My seven year old is very petite in height and weight and always has been, only weighs 45 lbs now. We don't bring up weight in our home as a conversation at all. She is just built that way. They have three meals a day, then usually two smaller snacks in between.
I am very used to growth spurts with both kids. They tend to eat a little more and sleep more. I have a son three years younger then she is that is taller and heavier then she is! Lately though I think my seven year old is going through a growth spurt and not sure how normal the amount of food she is eating is normal!
It seems like an awful lot of food and cannot keep her full. It isn't bad choices nor do I restrict sweets (they are monitored each day though) I just don't know if it is okay to have her eat so much? She isn't eating out of boredom, we have stayed busy she is physically active, she jsut seems to not be getting full!
Saturday, she had a bowl of cereal, banana, cup of juice and then a granola bar. Then two hours later,a bowl of cheesey goldfish. Then we had lunch: Some apples, pb&J and some chips and a glass of milk. Then two hours later, more apples, a few clementine oranges and some peanut butter crackers. Then dinner she ate two helpings of chicken, mac n' cheese and veggies and two glass of milk! My kids drink milk but rarely ask for two glasses at a meal.
After dinner, about an hour and a half, she had a hard boiled egg and a bowl of cheerios!!!!
Then yesterday she had a bagel for breakfast and a banana. Then we went to church and she got a donut after service. Then we had cheese pizza for lunch, she had a glass of milk and she and her brother split a ice cream sundae. An hour or two later she had a few slices of apple and three clementine oranges. Then she had a big dinner with two more glasses of milk.
Before bedtime she had some peaches, yogurt and some cheese its!!!!!
Is this normal now they are getting older? Lordy if so, my son will eat me out of house and home as he is bigger then she is!!!!!!! I just have never seen her eat that much. She is very health conscience and makes wise choices but still! I don't want her to just suddenly put on weight either. She is only 45 1/2 inches tall and just hit 45lbs! Should I be worried?
Thank you all for the reassurance! She ate a lot yesterday but tapered down a little by dinnertime, so I think maybe it is a growth spurt. I am keeping tabs on her intake, making sure it is healthy choices. I don't ban junk but limit it and both of my kids are aware. The posts about my son, well maybe I need to start a food saving plan for him now!!! Hee hee. I am in trouble. I told someone the other day you trade off the expense of diapers for food! :) She has been sleeping in, in the mornings so I think it truly is a growth spurt! My son just went up in size of jeans length wise so I am betting I will be taking her to get some too!
Thank you all!
This is normal, but you might want to try more veggies. They are high in fiber and have a tendincy to fill them up faster and to last longer.
It really is pretty typical for kids to sometimes eat a ton like that. Most likely they will cycle in and out, depending on their caloric needs for that day, as long as they are really eating out of hunger rather than other reasons. Growth spurts can really kick up their appetites, as well as any extra physical activity. Your daughter may actually be having some hormonal stuff going on as well. (Yes, it can start early!) I don't mean she is going into extremely early puberty, but it's not unusual for girls to have some hormonal changes a year or two before any physical changes come. But you might ask her in a casual way, when she is really eating, 'So is your tummy actually still hungry, or are you just really enjoying the way this tastes?' or something along those lines to geta better feel for whether this is emotion vs. hunger. They can really pack it away sometimes! Oh, and your son. Yes, he WILL eat you out of house and home! Especially when he's a teenager! One thing I saw with some teenage boys when my son hit about 13; (You can tuck this away for future reference if you like!) I started noticing that certain parents of some of his friends would really go on about how much their teen son could eat, obviously very proud of their big appetites. Most of these guys ended up carrying a few extra pounds within a few months. I think the parents were inadvertantly encouraging their sons to overeat. After observing this, I made a point not to make comments on how much my son ate, just made sure he had as much as he needed. (Which was still alot most days. I did notice on other days he really ate light.) Whether this made a difference, he has maintained a normal, healthy weight. Just a thought. Good luck with those kiddoes and their appetites!
I am fairly sure that this is normal eating for a growing child. I know that I have a little guy who is almost 6 (and petite like your daughter - he weighs 37)and when he is on a growing spurt he can eat more than 1/2 a pizza or even an entire box of mac & cheese! I have a brother who is 10 and he can really pack away the food! When he's growing all he does is eat and sleep... (he can cook himself) he will make 2 packages of ramen noodles and polish them off and eat a sandwich while they are cooking! His friends' parents have made comment about the way their kids are eating when growing too and it all seems the same... as well as eating in between the huge meals they are eating.
When my son is not on a growth spurt he hardly eats (or so it seems) he will normally eat lunch (pb&j - apples, graham crackers, milk/juice/or water) - he brings his own and a light dinner. Maybe fruit snacks or pretzels in between. I have seen / known some girls who constantly eat and are stick thin (not me!). I've heard as they get older - especially boys, that they will eat you out of house and home!
D. - My daughter will be turning 8 this month and she is only 45 pounds too, and very petite! Your story sounded so familiar - I think that as long as she is not eating out of boredom and you are feeding her well balanced meals and snacks (which it looks like you are) you are fine. My daughter all of the sudden started eating a lot more food than usual, and it really did turn out to be a growth spurt. She went from wearing a size 6 slim to a 7 slim (blew right past the 6x size) all in a few short months. She also complained of leg aches, which I got when I was her age and had growth spurts. So it sounds like your daughter is doing the same and I would simply encourage her to make good food choices but not restrict her eating. Best of luck!
Hi D.,
I have 2 boys and 1 girl. My boys are older and eat a ton. It is actually a joke in our family that when the "Thompson Boys" come over you better be stocked up on food. We didn't think our little girl would be like that. She is very tiny. We were very wrong! She is an eater too. Our pediatrician told us as long as we give her good, healthy choices she will be fine. Some people are just bigger eaters than others. It sounds like you are doing fine. Your dd is active and eating healthy. You never know, she may just surprise you with a growth spurt.
I wouldn't worry. My oldest was skinny minny for years. Then, all of a sudden he started eating me out of house and home. No joke, he's a month from being 13 and he eats more than I do each meal. He's always hungry. He eats about every two hours. I can't stop him. And he's not considered heavy.
My youngest is just now starting to eat that much. He's still really skinny and not very tall.
I think your daughter is making good choices for her food. I wouldn't worry about her weight so much as what she eats. She is probably going through a growth spurt. Let her eat. Good luck!! I bet you find out she grew half an inch or so in the last month or before she's done with this spurt.
Have your child evaluated by a doctor, a big increase in hunger and thirst is a possible sign of diabetes which is a very serious disease and needs immediate treatment. I hope that is not the problem, but it is worth it to call the doctor.
Dear D.,
Isn't it great to know your kids are normal, normal, normal? You have no reason to worry! I wanted to encourage you to not completely avoid the topic of weight. It is okay to talk about nutrition and having a healthy weight. She is only seven now, but someday she may have a friend who struggles with weight or an eating disorder and she needs to know she can talk about those things, too. One other thing, a few years ago, we decided to make chips a dessert instead of a side dish. This has made a huge difference for our family, especially my husband. He grew up with having chips with this lunch every day. Of course, now, they have more "healthy" choices, but I thought I'd throw that out there for whatever it is worth. You are doing an awesome job. Keep up the good work.
T.
Just a quick observation from your description: it really sounds like there is a huge lack of good protein and perhaps whole grain fiber in this diet. It seems to consist of a lot of fruits, and carbs (processed or not, I'm not sure by your description). Protein and whole grains with plenty of fiber will help with the feeling of full and will keep it going for longer, as digestion takes longer for these foods. Just a suggestion, I hope you try it and it makes a difference for you! (Plus, protein is essential for a healthy grown cycle.)
J.
My kids eat a lot (runs in the family). They are 4 and 1/2 and 3, and they will eat like that at times. They weight 43 lbs and 36 lbs each, but are quite tall. I think she is just growing. For ex. breakfast is always 3 to 4 things- yogurt, applesauce, crackers, banana, etc. I think she is growing maybe check out growth spurts online as well. It has only been a couple of days no worries!
No worries, especially if you think it is a growth spurt. My 7 year old could eat that and more LOL. He wears a 9 slim and that is for the length, the waist is still a little baggy.
Oddly enough my "skinnier" kids eat twice as much as my "chubbier" ones. Has been that way from the beginning. And yes your boy will do the same...sorry LOL!
That sounds completely normal to me... I'm fully expecting such an appetite at about that age, continuing until they move out of the house for college!
So long as they're active and eating a healthy variety of foods, I wouldn't worry about it. Your two days' meals sound really normal. Three normal meals with small snacks between... sounds pretty average to me.
Yep, they do eat you out of house and home for a while. My brother always ate a lot more than I did, but I wasn't very active. Even being not-very-active at 7, I imagine I ate about the same amount, without the between-meal snacks.
Protein is very important for them during these times, so snacks that have lots of protein are especially filling. Milk has a lot of protein too, which might be part of the reason she so happily drinks it right now.
Sounds normal to me!! :)
Good luck. If you're really concerned there might be a health problem, check with the pediatrician.
D.,
I'm not at all meaning to criticize what your kids are eating - my daughter is also very small (not even on the charts) but very healthy and we try to feed her things with slightly higher calories while still offering healthy choices, so I don't want to step on any toes. I'm a certified Health and Fitness Instructor and often do some nutritional consulting. Reading through the things your daughter eats, could the amount of carbs vs. protein in her diet have to do with how full she gets and how soon she wants to eat again? The more carbs and fat in a meal, the less full it makes a person. Maybe if her meals had a bit more protein content (yogurt, nuts, chicken, etc.) she might stay fuller longer and might not eat so often. Fruit, pb&J (because of the higher fat content in the pb), and chips for lunch might be far more carbs than protein to signal to her body that she's really full. I'm not saying that she necessarily needs to cut down on her food intake, I just see that she's eating high carbohydrate foods that may cycle around and actually inhibit the "fullness" message to her brain.
Just a thought. Good luck!
She is really petite. Almost 4ft tall and only 45lbs is slender. I would say her body is doing a little catching up on the weight side. Your food choices sound very reasonable. If you aren't already, might start giving her a multivitamin, as her body may be looking for a extra things not contained in large enough quantity from her already well balanced diet. I was always slender and have always had cycles where I couldn't get enough to eat, still do. Have some days I don't want much of anything to eat. You seem to be on target with your thinking of eat what you need, be active stay healthy. Sorry to add to the consenus that you are right on track for larger grocery bills. I had 3 active bottomless pits. Grocery bill increase was directly related to their growth.
You were worried a while back she was too small. She is normal. They all go through the buttomless pit stage and it will stop for a while.
I had one that started eating an adult portion at the age of three and never stopped. He ate more than I did and still does. Most of my kids did and still do. (They are mostly adults now) JUst make sure they eat healthy. She should stop soon and she will grow a few inches. Her feet will grow first. So keep an eye on her feet. Then everything else will grow.
Don't worry.
C. B
Hi I don't have girls but that sounds about normal to me
