Do you limit how much your kid eats every day?

kertybird · February 2009

DD is a big eater, she loves to snack and still has 2 big meals a day. She also always wants whatever we are eating. I have started trying to cut back her snacks because I would hate to have her get in the habit of constantly needing to eat when she bored. Am I overly concerned for no reason?

Ciarrai · February 2009

I do that. DD is tiny but I don't want her snacking constantly or just because she's bored. She tends to say she's hungry whenever she's tired or bored. I limit her to two (fairly large) snacks a day and our regular three meals. She rarely eats dinner so I've tried to make her afternoon snack a little smaller, but other than that, she has to wait between meals.

Mrs.JDD · February 2009

I don't limit what Claire eats, but she's 50th %tile for height and 45th for weight, so it's not really an issue. If the doctor is concerned about her being too big (which I doubt is possible, given the little cutie in your sig, haha

then I would limit her food. It doesn't sound like you need to limit her, though, unless she keeps asking for junk-then I'd steer her towards healthier choices. Two meals a day plus snacks really isn't a lot...if she only has 2 meals a day, which meal is she skipping in lieu of snacks?

CleoKitty · February 2009

No. Both of my kids are technically considered to be extremely underweight so if they want to eat they get food pretty much at anytime. I don't care if they eat large snacks and smaller meals, I just make sure that the snacks are healthy.?

marrymemylove · February 2009

Assuming she's not snacking on McDs or chips or other junk I think its way too young to cut back. Kids eat when they're hungry and stop when they're not. Its normal for them to graze rather than eat set meals. As long as what they eat is healthy its fine.

I would not even think about limiting snacking until near school age.

As I said, this is all assuming she's not eating any junk.?

JOEBunny · February 2009

Just make sure you are offering her healthy food and be done with it. Kids her age should not be limited in how much they eat.

If you are feeding her junk, even stuff like goldfish, which has a lot of sodium, among other things, and not a lot of nutrition, I would switch to fruits, veggies, and whole grains, like oatmeal instead of a granola bar. DD is super small and underweight, so I try to make every calorie count, which isn't to say she never gets a donut, but I try to make sure she has mostly nutritional dense foods.

wellfleet04 · February 2009

I don't limit her at meals, but I don't really offer her snacks, either. If she didn't eat a good breakfast I might offer her a mid-morning snack, but usually I just wait and see if she asks for food before I make it available. She very rarely has a snack between lunch and dinner, and never eats after dinner. I do sometimes limit one element of dinner if she's gorging on one thing at the expense of another (i.e. tonight she was eating a TON of rice and ignoring the fish and veggies on her plate, so once she finished the rice and asked for more I told her to try the fish and veggies first).

She always wants what we're eating, too, so we don't eat in front of her except at meal times. If we want to eat something like chips that we don't want her to eat a ton of, we wait until nap or after bedtime.

Angela814 · February 2009

No, but I do try to offer her only healthy choices. If she finishes her goldfish crackers, she can have fruit or a veggie, etc.

DandelionMom · February 2009

I only limit the junk. ?If it is healthy, they can have as much as they want. ?

Ashley&Bryan · February 2009

No. The only snack I try to limit her on is the one she wants right before dinner. Just bec. she fills up and won't eat what I'm making. I think DD went thru a big growth spurt right before she was 2, and then turned picky for a little while. Seeing your DD's age, I would probably just let her eat if she's hungry.

CVC · February 2009

They eat 3 meals and 1 snack. Sometimes in the car I'll give them crackers. But I don't have food out for grazing for any of us.

Halo79RN · February 2009

3 meals 2 snacks a day... the only thing I limit is milk and junk food like cookies or chips. otherwise , EAT! my kids are underweight , ds is around the 20th percentile for wt (21lb 6oz at 15 m), dd is 5th percentile (only 26lb at her 3 yr well visit). I have even let them eat more junk food just b/c they are so tiny.

Amanda&Chris · February 2009

With DS I do because one of his "symptoms" is that he doesn't recognize fullness, so I monitor it for him.

With DD, I would do anything just to get her to eat, so I don't limit her at all.

If you want an alternative to just raw fruits and veggies, fruit leather or dried fruit are good alternatives. Trader Joes has both with no added ingredients like sugar, preservatives, etc.

Starr_Mom · February 2009

No. DS eats early dinner with his DCP, wants a snack when we get home and almost always eats a little of whatever we have for dinner. He technically has breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, DCP dinner, snack and late dinner. He's not overweight by any means, and I know he burns it all. On days when he is home with me all day, he doesn't eat as much. I assume it's because at DC he runs around like a maniac and requires more calories to keep going. It all evens out and he eats relatively healthy snacks (other than the Cheetos that DH shares with him!). Unless my pedi specifically told me there was a weight concern, I would not worry about limiting food.

A-baybride · February 2009

Not yet, but she's a chunk, so I'll see what her doctor says at her 2 year appt. I assume he'll have us switch to lowfat milk, cheese, yogurt, etc. Her snacks and meals are pretty healthy and she's quite active, so I'm hoping as she gets older she'll slim down on her own without the pain of having to track and limit calories.

Zenya · February 2009

I wouldn't limit food unless my child was overweight. And I don't really' understand why you would limit it unless that were the case.

DS is slim and I do limit junk obviously but he can have as much 'good' food as he wants. Some days he eats nothing. The past 2 days he's been eating a ton. It's actually irriating me b/c I do nothing but make him food! I guess it's a growth spurt or something.

P.G.&A.M. · February 2009

I don't, but DS doesn't tend to eat much and he's really lean. Half the time I wish he would eat a little more than he does.?When he actually asks me for food I know he's hungry.

cornichon · February 2009

As many have said before, I only limit junk food. ?Otherwise, she can eat as much as she wants. ?DD is tiny and eats all the time as well. ?She just has a really high metabolism ( lucky girl!) ?I really don't want to limit her eating because she needs to put on weight and I also don't want her to develop an unhealthy attitude about food... ?

As long as your meals and snacks are healthy and that she isn't developing a weight problem, I would not limit her food intake. ?

annak23 · February 2009

We have stopped snacking during the day (that was when she wanted what we were eating) & we have started eating meals together (vs. grab your own & go), so if she wanted what we had, she had the same on her plate. But during actual meal times, I keep feeding her if she is still hungry...no junk food, though. The only thing she would get between meals is milk & I usually keep it to 1 sippy cup so that she's hungry for the next meal.

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