As far as juice boxes go - if it were me, I'd buy Mason a thermos for his juice and stop buying them all together. I am kind of hard core on that stuff though cause I have 4 kids age 8 and under and we simply cannot buy stuff like that.

Dinner is pretty late for both the kids - I know my kids would have a hard time waiting that long. If you think about it - having a preschooler isn't a lot different than having a baby - they want to eat every 3-4 hours. HA!

My preschooler (just turned 5) eats as such:

7:30ish breakfast
11:30ish lunch
3:00ish snack
5:30ish dinner
 
Yes, with our next paycheck I'm planning on getting him some of those refillable juicebox containers and just getting the bigger things of juice/milk and filling them daily. We had a whole bunch but they got lost under furniture and got nasty, so we tossed them, lol. I sent them for Kindy and I think he threw one out once...lol.
 
First of all, can you do away totally with the juiceboxes? You could get Mason and Natalie really cool reusable juice containers. My kids loooove the FooGoo ones (sippy for the little one, straw bottle for the older one) they are stainless steel, so no plastics to worry about. Some bottls are really cute. You will save so much money on just not buying juiceboxes.
Secondly, my daugther (3 1/2) does't do lunch really well either, so some days we don't have it, and I just make sure she has a healthy snack in the morning and afternoon. Try making sandwiches look like snacks by cutting them with a cookie cutter in to cute small shapes, throwing on some fruit and other things onto the plate too. Sit with her while she's eating and eat too, talk about fun things.
I think if they are still asking for food after having healthy cereal and an apple I would give it to them. She's not asking for a cookie afterall. My daughter has been on an eating kick the past month. For breakfast she will have a large bowl of cereal, a bowl of yogurt, toast with jam or peanut butter and some cut up fruit!!
I would relax and look at her food intake over the course of a day or two days. If you feed her protein in the morning she is less likely to be hungry right away. Does she do eggs? Make sure her snacks are as healthy as possible and get rid of the juice boxes. :)
 
OK, another question...we buy those little fruit cups for Mason's lunch. In a typical lunchbox he gets: 1 sandwich (ham/cheese or some other meat/cheese), 1 fruit cup, 1 pudding, 1 cheese stick, 1 granola bar. Some days he brings one item home since he ran out of time at school to eat it. He's a VERY big eater so I try to pack his lunch big...I'd rather he bring stuff home than be really hungry.

ANYWAY, would it be easier/cheaper to buy some Ziploc reusable containers and open a big can of fruit to fill them with? I need to do SOMETHING to keep these food costs down because it's starting to get ridiculous. I'm also planning on baking cookies and such so that I don't have to buy the pre-packaged crazy priced ones.

That reminds me...I was going to make muffins with Natalie today...then we'll have something exra for breakfast tomorrow... :)
 
I've read that is it actually healthier for kids to eat 5-7 small meals as they burn through calories quickly. They need to refuel often, but don't necessarily need full sized meals. I haven't really looked into the research, but that is definitely the way my son (age 4) eats and I let him as long as it is healthy stuff. However, I don't tolerate wasting food. Once he asks for something, he doesn't get anything else, except water until he's eaten it.

This is a typical day for him

7:00am - cereal, milk
9:30 - piece of fruit and more milk
11:30 - pb toast, juice
1:30 - carrots w/ dip or fruitj, water
4:00 - crackers and hummus or string cheese and a handful of nuts, water
6:00 - whatever we are having for dinner and something to drink
 
Sounds pretty normal to me! Luca is 4 and pretty much snacks all day, as long as what she is snacking on is healthy I wouldn't be worried about it. Some kids are more the grazer types then the sit down and eat three meals and two snack types. :)
 
ditzyscrap said:
OK, another question...we buy those little fruit cups for Mason's lunch. In a typical lunchbox he gets: 1 sandwich (ham/cheese or some other meat/cheese), 1 fruit cup, 1 pudding, 1 cheese stick, 1 granola bar. I need to do SOMETHING to keep these food costs down because it's starting to get ridiculous.
Click to expand...

If you need to cut down food costs, eliminate the fruit cup in favor of a piece of whole fruit. I can usually find a pretty good deal on a 5 lb bag of apples and they hold up for awhile. Grapes can be reasonably priced in season. If the cheese sticks are the individually wrapped ones, ditch them, buy a block of cheese and cut your own. Crackers would be a cheaper option over granola bars and if you look for whole grain options, you reduce sugar intake too.
 
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Sounds normal. Abby is a meal eater with occ. small snacks, but JJ grazes throughout the day and does not eat meals really.
 
The boys have regular snacks through the day but I stay on top of it because they were filling themselves up with goldfish crackers & cheese & not eating a balanced dinner (or balanced diet really when you look at the big picture,the only protein they were getting was peanut butter). I have to keep them to a time schedule or the all day eating gets out of control. In between those times they don't get to eat but they can have drinks. They eat every 2-3 hours if they are still hungry after eating a meal they can have more right then. They can't come back 30 minutes later & announce they are still hungry.

6:30 breakfast
9:00 snack
11:30 lunch
school snack around 2ish
4:30 small snack (raisins, cheese stick)
6:30 dinner

Everything but the small snack is the same portion sized, so it's like 5 small meals plus a quick bite
 
Yep, sounds normal. My daughter (also 4) asks for food all day. Like Misty, if she doesn't finish something, she can't eat again until she does (unless it's something like cereal that gets gross and soggy).

You can definitely set up a schedule like Misty's and tell her "not until this time" or whatever and she'll get used to that (although she probably will still ask for more).

I read something about having a "snack box" throughout the day. Every morning you put whatever and however many snacks in it you will allow throughout the day. Then the child can pick and choose when to eat it, but once it's empty, no more snacks for that day. I thought it was a good idea, but I am pretty sure my daughter would eat them all really fast, not eat lunch and be hungry later.

We do have a morning snack usually but not within an hour of lunch. And usually there is a light afternoon snack. I'm not great with keeping both snacks healthy, but usually at least one is fruit, yogurt, cheese, crackers, those kinds of things. But once 4:00 rolls around, no more snacks allowed (we eat about 5:30). And, no snacks after dinner for us.
 
Oh! I like the idea of the snack box. I could totally do that for her, but put it away somewhere until it's time to eat again....hmm...
 
I agree with Misty! Ditch the prepackaged stuff. Thats why its costing so much.

Cheese strings are freaking expensive! Almost $4 for 8 = $.50 each. You can buy a 900g block at Extra Foods for $8, and you get a LOT of cheese!

Definately get the re-useable juice boxes. Buy the juice frozen or get the Sunrype ones that are sugar free when they are on sale. Our Co-op has them 10 for $10 every once in a while, and we stock up!

As for Natalies snack habit, I wouldn't wait to give her breakfast. You know she's getting up at a certain time, so maybe you can quickly put together a breakfast while Mason is brushing his teeth in the morning, or when he's eating his own brekkie. If she's not up, just set it aside. I'd give her a smaller bowl of cereal and something more filling. Scrambled eggs with ham bits and cheese is really easy (use that tiny frypan I forgot at your place, lol). Just use your processor to grate a bunch of cheese and then store it in a freezer container. Then you can just grab bits as you need it. Having protien keeps you fuller longer, and isn't just empty calories like most cereal is.

Its proven too that if you skip breakfast or eat it too late in the day that you are more likely to snack throughout the day. Maybe thats her problem? If she eats first thing, she might tend to not be as hungry right away. Other than that, I have no suggestions!

Well, okay, maybe a couple. Make sure you have good, wholesome healthy snacks for her. Get some big yogurts, some granola (the NN brand honey almond granola is good... it comes in a bag in the cereal aisle, not a box). Make a yogurt parfait like they had at McD's. They are really good. Raisins, cranberries, crackers, cheese, pickles, fresh fruit. Canned fruit is awesome, but FULL of sugar. Those fruit cups especially. I ate one and was totally disgusted because it tasted like pure sugar. I get the cans of fruit that have no extra sugar, or are packed in pear juice. They are still sweet, but at least its not fake. And yes, it will save you money, especially if you buy them on sale.
 
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Both of my girls are grazers, though they are younger 18months and almost 3yr. They snack a up until about 3:30 and I cut them off. I just monitor what they snack, their favorites are frozen veggis (peas and carrots) they won't eat them fresh but they down them frozen, cheese and fresh fruit. If they don't finish their evening meal we keep it out until they go to bed and if they ask for another snack before bed they have to finish that.

I also found that when I make their lunch if I cut the sandwich with a big cookie cutter they down it. With soup if I give it to them in a cup with a straw they will finish all of it. They just need to have it changed up every few weeks to make it new and fun.

We only do juice if they are bound up or sick otherwise its water or milk. Juice is for "specail occasions" when we go out to eat :).
 
My almost 3 year old is a morning eater. His breakfast is usually cereal and then a breakfast bar or granola bar and a glass of juice. He will ask for a snack about an hour later.

Our snack rule is that you have to eat a snack out of the fridge before you can go to the pantry. The fridge snacks usually fill them up. (apples, grapes, cheese, yogurt, squeeze yogurt)

They are also allowed one juice a day and milk at the table when they want it. I keep a cup out for water that they fill when they need it.
 
Sounds like you have gotten some really great ideas so far! My philosophy, is to never withhold food - but try and offer nutritious choices whenever possible. Sometimes, my son will tell me he's hungry, and he really just wants a treat, and not "real food."

That said, kids have small stomachs, relatively the same size as their closed fist. This means smaller more frequent "mini-meals" are needed throughout the day... also their metabolisms are enviably high when they are young.
:)

I found a good recipe for homemade granola bars - much cheaper, more wholesome than packaged ones! http://preview.tinyurl.com/4445vg

Have you considered doing "bento" type lunches for your kids? They are very appealing, and interesting to kids. You can get as creative as you want with cookie cutters, etc, too. They are really great in that you can creatively use up some of your dinner leftovers! Like "Lunchables", but without all the fat and empty calories. You also have more control over the sugar content as well. :) These sites really has great ideas. http://lunchinabox.net/ & http://veganlunchbox.blogspot.com/
The authors focuses on some vegetarian/vegan menus menus, but the concept can easily be adapted to meat-eaters as well.

My son (4 years old) also likes a snack tray (muffin tin with each cup filled with different snacks) to choose throughout the day. Maybe whole grain pretzels, raisins, cut up grapes, baby carrots, hummus, bell peppers, strawberries, cheerios, cheese cubes, cut up hard boiled eggs, etc.

Maybe let her know she can choose ONE snack, and once they are gone, no more snacks! She can make choices for herself, feel empowered, and also, you can avoid the whiny snack ploys. I put ours on an easily accessible shelf in the fridge, and then can just say "Go pick out a snack from your tray honey!" Otherwise, DS picks the worst times to be "starving", like when I am nursing his sister so she will take a nap. :mad:

Also, make sure your little one isn't snacking purely out of boredom, or even thirst. I know sometimes we think we are hungry, when in actuality, we are thirsty. I tend to push water as the go-to drink for my kiddo...

With the refillable juice container suggestion, perhaps you could also consider trying diluting the juice with some ice cubes that will melt later in the day.This will keep it colder longer and make your juice budget stretch further, with the added bonus of helping eliminate extra sugar. And, for your daughter, maybe make her a "sparkler" with fizzy water, and just a little juice. (She'll cut down on the juice, and drink more water in the process.)
 
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I know that in my case, it wasn't the amount of food, but the number of times a day I was fixing food that was driving me nuts. I felt like I spent all day getting food for kids. Now we have set times, and they know that they have to wait until snack time (usually 10:30 and 4:30) to get snacks. They still ask, but they understand when I tell them it's not snack time yet. I don't give my kids juice hardly at all; they have water with snacks and milk with meals, so they don't even think of it as an option. Maybe you could get Mason a reusable drink container to take to school; that way there aren't any juice boxes in the house and she'll be okay drinking from a cup like Mason. You'll also generate less garbage that way. Also, if they're hungry before dinner, I'll let them have vegetables or fruit. Usually they're so hungry they'll wolf down vegetables that they would only pick at any other time. Also, as far as the fruit cups and pudding go, buy the large cans of fruit cocktail and the pudding mixes in the store and make his own "cups" with small, reusable food storage containers, like Gladware. Much cheaper, more healthy (since you can use the light or sugar-free versions), and, again, less trash.
 
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